A global ban on fissile material?

Ask any diplomat what is happening at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) when a session resumes and the question usually provokes a burst of derisive laughter. The CD session which opens today in Geneva, where attempts to launch negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) remain in the deep freeze, is no exception.

Chernobyl remembered

Today marks the 25^th anniversary of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl on April 26^th 1986. Until the combined power of an earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan on March 11^th, it was the world’s worst civilian nuclear catastrophe. There are key differences between the two: Chernobyl was caused by human error and technological failure, whereas the Japanese tragedy, which is still unfolding, was the result of a natural disaster on an epic scale.

Roundtable on NATO´s Nuclear Deterrence and Defence: A Nordic perspective

BASIC and Peace Union of Finland will organize a roundtable in Helsinki on April 28th 2011. As part of a series of meetings organised in conjunction with the Arms Control Association and the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg the roundtable will explore the Northen European countries\’ perspective on NATO nuclear deterrence and defence.

Obama and the Bomb: 2nd anniversary of Obama’s Prague Agenda on a world free from nuclear weapons

The Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip) in cooperation with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, the Embassy of the United States and the USOSCE, is hosting a Panel Discussion \’Obama and the Bomb 2nd anniversary of Obama’s Prague Agenda on a world free of nuclear weapons\’ on 14 April 2011 at 7:00 pm

Visions for a New Century

Just Launched! Visions for a New Century is a short film taken at a BASIC event hosted at Brian Eno’s studio last year. Visions for a New Century is a collection of interviews around the issue of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Interviewees include Peter Gabriel, Rory Bremner, Des Browne, Joe Cirincione from the Ploughshares Fund, Baroness Shirley Williams and Brian Eno.

This Week – Next steps for arms control

It’s a busy week for nuclear non-proliferation advocates. On Thursday, BASIC is hosting a joint briefing with VERTIC (Verification Research, Training and Information Centre) in Washington on the Next Steps after New START with a particular focus on the global nuclear test ban treaty.

Getting to Zero Update

Russia and the United States have begun the exchange of information on their nuclear arsenals under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty as they assess next steps on arms control and also try to resolve their differences over missile defense.

This Week – Hopes and Doubts about WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East

The increasingly violent clashes between security forces and protesters protests across the Arab world, inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, are causing some diplomats to raise doubts about the prospects for holding a conference next year on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East.