The year 2013 has not been an easy one for President Barack Obama. A formerly friendly media has started to ask hard questions, his supporters on the left accuse him of following the policy pathways of George W. Bush, and the right excoriates him for, well, living.
Arms control
Looking beyond the U.S.- Russia stalemate
The decision last week to cancel President Obama’s September meeting in Russia with President Putin sparked a wave of questions among policy watchers.
Summary of Roundtable Discussion on “NATO’s Future Nuclear Posture”
This paper highlights the main themes arising from a roundtable discussion held on July 25th, 2013 in Washington, D.C., which brought a small group of experts together with representatives from a number of NATO member states to discuss the future of NATO’s nuclear posture and engagement with Russia on arms control and nuclear weapons.
Cold War Thinking and Nuclear Deterrence in the 21st Century
BASIC’s This Week released on Monday July 29th focuses on the prevailing Cold War mentality that pervades strategic thinking in many of the nuclear armed states.
Rethinking Nuclear Deterrence and Burden-Sharing
On Friday, BASIC brings together Oliver Meier (Germany) and François Rivasseau (France) to discuss extended deterrence and NATO nuclear burden-sharing as a part of our ongoing Strategic Dialogue series at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C.
The Future of Nuclear Weapons
On 11th June, Warwick University's Politics and International Studies department (PAIS) hosted a meeting in collaboration with BASIC entitled 'The Future of Nuclear Weapons: Between Disarmament and Proliferation'. The event, which brought together experts from diverse backgrounds and with significant experience on these issues, consisted of two roundtable discussions on the future of Trident and British nuclear weapons policy and prospects for non-proliferation and disarmament in the Middle East.
Egypt & the Middle East – Stability through Fairness
While we are witnessing ever-more violent clashes on the streets of Cairo, and Egyptians now contemplate their next moves in the long and faltering steps towards democracy, few are now thinking much about the regional efforts to establish a process with the objective of creating a zone free of WMD.
Open-Ended Working Group Furthers the Disarmament Agenda in Geneva
On Thursday and Friday, the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament meets for the third time in Geneva. The OEWG was established in December 2012, under UNGA Resolution A/RES/67/56, to develop proposals for innovative and measured steps to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament for the achievement and maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons.