Yesterday’s announcement that the government would stick to a limit of 225 nuclear warheads has been rightly welcomed by BASIC (the British American Security Information Council) as a next step in transparency and disarmament.
Mary Riddell references BASIC in her commentary. Read more:
Anne Penketh, BASIC Program Director, backed Egypt's proposals for a Middle East international conference to work towards a Middle East nuclear weapons free zone at a side event on the margins of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
The May 21 event was hosted by Greenpeace whose Israeli representative, Sharon Dolev, described how she has been trying to raise awareness for nuclear disarmament in Israel, where discussion of that country's presumed nuclear arsenal of up to 200 weapons remains taboo.
The unveiling of the Iran sanctions resolution “has changed the atmosphere here”, noted Anne Penketh who is monitoring the view. The conference, she noted, “has been on a knife-edge from the get-go and I think it still is”.
“The big shift in this relationship has been the election of Obama, which has been basically a shift away from traditional alliances and towards reaching out to new relationships around the world.”
BASIC Executive Director Paul Ingram quoted in RT News.
Read more:
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-23/british-debate-foreign-policy.html
In the run up to the NPT Review Conference (3-28 May), there have been a number of critical developments. Russia and the United States have signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the Obama Administration just released its Nuclear Posture Review, and Washington is about to host one of its largest summits ever, on nuclear security.
“Obviously it is to be welcomed that the US will not develop new nuclear warheads despite pressure from the weapons labs, and that President Obama has won the argument over his core policy of limiting the use of nuclear weapons.”
BASIC Program Director Anne Penketh quoted in The Independent on the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review.
Read more:
BASIC is referenced in this IPS News article on the release of the new U.S. Nuclear Posture Review. The article surveys a range of reactions by security experts.
Read more:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50936