Arms Control Today articles from June 2007

Arms Control Today archives from June 2007

Editor's note.(nuclear weapons)
June 1, 2007... When and why do states pursue nuclear weapons? It is a question that has long been debated among arms control and nonproliferation analysts. This month's issue looks at one state that has crossed the nuclear Rubicon and another that some...

START over.(FOCUS)(Strategic arms limitation treaties)
June 1, 2007... Five years ago at the signing ceremony for the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), President George W. Bush claimed the agreement "liquidates the Cold War legacy of nuclear hostility" between the United States and Russia. Think again....

Notable quotable.(InBRIEF)(Quotation)
June 1, 2007... "What has happened in Europe that is so negative that one should need to fill central Europe with arms?" --Russian President Vladimir Putin, May 23 in Vienna, Austria, commenting on U.S. plans to establish a strategic ballistic missile...

The jury is still out.(Five Years Ago in ACT)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Despite Bush administration statements that the United States no longer needs to match Russia warhead for warhead and that mutual assured destruction is being left behind, the number of weapons left in play by this treaty suggests otherwise....

By the numbers.(InBRIEF)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... U.S. Missile Defenses 5 Years since U.S. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty withdrawal on June 13, 2002 $41.3 Billion Appropriated by Congress to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) for fiscal year 2003 through fiscal year 2007 ...

The United States nuclear weapons program: the role of the Reliable Replacement Warhead.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... American Association for the Advancement of Science, April 2007 Tasked with assessing whether a program to design and build a new nuclear warhead might ease longevity concerns about the aging U.S. stockpile, a 13-member panel of the...

Nuclear black markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the rise of proliferation networks.(Reports of Note)(Abdul Qadeer)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... International Institute for Strategic Studies, May 2007 This dossier traces the evolution of nuclear black markets from the procurement and subsequent entrepreneurial activities of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to current illicit...

Biological Weapons Convention.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Kazakhstan signed legislation May 8 to join the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). It will officially accede to the convention after it has submitted its instrument of accession to Russia, the United Kingdom, or the United States, the...

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... On May 16, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) suspended the voting rights of the United States on account of $38.3 million in unpaid dues since 2002. Underpayments by the United States and 102 other signatories--85 of which,...

Global initiative to combat nuclear terrorism.(Treaty Update)(Brief article)
June 1, 2007... Participation in a U.S.-Russian anti-nuclear terrorism initiative has more than doubled since March to 39 countries. The July 2006 initiative is expected to grow even more by its third meeting, which will take place June 11-12 in Kazakhstan....

On the calendar.(What's Ahead)(Calendar)
June 1, 2007... June 19-22 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: Group of Governmental Experts meeting, Geneva. June 26-29 Organization for the Prohibitiion of Chemical Weapons: 49th session of the Executive Council, The...

Not going nuclear: Japan's response to North Korea's nuclear test.
June 1, 2007... Since North Korea's nuclear test on October 9, 2006, there has been considerable foreign speculation that the explosion might prompt Japan to develop its own nuclear weapons arsenal. These views do not reflect the relatively restrained reaction...

Crossing the threshold: the untold nuclear dimension of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and its contemporary lessons.
June 1, 2007... Forty years ago, war dramatically transformed the Middle East. Six memorable days, known by Israelis as the Six-Day War and by Arabs and others as the 1967 War, redrew the landscape of the Arab-Israeli conflict in fundamental ways. In those six...

The Proliferation Security Initiative: a glass half-full.
June 1, 2007... As we approach the fourth anniversary of President George W. Bush's May 31, 2003, launch of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), it is appropriate and fair to compare rhetoric with reality, assess the effort's effectiveness, and attempt...

NPT preparatory meeting scores some success.(News ANALYSIS)
June 1, 2007... Substantive discussions at the first of three preparatory meetings for the 2010 review conference of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), held April 30-May 11 in Vienna, were cut short because of an Iranian objection to the agenda. Yet,...

Conference on disarmament stalemate persists.(THE WORLD)
June 1, 2007... The latest bid to end the prolonged negotiating impasse of the 65-member Conference on Disarmament (CD) is faltering primarily because China and Pakistan are raising objections to the March 23 proposal. Western diplomatic sources and a UN...

Security Council may close Iraq inspection unit.(THE WORLD)
June 1, 2007... The United States and other permanent members of the UN Security Council are drafting a resolution that would officially terminate the mission of UN inspectors tasked with verifying and monitoring Iraq's disarmament, Ben Chang, a spokesperson...

Missile defense five years after the ABM treaty.(News ANALYSIS)(Anti-Ballistic Missile)
June 1, 2007... Five years after President George W. Bush orchestrated the June 13, 2002, U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty to build an "effective" missile defense, the system remains unproven or insufficient in the eyes of...

Panel endorses U.S. global strike initiative.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
June 1, 2007... An independent panel recently provided a boost to a coolly received Pentagon initiative that would convert some long-range, submarine-launched ballistic missiles to deliver conventional warheads instead of nuclear ones. In a May 11 report...

Russia casts doubt on conventional arms pact.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
June 1, 2007... President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian leaders recently ratcheted up warnings that Moscow might freeze or end participation in a treaty limiting conventional weapons in Europe if some long-running disputes with NATO are not soon...

Iran continues Security Council defiance.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
June 1, 2007... A May 23 report from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei documents that Iran has continued work on its nuclear program in defiance of the UN Security Council. This lack of compliance sets the stage for...

Russia, Burma sign nuclear agreement.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
June 1, 2007... The United States has expressed concerns about an agreement Burma and Russia signed May 15 that could pave the way for the construction of a Russian nuclear research reactor in the Southeast Asian nation. Department of State spokesperson...

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.(LOOKING BACK)
June 1, 2007... On January 26, 1988, Ambassador Maynard Glitman, the chief U.S. negotiator at the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty talks, wound up his testimony in support of the treaty with the following: It remains fundamentally true...