On June 17, 2008, BASIC hosted a meeting with delegation members from the Defence Committee of the Assembly of the Western European Union – The European Security and Defence Assembly at the Washington, D.C. Home of Stewart R. Mott.
Below are the briefings delivered by Washington-based peace and security experts Ambassador James Leonard, John Isaacs, Shervin Boloorian, and Dr. Joanna Spear.
I have recently reflected that my youthful passion for disarmament originated from a black and white sense of justice, and that I have retained it through the insight that acts of logical self-interest often lead to immense risk and could ultimately lead to the destruction of civilisation. While climate change and other environmental threats arise from our corporate materialistic lifestyles, the threat of nuclear proliferation and Armageddon comes from fear, competition and the quest for power amongst elites. The injustice feels more carnal, the universal threat more outrageous.
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard the conventional wisdom a thousand times, ie, the nuclear black market will help terrorist groups obtain the materials and technology to make a nuclear, or a radiological weapon. Well, here’s good news, sort of.
BASIC sponsored a week-long visit by Ambassador Max Kampelman (U.S.-ret.) to London to discuss the \’Zero nuclear weapons\’ agenda. During his visit, Amb. Kampelman delivered a speech to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-Proliferation and WMD.See the full text of his speech to the All-Party Parliamentary Group below.
Sir John Thomson argues that the Western approach to Tehran, currently led by the Bush Administration, is unlikely to halt Iran's uranium enrichment program, and may even contribute to the worst case scenarios: a war with Iran and an Iranian nuclear weapon. He concludes by surveying three options for the nuclear program: “mothballing,” “pilot plant,” and “multilateral enrichment facility.”
BASIC calls for consultation, and for threat assessments and industrial studies to be declassified
UK and US governments have been holding discussions on basing a US anti-ballistic missile defence system on UK soil – and the UK Prime Minister is said to have personally lobbied the US President for the system. BASIC is calling for the government to make a public statement clarifying the position, committing to consultation, and declassifying threat assessments and industrial studies.
BASIC Co-Executive Director, Dr Ian Davis said:
This discussion paper is written from the imagined viewpoint of a senior military advisor to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as he assesses Iran's options in responding to a U.S. military attack.
In 1987, The Barrow Alternative Employment Committee argued for UK marine civil engineering opportunities, rather than nuclear submarine production, for its skilled local workforce.