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| April 2010 |
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Take Action
For
the past 10 years, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) has
made no progress in stregthening the nonproliferation and
disarmament regime. Negotiations are currently under way on a
fissile material cutoff treaty (FMCT), which would go a long way to
reduce the threat nuclear weapons pose to global peace and
security. However, negotations have been stymied by Pakistan,
which rejects current proposals because there is no provision for a
reduction of current stocks of fissile materials. Continued
blocking of negotiations delays nonproliferation progress and makes the
CD a lame duck institution. The CD's work is essential to stregthening current
nonproliferation and disarmament fora and its inability to make
progress seriuosly threatens nonproliferation and
disarmament. Contact your CD delegates to show your support for the CD's work on a FMCT.
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NPT News
David Krieger, President of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, recently published Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament: Shifting the Mindset, a roadmap to a nuclear weapons free future.
Australia and Japan released
a joint proposal last week of 16 nuclear disarmament and
nonproliferation measures, including calling for a reduction in nuclear
arsenals and increased communication of nuclear abilities by nuclear
weapons states.
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Good Reads
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East, by
Dr. Gawdat Bahgat, professor at the Near East South Asia Center for
Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. This
book explores several intriguing questions surrounding
nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle East. Through case
studies of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, and Saudi Arabia, Dr.
Bahgat analyzes the decisions of each government on whether to pursue
nuclear weapons capabilities.
Israel and the Bomb, by
Dr. Avner Cohen, Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars and Senior Research Fellow at
the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of
Maryland. Dr. Cohen gives a detailed account of the history of
Israel's nuclear weapons program, based on interviews and American and
Israeli government documents. This book provides a thorough
analysis of Israel's decision to go nuclear, but maintain a policy of
nuclear opacity.
" Promoting Arms Control and Regional Security in the Middle East,"
by Dr. Michael Yaffe, professor at the Near East South Asia Center for
Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. Published
in Disarmament Forum, this article discusses what has occured
since the ACRS stopped its formal activities in 1995. Dr. Yaffe
pays special attention to the role of extra-regional governments and
NGOs in shaping Middle East security policy. |
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Global Effects of Local Nuclear War
Most
of us are aware of the immediate effects of nuclear weapons, but
what about the long term effects? Nuclear winter poses
significant consequences to the climate, including cooling, drying, and
darkening of the earth's surface, resulting in vast agricultural
damage. In their article in Scientific American, "Local Nuclear War,"
Drs. Alan Robock and Owen Brian Toon use computer climate models
to show how nuclear war between India and Pakistan would result in
mass starvation from the resulting climate changes. For more
information on nuclear winter, check out Steven Starr's website, Nuclear Darkness, and his Nuclear Firestorm Simulator.
In a recent Arms Control Today interview, "Taking Stock of the NPT: An Interview with U.S. Special Representative Susan Burk,"
Ambassador Burk reviews the progress and preparations leading up to the
2010 NPT Review Conference. Burk addresses possible barriers that
may inhibit the progress of nuclear disarmament, discusses the steps
that the U.S. is taking to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons, and
stresses the need to achieve reasonable goals.
This
month's Daisy Alliance Blog analyzes the 1995 NPT Review
Conference's Middle East Resolution, which called for a Nuclear Weapons
Free Zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East. No progress has been made on
implementing the resolution, and the issue promises to be a significant
part of negotiations at the upcoming 2010 Review Conference.
Establishing a Middle East NWFZ is a vital step to stabilizing the
Middle East and promoting global security, nonproliferation, and
disarmament. | | |
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