Arms Control Today articles from April 2006

Arms Control Today archives from April 2006

Editor's note.
April 1, 2006... When the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in 1968, five states--China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States--had already tested nuclear weapons. The treaty obligated these five states to take steps...

Another chance for the fissile production ban.
April 1, 2006... Cutting off production of fissile material--plutonium or highly enriched uranium--has been on the international nonproliferation and arms control agenda for decades. But since the late 1990s, the concept has been relegated to the diplomatic...

Notable quotable.(John Bolton)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... "I give them [India and Pakistan] credit at least that what they did was consistent with the obligations they undertook... They never pretended that they had given up the pursuit of nuclear weapons. They never tried to tie what they were doing...

Steps toward a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... The Gulf War has thrown a harsh light on an alternative possibility: A Middle East in which every major state seeks weapons of mass destruction to balance its neighbors, while smaller states are tempted to do the same to protect their national...

By the numbers.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Chemical Weapons Destruction in Russia The 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans chemical weapons (CW) and requires their destruction within a specified period of time. After a missed 2002 deadline, Russia now has until April 29,...

Final report on the feasibility of a study of the health consequences to the American population from nuclear weapon tests.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... By the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute, February 2006 This study, commissioned in 1998 by Congress, says it is technically possible to determine...

Iran: is there a way out of the nuclear impasse?(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... International Crisis Group, February 2006 This report offers possible solutions to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. Anticipating a lack of UN Security Council unanimity and questions concerning Iran's compliance with its...

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.(Vietnam)
April 1, 2006... Vietnam ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) March 10, marking an important step forward for the treaty. Vietnam is one of 44 states listed in Annex 2 of the treaty whose signature and ratification are required before the CTBT can...

Chemical Weapons Convention.(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... Djibouti deposited its instruments of ratification to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Jan. 25, Haiti ratified the CWC on Feb. 22, and Liberia ratified it a day later, bringing the total number of states-parties to the CWC to 178. Eight...

On the calendar.(United Nations)(Table)(Brief article)
April 1, 2006... April 10-28 Annual meeting of the UN Disarmament Commission. Agenda will include nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, and practical confidence-building measures for...

End of a nuclear weapons era: can Britain make history?(Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1968)
April 1, 2006... The United Kingdom has begun to debate whether to replace the current Trident nuclear weapons system, which will cease to be operational in the early 2020s, or to become the first acknowledged nuclear-weapon state to comply fully with Article...

Back to basics: steering constructive evolution of the BWC.(BWC 2006)(Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxic Weapons, 1972)(Sixth Review Conference of States-Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention)
April 1, 2006... When the Sixth Review Conference of States-Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) meets later this year, it will mark the first full review of this 155-member treaty since 1991. The previous two gatherings of this...

If it ain't broke: the already reliable U.S. nuclear arsenal.(Department of Energy's Reliable Replacement Warhead program)
April 1, 2006... The Bush administration through the Department of Energy has proposed developing a new family of nuclear warheads to replace the aging weapons in the current U.S. nuclear stockpile. The Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program is intended to...

UN urges Iran to halt enrichment.(United Nations)
April 1, 2006... After several weeks of contentious debate, the UN Security Council March 29 adopted a presidential statement calling on Iran to resolve the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) concerns about its nuclear program and to resuspend its...

Iran's nuclear efforts, capabilities still murky.
April 1, 2006... Even as the UN Security Council has begun considering potential responses to Iran's controversial nuclear program, Tehran's nuclear capabilities and intentions remain shrouded in ambiguity. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is...

U.S. shifts policy on Iran.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
April 1, 2006... In addition to pushing for increased multilateral efforts to contain Iran's nuclear program, the United States has taken several unilateral and bilateral measures recently to adjust its relationship with Tehran. The measures include...

France, Libya agree to nuclear cooperation.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
April 1, 2006... France and Libya March 15 signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, the first of its kind for Tripoli since its 2003 pledge to comprehensively dismantle its nuclear and chemical weapons programs. France's commitment to assist Libya's...

Bush, Singh advance nuclear deal.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2006... U.S. and Indian negotiators haggled up to the last minute but successfully completed a controversial plan March 2 dividing India's nuclear complex into civilian and military sectors. Their success capped the first visit of President George W....

Congress, NSG question U.S.-Indian deal.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2006... After surprising the world and Congress last summer with its proposal to expand global civil nuclear trade with India, the Bush administration is now asking lawmakers and other governments to help make it happen. Although some quickly expressed...

North Korea, U.S. talks inch forward.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2006... Although another session of multilateral talks regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons program has yet to be scheduled after more than four months, North Korea and the United States appear to have made incremental progress toward convening...

Japan embracing missile defense.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2006... Several years of U.S.-Japanese cooperation on anti-missile systems bore fruit in a successful experiment March 8. The test marked an important milestone in the two countries' collaboration as Japan expands its missile defense activities and has...

U.S. missile defense capability a mystery.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
April 1, 2006... Is the fledgling ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) system deployed nearly 18 months ago by the Pentagon capable of destroying an incoming long-range ballistic missile? In March, lawmakers discovered that the answer depends on who you ask....

Missile threat: does it add up?(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
April 1, 2006... By March, the annual process of federal government officials marching up to Congress to justify their budget requests is in full swing. Missile defense officials took their turn in early March but did so in a way that raised questions about the...

Three years later, Iraq investigations continue.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
April 1, 2006... More than three years after the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, several issues concerning Iraq's illicit weapons programs remain unresolved. The congressional intelligence committees continue to review different aspects of U.S. pre-war...

Europeans seek to strengthen BWC.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
April 1, 2006... European states have recently approved a plan to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). But in doing so they made clear that they favor incremental improvements, conscious that they must work around U.S resistance to multilateral...

Looking back: lessons from the denuclearization of Brazil and Argentina.
April 1, 2006... Later this year, the world will celebrate an arms control milestone: December 2006 will mark the 15th anniversary of the Quadripartite Agreement, which finalized the arrangements for effective inspections of the nuclear programs of Brazil and...

A long wait for an Indian ICBM.(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2006... When discussing India's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities ("U.S. Space Aid to India: On a Glide Path to ICBM Trouble?" Arms Control Today, March 2006), it should be noted that, in the near term, bureaucratic and...