Reading the initial news chatter suggesting Des Browne is to be replaced at the Ministry of Defence with John Hutton, I am filled with dismay. Des Browne is famous within our arms control community for the speech he gave at the Conference on Disarmament earlier this year and referenced earlier in this blog, at which he proposed a technical disarmament conference of the P5. As a defense secretary Des has been uniquely sympathetic to the more holistic, global perspective, whilst also winning the support of the military (when initially they were suspicious).
This report summarizes the key issues and highlights around a visit by high level British Parliamentarians to Washington, DC. They met with Senators and senior Administration officials to discuss the prospects for nuclear disarmament and stronger non-proliferation. A brief summary and full report (PDF) are available below.
The first US Presidential debate between senators John McCain and Barack Obama was supposed to be the big chance for the candidates to showcase their foreign policy visions and differences. Unfortunately, both candidates missed two opportunities within the debate to mention their vision for a world without nuclear weapons. It's actually one issue that both of them seem to agree on, at least in a general way.
Joint New America Foundation – BASIC meeting in Washington, DC.
This private roundtable discussion was held at the New America Foundation\’s office and involved about 25 participants, including representatives from NATO-member embassies.
Jan Lodal (recent President of the Atlantic Council of the United States and a former senior Defense Department and White House official) and Arnold Kanter (former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs) started off the meeting with brief presentations.
During their All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and BASIC organized-visit to Washington, DC, the Rt. Hon. Des Browne, MP (Labour), Dr. David Lidington, MP (Conservative), Tony Lloyd, MP (Labour), and Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Crossbench), shared their views on the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and the prospects for success on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation at this joint Carnegie Endowment for International Peace-BASIC event.
Senior politicians and former generals call for a wider nuclear debate
Senior UK politicians and former generals have set up a group to push for multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the group\’s convener announced in Washington today.
The cross-party group is made up of almost all of the former senior ministers of foreign affairs and defence over the last two decades and includes three former defence chiefs who served during that time.
Cross-party delegation will talk with their US counterparts.
From next Tuesday (8 September 2009), the most senior cross-party parliamentary delegation focused on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation ever to visit Washington will be holding talks with key Senators and administration officials. Their meetings come at a critical and timely juncture with: