The latest M51 ballistic missile test was a failure. The missile blew up minutes after emerging from the French submarine, Le Vigilant, in the Audierne Bay (off the coast of Brittany) on May 5. French leaders have always claimed that France has never participated directly in the Cold War arms race; but, the scale of its current modernization program of nuclear weapon systems, running for over fifteen years, is massive.
Programmes
The Great British Trident Debate: 2013 Reviews, 2014 Scottish Referendum, 2015 General Election, 2016 Main Gate Decision
The Ministry of Defence budget has avoided drastic cuts, keeping plans to increase equipment spending by 1% annually after 2015. As the government prepares to publish the Trident Alternatives Review (TAR), political debates intensify over the renewal of the UK’s nuclear weapons system. The Liberal Democrats seek more affordable, flexible alternatives, while Conservatives support a like-for-like renewal. The upcoming General Election and international commitments further complicate the issue.
Open-Ended Working Group Furthers the Disarmament Agenda in Geneva
On Thursday and Friday, the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament meets for the third time in Geneva. The OEWG was established in December 2012, under UNGA Resolution A/RES/67/56, to develop proposals for innovative and measured steps to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament for the achievement and maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Implications of President Obama’s Speech in Berlin and Nuclear Strategy Review
—Progress on nuclear reductions will require more successful engagement with Russia President Barack Obama set…
Implications of President Obama’s Speech in Berlin and Nuclear Strategy Review
—Progress on nuclear reductions will require more successful engagement with Russia
President Barack Obama set out his second term nuclear agenda on June 19, 2013 in a major speech in Berlin, and in tandem released elements of his long-awaited Nuclear Weapons Employment Strategy.
Friends, foes, & the unstable future: the impact of nukes on security relations in South Asia
The volatile security environment of South Asia has traditionally been dominated by on-going tensions and conflicts between Pakistan and India, who have held a tense and inimical relationship since their emergence as separate nations in 1947. The threat perception arising out of the historical tension and enduring rivalry between both countries has put them in a security dilemma in which the risk of nuclear conflict simply cannot be ruled out.
Threat perceptions, the future of the alliance, and thinking differently
President Obama’s foreign policy speech in Berlin yesterday, in which he set out his highly-anticipated second term nuclear agenda, calls on us to change the way we think about European security and the direction in which we want to travel.
What comes next for U.S. nuclear weapons policy?
This Wednesday, President Obama is slated to give his next big foreign policy speech at the historically significant Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was at this Gate – an enduring symbol of both the division and subsequent unity of East and West Berlin – that Ronald Reagan urged then-General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall” in 1987, and President Clinton spoke of a free and unified Berlin in 1994, following the end of the Cold War.