New START

Obama’s Brandenburg Speech, 19 June 2013

BASIC staff and consultants are available for comment on President Obama’s speech today at the Brandenburg Gate, 2pm London time, in which he is expected to lay out his agenda on strategic nuclear deterrence, disarmament and arms control for the rest of his Presidency.

Brandenburg Gate

What comes next for U.S. nuclear weapons policy?

This Wednesday, President Obama is slated to give his next big foreign policy speech at the historically significant Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was at this Gate – an enduring symbol of both the division and subsequent unity of East and West Berlin – that Ronald Reagan urged then-General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall” in 1987, and President Clinton spoke of a free and unified Berlin in 1994, following the end of the Cold War.

Getting to Zero timeline: 2011

September 20, 2011: Guinea ratifies the CTBT

July 28-29, 2011: First high-level meeting between the US and North Korea in two years takes place between U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth and North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan in New York. US displayed willingness to restart talks if North Korea demonstrates commitment to a constructive attitude during negotiations.