- Nations cling to talks
- Additional sanctions bear down on Iran
- Military tensions intensify
- U.S. leaders pay multiple visits to Israel to offer reassurance
Russia
Obama and Romney on U.S. Foreign Policy
Today, Barack Obama will speak about foreign policy at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, followed by Mitt Romney who will speak at the same convention tomorrow. Romney, who has been criticized in the press for his lack of foreign policy and national security experience, is then scheduled to travel abroad, in an attempt to strengthen his reputation on foreign issues. He will go to London to speak at the start of the Olympics—an opportunity to build on the transatlantic relationship—and then to Israel and Palestine to speak with representatives of both nations.
Backgrounder on P5 conference: Washington and the future
Arms control officials from the P5 (U.S., UK, Britain, China and France) meet in Washington from June 27-29, 2012 for a third round of discussions on meeting their commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In this background paper, Cormac Mc Garry examines progress at earlier conferences and makes recommendations for the future.
The P5 Conferences and the Importance of Transparency
Expert government representatives from the NPT’s recognized nuclear weapon states (NWS, known as the P5 as they are also UN Security Council permanent members): China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, will gather in Washington, DC this Wednesday through Friday to discuss their cooperation on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the context of the Treaty.
Iran Nuclear Talks Extended as Region’s Unrest Clogs Discussions
BASIC's executive director, Paul Ingram, was featured in an article on NorthJersey.com by Henry Meyer, Ilya Arkhipov, and Jonathan Tirone. The article covers the E3+3 (P5+1) discussions with Iran in Moscow, which ended on June 19th without any breakthroughs. Ingram was quoted as saying, “The nuclear crisis will only be resolved when Iran's role within the region is fully addressed…a conversation about Syria and Bahrain is part of that.”
Read the full article on NorthJersey.com:
Russia’s Iran Game
Russia’s refusal to follow the leadership of the West, and to resist attempts to strengthen multilateral sanctions, has complicated efforts to put stronger pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.
Country Report: China
China is one of the five nuclear weapon states of the NPT and the only one to have an open policy of no first use. BASIC monitors China’s nuclear policies and political shifts in its Getting to Zero updates. Read the summaries below for a reverse chronological history.
Country Report: Russia
While the Russia and the United States have signed and ratified the New START Treaty and have started making strategic cuts to their nuclear arsenals, there is still much work to be done getting to zero by breaking free of Cold War theories of nuclear security and deterrence. BASIC monitors Russia's nuclear policies and shifts in politics on ballistic missile defence, tactical nuclear weapons, and deterrence policy in its Getting to Zero updates. Read the summaries below in reverse chronological order.