NATO has missed an opportunity to clear up the divisive issue of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in Europe at its Chicago summit, BASIC Executive Director Paul Ingram said today.
“If the U.S. and its allies aren’t careful, they will find themselves scrambling to control disarmament by default , as the Germans and others take decisions about the future delivery systems of these Cold War relics which they all know serve no military purpose,” said Ingram.
The BASIC Trident Commission publishes its second discussion paper Wednesday 21 March on the defence industrial aspects of the forthcoming decision on Trident renewal, and in particular the construction of the next generation of SSBN nuclear submarines.
The BASIC Trident Commission publishes its first discussion paper Monday 31 October on recent worrying developments in the nuclear force structures of the world’s nuclear armed states. The report argues that “the evidence points to a new era of global nuclear force modernisation and growth”. The paper published with a Foreword from the Commission co-Chairs, is written by Ian Kearns and present evidence that:
More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials (including Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Gen. Bernard Norlain of France) are calling on NATO “to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S.
The world’s officially recognised nuclear powers, meeting in Paris today, should expand upon their existing commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agree a disarmament roadmap, according to a new report from the British American Security Information Council.
“The ratification of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is a significant political victory for the global disarmament agenda and efforts to secure the world from nuclear dangers,” said Pa
U.S. and European nuclear arms control and security experts criticized NATO\’s new “Strategic Concept” as a conservative, backward-looking policy, a missed opportunity to reduce the number and role of the 200 forward-deployed U.S. tactical nuclear bombs and engage Russia in a dialogue on removing all tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee today voted to refer the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to the full Senate. If the treaty successfully goes through the ratification processes in the United States and Russia, the treaty will cap deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 in both countries and establish a set of mutual inspections that have not had a formal framework since the first START treaty lapsed last December.