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.
New START
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.
Could the renewed focus on non-strategic nuclear weapons signal a new era in Euro-Atlantic security?
It is 22 years since the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives were announced soon after the fall of the Berlin wall. Presidents Bush and Gorbachev declared massive unilateral cuts to their holdings of short range tactical nuclear weapons, and their militaries set about the task of dismantling them.
Implications of President Obama’s Speech in Berlin and Nuclear Strategy Review
—Progress on nuclear reductions will require more successful engagement with Russia
President Barack Obama set out his second term nuclear agenda on June 19, 2013 in a major speech in Berlin, and in tandem released elements of his long-awaited Nuclear Weapons Employment Strategy.
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.
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.
TacNukes News No. 5
1. TNW and Confidence and Security Building Measures 2. The Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative at…