Plans are afoot for a major conference next year on a WMD Free Zone in the Middle East. BASIC held a small workshop in Malta for officials and experts in the region on the key issues involved, and here we publish the facilitator’s key issues from the meeting.
Non-Proliferation and Disarmament in the Middle East
IAEA Chief Presses Iran, Syria to Come Clean on Nuclear Activities
When the U.N. nuclear watchdog Director General Yukiya Amano reported to the IAEA Board of Governors this week, updating about Syrian and Iranian atomic activities, Paul Ingram, BASIC's executive director said “There is little in Amano's report that would enable the United States or other nations to press for new Iranian sanctions” ….”Tehran is already subject to four rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions and independent penalties from a number of nations.”
Unrest Complicates 2012 Middle East Meeting
The upheavals sweeping across the Middle East have cast a long shadow over diplomatic negotiations aimed at organizing a conference on establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in that region, according to officials involved in the process.
Scott Brown and the bombs in the basement
“Unfortunately, the nuclear capability of Israel goes unmentioned in his article, highlighting the Arab contention that the West is guilty of double standards by shielding Israel but punishing Iran.”
Excerpt from article by BASIC Program Director Anne Penketh, written for The Hill’s Congress Blog.
Read the full article:
SNAP ANALYSIS – Can Middle East WMD-free zone talks happen?
“The decision to convene a conference in two years time to move towards a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction is a major achievement, after 15 years of inaction,”
BASIC Progam Director Anne Penketh quoted by Reuters.
Read the full article: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48899220100529
Keeping the “Non” in the Non-Nuclear Weapon States
Nuclear weapons states must respond to security demands before non-nuclear weapons states will agree to additional non-proliferation obligations under the NPT.
Non-proliferation requires disarmament, and vice versa: Advice to the Iranian Government as it seeks to challenge the nuclear order at the NPT Review Conference
Iran should step up cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog as a first step towards creating the space for negotiations.
BASIC welcomes Vice President’s push for treaty banning all nuclear explosions
The British American Security Information Council welcomes the renewed US commitment to press for the long-overdue Senate ratification of a treaty banning all nuclear explosions.