Obama\’s chairing of this historic UN Security Council session has increased the chances of success in moving towards the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, said Anne Penketh, Washington Program Director of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC).
Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament
The UK government’s Road to 2010
Gordon Brown’s roadmap towards the NPT Review Conference appears under-developed in key areas.
Britain ready to put Trident on the table
PM announcement at G8 Summit
Gordon Brown announced today in Italy at the G8 Summit his willingness to put Britain\’s nuclear arsenal on the table in negotiations at Obama\’s nuclear summit next March. Paul Ingram, BASIC\’s Executive Director said: “This very concrete offer from the UK is clearly designed to create a spirit of multilateral cooperation between the nuclear weapon states in advance of the NPT Review Conference. It is to be strongly welcomed and we hope that other nuclear weapon states can respond accordingly.”
START follow-on negotiations: Russians focus on delivery vehicles
An announcement on the US/Russian negotiations is expected at July's summit between Obama and Medvedev.
Political developments around nuclear weapons and the “butterfly effect”
During the past month or two, getting to zero has seemed to resemble the early phase of the butterfly effect of Chaos Theory. The thinking goes as follows: the movement of air caused by a butterfly flapping his wings could contribute to the formation of a hurricane, or other major weather event. Without that one extra factor of the flapping of the butterfly's wings, the event may not have occurred. Of course, the flapping of a butterfly's wings alone cannot cause a weather event.
Obama’s nuclear diplomacy
Barack Obama has called for a world free of nuclear weapons and has committed to reducing their number and salience during his administration. His continuing engagement with allies and Russia on nuclear arms control, and the results of posture reviews back home, could result in significant progress.
Getting to Zero Update
In this issue: BASIC and Getting to Zero ; Commitments to Disarmament and Arms Control ; Country Reports