Foreign Ministers from the five recognized nuclear weapons states (NWS) meet on Thursday with members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). There had been an expectation that the NWS would at last endorse the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) by signing up to its Protocol, but they are still expressing reservations over the scope of the Treaty and its restriction on the passage of NWS vessels through the surrounding seas. China also has particular concerns that the Treaty treads on its territorial sovereignty – it is already in dispute with ASEAN members over the South China Seas.
Programmes
Country Report: Pakistan
Pakistan's first nuclear weapon detonation took place in May 1998, just a few weeks after neighboring country India's first nuclear tests. Pakistan's nuclear weapons are seen as some of the world's most insecure, due to the instability in the region, the threat of terrorism, and the history of clandestine nuclear networks. For years, top Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q.
Dissecting the DDPR
NATO’s Chicago Summit in May provided the Alliance with its second opportunity in two years to re-think the presence of U.S. theatre nuclear weapons in Europe, but for the second consecutive time, NATO failed. In this report, BASIC policy consultant, Ted Seay, examines key decisions made (and not made) in Chicago, in relation to the future of NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements and the Alliance as a whole.
Anglo-American (In)Dependence
Americans celebrate their Independence Day on Wednesday. It has been 236 years since they broke away from Great Britain, but the pair remain two of the closest allies in the world. But just how special is the so-called ‘special relationship’, and how much does this depend upon the cooperation between their nuclear weapons communities?
Iran Update: Number 160
- Moscow talks leave both parties frustrated
- Latest IAEA-Iran talks end without making progress; Iran produces fuel plates for reactor
- Putin proposes Iranian involvement in Syria crisis
- Iran announces development of nuclear-powered submarine
- Iranian and British representatives hold difficult bi-lateral meeting
Media Release: BASIC Trident Commission Paper on UK-France nuclear cooperation: Yes we can, but…
Deeper nuclear cooperation between the UK and France is possible but constrained by a number of factors, including the close relationship between the UK and US, and could lock the two nuclear futures together and prevent unilateral steps towards disarmament, according to a new expert report by French researcher Dr Bruno Tertrais for the BASIC Trident Commission.
Backgrounder on P5 conference: Washington and the future
Arms control officials from the P5 (U.S., UK, Britain, China and France) meet in Washington from June 27-29, 2012 for a third round of discussions on meeting their commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In this background paper, Cormac Mc Garry examines progress at earlier conferences and makes recommendations for the future.
The P5 Conferences and the Importance of Transparency
Expert government representatives from the NPT’s recognized nuclear weapon states (NWS, known as the P5 as they are also UN Security Council permanent members): China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, will gather in Washington, DC this Wednesday through Friday to discuss their cooperation on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the context of the Treaty.