I have recently reflected that my youthful passion for disarmament originated from a black and white sense of justice, and that I have retained it through the insight that acts of logical self-interest often lead to immense risk and could ultimately lead to the destruction of civilisation. While climate change and other environmental threats arise from our corporate materialistic lifestyles, the threat of nuclear proliferation and Armageddon comes from fear, competition and the quest for power amongst elites. The injustice feels more carnal, the universal threat more outrageous.
Content Type
Ploughshares Fund grants ,000 to support BASIC programs
The Ploughshares Fund has awarded the British American Security Information Council ,000 to support BASIC\’s agenda of nuclear non-proliferation and transatlantic security. Ploughshares is the largest grant-making foundation in the United States focusing exclusively on peace and security issues.
Updated NIE implies constructive pragmatism
The eight-year Iran–Iraq war and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait were often reported as the reason Iran considered nuclear weapons. With Iraq neutralized, Iran may have felt secure enough to cease weapons-related work.
New Chair Takes Over for BASIC; New Co-Executive Director Appointed in London
Paul Ingram starts today as BASIC’s new Co-Executive Director in London, soon after the launch in Washington DC of a new focus for the organisation on achieving concrete moves towards halting the spread of nuclear weapons by reducing nuclear arsenals.
Getting to Zero Update
In this issue:
 
Who are you calling petty?
What's the point of mentioning all the books about Dr Khan if one doesn't mention at least one book review? Thus, this article AQ Khan's Atomic Vision: How a petty postal inspector became the world's leading nuclear salesman by Douglas Farah in yesterday's Washington Post, which looks at three of the most recent. Though I think we disagree with the use of the word petty
. Nobody who dreams of helping build nuclear weapons can be accused of being petty.
Frantz and Collins tag team Dr Khan
Conde Nast Portfolio writer Douglas Frantz and DC-based writer Catherine Collins, the authors of the new book The Nuclear Jihadist, mentioned previously here, were online November 12 at the Washington Post to discuss their Outlook article about AQ Khan and the Bush administration's refusal to force Pakistan to give him up.