More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials (including Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Gen. Bernard Norlain of France) are calling on NATO “to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S.
Search Results for: news
Getting the Balance Right
Three high-level meetings this week sum up the interconnected challenge of global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
The EU and the Middle East WMD Free Zone
Tomorrow and on Thursday this week, the European Union has an opportunity to influence the preparations for a conference on a Middle East WMD-free zone.
Israeli and Iranian officials to attend European WMD meeting
Writing about the EU conference on a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East, Julian Borger in his Global Security Blog for The Guardian refers to BASIC’s Washington Program Director Anne Penketh’s article on the subject.
Multilateralizing Nuclear Disarmament
Top level officials from the five recognised NPT nuclear weapon states – United States, Russia, China, UK and France – meet on Thursday and Friday in Paris this week. This is the second dedicated meeting they have had to exchange information and to discuss as a group measures to facilitate transparency, reductions in numbers, and other disarmament measures (the first was in London, September 2009). The challenges to achieving agreement, both real and presumed, are sufficiently huge that expectations are low for any substantial breakthrough.
Global Zero
This month is witnessing a flurry of conferences on nuclear disarmament. Global Zero has a ‘summit’ conference in London on Wednesday and Thursday this week, to educate and energize in support of abolishing nuclear weapons. It coincides with the UK launch of ‘Countdown to Zero’
APRIL 2011
BASIC held the fourth of its roundtables this last 12 months, on NATO’s nuclear policy, under the grant from the Hewlett Foundation on April 28th. This time it was in non-NATO Helsinki, in collaboration with the Peace Union of Finland and the Foreign Ministry. Gathering participants from Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Netherlands and Britain, we discussed the deterrence review, relations with Russia and the prospects for NATO contributing more actively to the agenda of global nuclear disarmament.
UK launch of Countdown to Zero
UK Premiere of Countdown to Zero
From the makers of An Inconvenient Truth, comes a film about our nuclear threat. Get ready for the most important film of the year and join audiences across the UK and Ireland taking part in Demand Zero Day, June 21st.