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Getting to Zero Update

This last year has been one of rising hope for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, but finishes with a big question as to whether the two international conferences – the world's first nuclear security summit of April 12th and the NPT Review Conference in May – will meet expectations.

Des Browne: The UK Defence Secretary is no more…

Reading the initial news chatter suggesting Des Browne is to be replaced at the Ministry of Defence with John Hutton, I am filled with dismay. Des Browne is famous within our arms control community for the speech he gave at the Conference on Disarmament earlier this year and referenced earlier in this blog, at which he proposed a technical disarmament conference of the P5. As a defense secretary Des has been uniquely sympathetic to the more holistic, global perspective, whilst also winning the support of the military (when initially they were suspicious).

UK Parliamentary Visit to Washington, DC to discuss prospects for multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation

This report summarizes the key issues and highlights around a visit by high level British Parliamentarians to Washington, DC. They met with Senators and senior Administration officials to discuss the prospects for nuclear disarmament and stronger non-proliferation. A brief summary and full report (PDF) are available below.

Two missed opportunities for GTZ during the presidential debate

The first US Presidential debate between senators John McCain and Barack Obama was supposed to be the big chance for the candidates to showcase their foreign policy visions and differences. Unfortunately, both candidates missed two opportunities within the debate to mention their vision for a world without nuclear weapons. It's actually one issue that both of them seem to agree on, at least in a general way.

U.S. Nuclear Posture Review and Extended Deterrence

Joint New America Foundation – BASIC meeting in Washington, DC.

This private roundtable discussion was held at the New America Foundation\’s office and involved about 25 participants, including representatives from NATO-member embassies.

Jan Lodal (recent President of the Atlantic Council of the United States and a former senior Defense Department and White House official) and Arnold Kanter (former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs) started off the meeting with brief presentations.