On April 16th, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeast Iran causing tremors that could be felt in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and western Saudi Arabia. This is only a week after a worrying 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Kaki, a southern Iranian town located just 60 miles from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power station.
Vulnerability
Strategic Dialogue on Nuclear Weapons Spending: What Does the United States Need and Why?
BASIC held its fourth Strategic Dialogue event, asking Dr. Christopher Ford (Hudson Institute) and Amb. Steven Pifer (Brookings Institution) to reflect on how the United States should approach possible spending cuts to its nuclear forces.
The event was held in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC, for House and Senate staff members on January 18, 2013. BASIC would like to thank the House Armed Services Committee for venue access.
Listen to the event below.
Cuban Missile Crisis 50th Anniversary
50 years ago this week, the world held its breath, waiting to see if nuclear armageddon would be averted, as the Cuban Missile Crisis reached its climax.
Iran news update: Israel raises the temperature
A flurry of media reports in the past week have sounded the alarm over purported advancements in Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme and Israel’s willingness to launch a first strike to prevent Iran obtaining a bomb. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have raised the stakes in the full knowledge that the U.S. is less than three months from a presidential election.
Country Reports
Read below to get the most up to date Getting to Zero country reports or click the links below for a chronological history.
NATO’s Twin Crises
John Feffer, a panelist at the Shadow NATO Summit III in Washington earlier this month, wrote an article for IPS about the “existential and fiscal crisis” facing NATO. Feffer takes quotes and discussion points from panelists at the Shadow Summit, including Juliane Smith, deputy national security advisor to Vice President Joseph Biden.
Amb. Francois Rivasseau at the Shadow NATO Summit
Ambassador Francois Rivasseau, member of the UN Secretary-General's disarmament advisory board, discusses US tactical nuclear weapons in Europe and NATO's nuclear weapon sharing arrangements at the Shadow NATO Summit hosted by BASIC, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Elliott School of International Affairs, NATO Watch, and Strategy International in Washington, DC on May 14 and 15, 2012.