
This edition of TacNukes News includes updates on political developments in Germany and The Netherlands, and on the B-61 nuclear bomb Life Extension Program in the United States.

This edition of TacNukes News includes updates on political developments in Germany and The Netherlands, and on the B-61 nuclear bomb Life Extension Program in the United States.
In 2016, for only the second time in Britain’s history as a nuclear power, Parliament is expected to vote to decide the future of the United Kingdom’s strategic nuclear deterrent. Britain’s nuclear policy is heavily influenced by the ideological positions of Britain’s three dominant political parties. Each of the parties has a spread of opinion within them.
Verification remains a key challenge on the road to nuclear disarmament and the continued non-proliferation of WMD. It is complex, politically and technically, and ultimately can only be sustainable in the long run if it is freely entered into, non-discriminatory, universally applicable and credible. Does the OPCW hold lessons for confidence in multilateral nuclear disarmament?
Foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Council will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels this week. Chaired by NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, this meeting will likely begin preparations for the 2014 NATO Summit to be held 4-5 September in Newport, South Wales. It is also likely that this week’s meeting will continue the discussions on “Defence Matters”,
This morning, the Scottish government published the long-awaited White Paper on Scottish Independence as promised. Scotland’s Future – Your Guide, it is hoped, will act as a comprehensive manual for an independent Scotland. But apart from formally setting out the manifesto points which have already been widely discussed, there are no new surprises concerning the future of Trident concealed within its 670 pages.
This latest edition on tactical nuclear weapons in Europe includes news and recent articles related to the B-61 Life Extension Program in the United States and an update on developments in the Netherlands.
London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS; what – you haven’t applied for membership yet?) recently published their annual review of world affairs, Strategic Survey 2013. In its chapter on strategic policy issues, the Survey covers an important topic, the complex nuclear arms race underway in South Asia among India, Pakistan and China.
BASIC and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) run a joint project on reducing the role of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.