With recent regime changes and ongoing conflicts, the Middle East is a major concern for security threats and proliferation of WMD. The international community is heavily involved in the region, but it seems that Russia's goals in and for the Middle East have been scrutinized by Western powers.
Syria
Iran Update: Number 161
- Nations cling to talks
- Additional sanctions bear down on Iran
- Military tensions intensify
- U.S. leaders pay multiple visits to Israel to offer reassurance
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:
News Backgrounder: North Korea and Nuclear Weapons
The sudden death of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-Il, from a heart attack has naturally raised questions about the transition in the isolated nuclear-armed state as power is handed to his youngest son Kim Jong-Un believed to be in his late twenties.
Getting to Zero Update
Nuclear weapons non-proliferation and disarmament developments seemed to be caught in a holding pattern, despite the upswing in news on the Iran and North Korea programs during recent weeks, including the release of the more detailed IAEA report on Iran’s alleged nuclear weaponization efforts.
Israeli and Iranian officials to attend European WMD meeting
Writing about the EU conference on a WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East, Julian Borger in his Global Security Blog for The Guardian refers to BASIC’s Washington Program Director Anne Penketh’s article on the subject.
Iran: The Green Movement and the Nuclear Issue
“International attempts to punish Iran for pursuing nuclear fuel production simply strengthen the legitimacy of the government’s stance to defy those attempts, as well as the very legitimacy of the government itself.” Paul Ingram, BASIC’s executive director said.
Getting to Zero Update
NATO proceeded quietly with its Strategic Deterrence and Defense Posture Review, while U.S. and Russian disagreements over missile defense continued. The United States was also conducting a review of nuclear targeting. In the United Kingdom, the “successor” to the Vanguard-class submarine that carries Trident missiles officially entered “Initial Gate,” or the initial design phase.