“The great alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom is rooted in shared interests and shared values,” President Obama proclaimed with UK Prime Minister David Cameron by his side.
Non-proliferation treaty (NPT)
Toward the 2015 NPT Review Conference: Attitudes and Expectations of Member States in the Middle East
What might happen if States Parties from one of the most volatile regions in the world were to reconsider their membership of the principle international treaty that controls the deadliest weapons on Earth? Almost 20 years since the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), members of the Arab League have threatened to reconsider their position toward that extension on the basis that there has been no progress on the 1995 resolution associated with establishing a Middle East Zone free from weapons of mass destruction.
Against the Tide: Why the Trident Commission’s views are outdated and out of touch
The Trident Commission, spearheaded by BASIC, launched its concluding report on July 1st, and it is expected to add significant value to the debate on whether or not to keep Britain’s nuclear deterrent. As part of that debate, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has written a report which almost point by point rebuts the Trident Commission's findings.
Bumps on the road to Helsinki: Will we ever get there?
Eleven months before the 2015 NPT Review Conference is convened, there is still no sign that the Helsinki conference on the establishment of the WMD-free zone in the Middle East will be held. In what seemed to be a glimmer of hope in Geneva on May 14-15, the conference’s facilitator, co-conveners and future state parties to the zone met to discuss the conference’s modalities.
How Do We Change the Global Nuclear Order?
Whenever diplomats get together to address the really big global issues of our time, the already daunting challenges of co-ordination are made more complex by their governments’ competing policy commitments—to economic growth (simplistically conceived), special-interest groups, “national security” and prestige.
Nuclear disarmament: the case for engagement, not division
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) articulates a collective ambition: a world free of nuclear weapons. And since its inception, we have made significant progress: 189 countries have signed up to the NPT; nuclear weapons have reduced in number from an estimated 70,000 at the height of the Cold War to somewhere in the region of 17,000 today;
NPT PrepCom 2014: the WMD-free zone in the Middle East and prospects for success
On January 24, 2014, BASIC hosted a roundtable in Washington, DC with experts on both nuclear weapons issues and the Middle East, to discuss potential for progress on a WMD-free zone in the region. This paper highlights, in summary form, the key points discussed.
Building Capacity for a WMD-Free Middle East
BASIC held in Washington, DC a private roundtable discussion with experts on both nuclear weapons issues and the Middle East, to discuss potential for progress on a WMD-free zone in the region. This paper highlights, in summary form, the key points discussed during the meeting which followed Chatham House Rules.