Search Results for: press

Obama and Romney on U.S. Foreign Policy

Today, Barack Obama will speak about foreign policy at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, followed by Mitt Romney who will speak at the same convention tomorrow. Romney, who has been criticized in the press for his lack of foreign policy and national security experience, is then scheduled to travel abroad, in an attempt to strengthen his reputation on foreign issues. He will go to London to speak at the start of the Olympics—an opportunity to build on the transatlantic relationship—and then to Israel and Palestine to speak with representatives of both nations. 

Will the NWS fail to support the NWFZ…again?

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.

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.

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

Getting to Zero Update

NATO completed its Deterrence and Defense Posture Review with mixed results. Diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program picked up pace. A National Academies panel released its updated assessment on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty’s implications for U.S. security, with apparent positive conclusions for supporters.

Country Report: India

India is a nuclear weapon state, but since it is not party to the NPT, its nuclear weapons program is not under the same regulations nor does the country have the same obligations as the NPT nuclear weapon states. This, coupled with India's relationship with the U.S. and volatile history with neighboring country, Pakistan, which also possesses nuclear weapons, makes India an important country to watch. BASIC monitors India's nuclear weapons program in its Getting to Zero Updates.