NATO is in the throes of a review of its deterrence and defence posture. BASIC and ICDS organised a roundtable on NATO’s nuclear deterrence policy in Tallinn on 15th March.
Strategic Stability
Missile defense and relations with Russia
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Moscow this week to meet with Russian officials and missile defense will be high on the agenda. NATO leaders agreed at the November summit to work together on missile defense against a possible future threat from the Middle East. NATO also agreed to consider cooperation with Russia.
Russia ratifies New START
The Russian parliament completed on January 26 its process of advice and consent for ratifying the New START nuclear arms treaty, and President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification bill on January 28.
Both houses of the Russian parliament were required to approve of the treaty. The Duma (lower house) provided its final approval on January 25, by a vote of 350-96, with one abstention. The 137 members of the Federation Council (upper house) voted unanimously for the treaty a day later.
This Week – State of the Union: an opportunity to take the next step
President Barack Obama has a golden opportunity in his State of the Union address tomorrow to advance his disarmament agenda by highlighting the benefits to U.S. security in the entry into force of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. This requires the new Senate to ratify it.
North Korea nuclear tensions rise
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are again running high. BASIC Intern Taek Jin Han summarizes the most relevant developments on North Korea’s nuclear program and the broader security situation – with a more detailed account than what is available in BASIC’s Getting to Zero Updates.
To read the North Korea backgrounder click here.
New START Treaty hanging in Senate limbo
“The administration doesn’t want the whole thing to be reopened when they’ve already gone through 20 briefings, they’ve already answered 900 questions for the record,”Anne Penketh, BASIC's program director in Washington, told the Epoch Times.
Read the full article here: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/46462/
NATO unveils Strategic Concept
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has unveiled its policy documents charting the way ahead for the Alliance over the next 10 years. The Strategic Concept, covering NATO doctrine on nuclear and conventional defence and security strategy, was released on November 19th. The Lisbon summit Declaration, on how the Alliance will implement the principles laid down in the Strategic Concept, came out the following day.
NATO summit as platform for US-Russia reSTART
“If it is stalled, then clearly it will harm the prospects for future negotiations that follow, that use this as a foundation for the next round. It will be impossible to have another round of arms control negotiations, as such. If that treaty comes up for ratification on the floor of the Senate, it will pass. The debate is when it comes up for votes.”