Oslo meeting

George Shultz and Sam Nunn are addressing the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG, clerked by BASIC) in London on Thursday after the International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament that is underway now in Oslo, Norway.

From the International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament website:

The Government of Norway, in cooperation with the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Hoover Institution, is convening an international conference on Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, in Oslo 26-27 February 2008.

A world free of nuclear weapons

The United States should take the lead in forging a new global consensus on nuclear disarmament, married to an action plan of urgent interim steps to control and reduce nuclear weapons, according to two Cold War veterans Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr, former General Counsel and acting director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and Ambassador Robert L Barry, former ambassador to the Stockholm Conference on Disarmament in Europe and member of the board of the British American Security and Information C

Congressmen, Reagan administration policy experts, and activists call for reducing US nuclear arsenal

US Rep James McGovern (D, Massachusetts) hosted a briefing titled 'Global Security Priorities in the 21st Century' on February 6, 2008, in Washington, DC. Panelists who participated in the briefing called for the United States to reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal and use the savings to increase funding for non-proliferation programs and international assistance for children as a means of strengthening US national security.

The panelists included:

Success with Iran requires moves towards disarmament

I have recently reflected that my youthful passion for disarmament originated from a black and white sense of justice, and that I have retained it through the insight that acts of logical self-interest often lead to immense risk and could ultimately lead to the destruction of civilisation. While climate change and other environmental threats arise from our corporate materialistic lifestyles, the threat of nuclear proliferation and Armageddon comes from fear, competition and the quest for power amongst elites. The injustice feels more carnal, the universal threat more outrageous.

Iran update: number 113

Summary

P5+1 agree new wave of sanctions on Iran
Iran predicts it will be using nuclear power by next year
A Chinese military base in Iran: the geo-political consequences
US Iranians oppose military action
Congress discusses normalizing relations with Iran and assessing the effectiveness of sanctions and the policy of isolation

After meeting on January 22, the P5+1 were reported to have agreed a draft for strengthening the existing economic sanctions against Iran.

Updated NIE implies constructive pragmatism

The eight-year Iran–Iraq war and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait were often reported as the reason Iran considered nuclear weapons. With Iraq neutralized, Iran may have felt secure enough to cease weapons-related work.

Getting to Zero Update

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Whacking Dr Khan, Take Two

It is an unspoken rule in journalism that no matter how many times something has been covered, the subject is always deemed newsworthy when covered by a leading member of the mainstream media.

Thus, the article 'Those Nuclear Flashpoints Are Made in Pakistan' in yesterday's Washington Post by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, lamenting the leniency the United States has shown toward the most dangerous nuclear-trafficking operation in history – an operation masterminded by one man, Abdul Qadeer Khan.