The world’s officially recognised nuclear powers, meeting in Paris today, should expand upon their existing commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agree a disarmament roadmap, according to a new report from the British American Security Information Council.
North Korea
A global ban on fissile material?
Ask any diplomat what is happening at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) when a session resumes and the question usually provokes a burst of derisive laughter. The CD session which opens today in Geneva, where attempts to launch negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) remain in the deep freeze, is no exception.
Anniversary of Obama’s Prague speech
Two years ago this Tuesday, President Barack Obama vowed in his Prague speech to improve U.S. relations with the rest of the world and to strengthen international security by striving for a world without nuclear weapons. Since then, President Obama has proceeded with a flurry of nuclear weapons policy-related activities
IAEA Chief Presses Iran, Syria to Come Clean on Nuclear Activities
When the U.N. nuclear watchdog Director General Yukiya Amano reported to the IAEA Board of Governors this week, updating about Syrian and Iranian atomic activities, Paul Ingram, BASIC's executive director said “There is little in Amano's report that would enable the United States or other nations to press for new Iranian sanctions” ….”Tehran is already subject to four rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions and independent penalties from a number of nations.”
Getting to Zero Update
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) officially entered into force on February 5, 2011, and Russian and American leaders expressed their expectations for another, more challenging round, of arms control negotiations. BASIC has established a new high-level Trident Commission to examine the decisions around the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons system.
Iran Update: Number 148
• Talks in Istanbul fail to break impasse
• Sanctions and economic impact on Iran
• Speculation intensifies over Iranian nuclear capabilities
• Foreign Minister Mottaki replaced with nuclear chief Salehi
• Revelations in the WikiLeaks cables
Talks in Istanbul fail to break impasse
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2010
We approach the end of 2010 on the verge of a vote in the U.S. Senate on the new START treaty, brought to the floor on December 15th, and for a possible vote as early as tomorrow, December 22nd. Its ratification is significant for verification measures, as well as for the global nuclear disarmament agenda if only because it lays an important foundation stone for future initiatives between the United States and Russia, and helps to open the way for the Administration to bring the test ban treaty to the Senate.
America’s diplomatic secrets go public
“If you hang around with diplomats, they might be smiling to you, on the one hand, while at the same time, they're stabbing you in the back. It's reassuring because they are sticking to the same talking points in private and in public, whether they're talking to government officials or to journalists or to non-government organizations.”
Anne Penketh, BASIC's Program Director, was interviewed about the WikiLeaks dump of U.S. cables with Michael Shire of the National Journal and Susan Glasser of Foreign Policy on WAMU radio.