North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has given rise to much debate on the security challenges that it brings to the international system. Its deployment of ballistic missiles and testing of nuclear devices (2006, 2009, and 2013) have alarmed states around the world, and posed dangers and threats to the region. In fact, recent activity at North Korea’s nuclear facility has given rise to new concerns about the possibility of a fourth nuclear test.
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Bumps on the road to Helsinki: Will we ever get there?
Eleven months before the 2015 NPT Review Conference is convened, there is still no sign that the Helsinki conference on the establishment of the WMD-free zone in the Middle East will be held. In what seemed to be a glimmer of hope in Geneva on May 14-15, the conference’s facilitator, co-conveners and future state parties to the zone met to discuss the conference’s modalities.
A Glance at the Ukraine Crisis’s Impact on Nuclear Weapons Considerations
This week, eyes are on Ukraine to see whether the presidential election held on Sunday will soon lead to more stability; while many Ukrainians look ahead to the challenge of grappling with the problems that led to the crisis – both internal and external. The crisis intensified dynamics of a deteriorating relationship between NATO and Russia, where prospects had already been bleak for nuclear arms control. The crisis has even led some to call for re-emphasizing the role of nuclear weapons in transatlantic security.
Multilateral Frustrations Generate Challenges for Disarmament Diplomacy
This week the Conference on Disarmament begins its second session of the year in Geneva, on the back of the two weeks of multilateralism in New York City at the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty’s third Preparatory Committee Meeting (PrepCom).
Belief in the WMD-Free Zone: The Tel-Aviv Roundtable Process
How will we achieve progress on the long and tortuous road of eliminating WMD from the whole of the Middle East and formalizing that in verified treaties? We clearly need to address the underlying obstacles that hinder further progress on the establishment of the WMD-free zone in the Middle East, and this was the subject of a side event at the 2014 NPT PrepCom on May 7th, co-hosted by BASIC with PAX and the Israeli Disarmament Movement.
Heeding the outcomes & remaining challenges of the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit
On March 24-25, 53 world leaders convened at The Hague for the third Nuclear Security Summit to discuss the implementation of national measures to protect vulnerable fissile and radiological material from belligerence-prone hands. The following commentary focuses on the summit’s outcomes and remaining challenges as a platform to build on for continued progress.
Iran nuclear talks and the shadow of the Ukraine crisis
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, representatives from Iran and the P5+1: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, plus Germany, will meet in Vienna to continue working toward a comprehensive agreement around Iran’s nuclear program. The last such meeting was held in mid-March – not long after the Russian invasion of Crimea, and some worried that the crisis would set back the talks.
Personal political interests and the Iranian nuclear negotiations
Iran and the E3+3 will be returning to the negotiating table on April 8th to begin yet another round of high level talks on the status and future of the Iranian nuclear program. As ever, there are various causes for caution, and perhaps even concern, as the Iranians and their American and European counterparts continue to disagree on central issues such as the fate of the Arak heavy water reactor and permitted levels of nuclear enrichment.