Looking ahead to this coming year, 2014 is full of opportunities for reducing the value of nuclear weapons and developing arms control in ways that could improve security relations. Enough time remains before policymakers and analysts start talking about how we must focus on “managing expectations” for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in the spring of 2015.
2013
More sanctions could undermine the Iran deal
The following weeks are likely to be challenging ones, domestically and internationally, for the Obama administration. While the interim deal over the Iranian nuclear programme has been welcomed as a positive first step by many in the international community and in arms control circles, US congressional support has been less full-throated.
NATO ministers meeting should consider security costs of a nuclear defence
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”,
Belief in the WMD Free Zone: Designing the corridor to Helsinki and beyond
This briefing, done under a joint project with BASIC, IKV Pax Christi, and the Israeli Disarmament Movement, is the result of a unique process conducted in Israel in November 2013 which involved International and Israeli civil society, think tanks and government representatives.
Making progress with Iran
After three decades of broken or faltering diplomatic ties between Iran and the West, and a decade of tension over the Iranian nuclear programme, the E3+3 (UK, France, Germany, US, Russia and China – also referred to as the P5+1) and Iran finally made a historic step forward over the weekend.
Talking about the Bomb in Tel Aviv
Elzbieta Okuniewska published “Talking about the Bomb in Tel Aviv” for the Palestine-Israel Journal which covers the roundtable discussion that BASIC jointly organised with the Green Cross, the Israeli Disarmament Movement, and IKV Pax Christi. Paul Ingram shared his experience working with Iran on nuclear issues while BASIC senior fellow Ward Wilson presented narratives around rethinking nuclear weapons.
Fathoming Iran’s nuclear intentions
Al-Monitor Israel Pulse columnist, Akiva Eldar, wrote about BASIC's joint roundtable meeting in Tel Aviv in November 2013. The two-day meeting, organised in cooperation with the Green Cross, IKV Pax Christi, and the Israeli Disarmament Movement, brought together a dozen nuclear experts and some high level officials from Israel, Europe, and the United States.
Is Rouhani the real deal?
Negotiating parties in the E3+3 process meet again this Wednesday in Geneva to hammer out an initial agreement on specific limits to Iran’s nuclear program in return for limited sanctions relief. The last time the parties met just over a week ago hopes were high, but an early deal was blocked by France.