2015

The sustainability of the P5 process and expectations for London

The United Kingdom will play host this week to the United States, France, China and Russia for a meeting of the “P5 Process”. This is the last meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nuclear weapon states (NWS) prior to the NPT Review Conference this April. These states have been meeting for five years and the pressure is on to demonstrate concrete evidence that a multilateral approach can achieve some progress in meeting disarmament obligations. But is the “P5 Process” sustainable, and if so, what should we realistically expect from the London meeting?

Britain and America: Drifting Apart?

Alex Stevenson, in this Politics.co.uk article, wrote about the relationship between the US and the UK, citing nuclear weapons as one of the connections. The article quotes Paul Ingram, Executive Director of BASIC, saying, “If there was a narrative that emerged that with limited resources the British need to focus their attention on capabilities that are more valuable to the Americans, that group-think could shift quite quickly.”

 

Iran Risks Rise as Stumbling Talks Push Sanctions Clamor

Paul Ingram, BASIC's Executive Director, was quoted in this Bloomberg article by Jonathan Tirone about the nuclear negotiations with Iran, saying “Failing to reach a conclusion by now was itself a high risk strategy that looks increasingly vulnerable to impatient legislators. The belief somehow that a little more time and patience will bring results is also hard to fathom. Now is a crucial moment.”