My Blog Posts

• Benefits of US-Russian Missile Defense Cooperation
  06/29/2010 01:24:29 PM EST
  Guest Post by Volha Charnysh Yesterday, U.S. ambassador to Russia John Beyrle urged Moscow to join Washington in building a worldwide missile defense system. Last week, prior to his meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, Barack Obama was quoted as saying that “cooperative missile defense with Russia has enormous potential” and that the United States “want[s] to work with Russia to be a key player and beneficiary in this global [missile defense] architecture.” The idea of U.S.-Russian missile defense cooperation is not new, and the initiatives considered today have been pondered for decades. The two countries agreed to “explore opportunities for intensified practical cooperation on missile defense for Europe” in a joint declaration at the May 2002 U.S.-Russia Summit, but their dialogue reached an impasse when George W. Bush unveiled the plan to build 10 interceptor missile systems in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic. A window of opportunity for Russia’s participation reopened with Obama's September 2009 decision to deploy a phased adaptive missile defense in Europe. As per the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, U.S. proposals for missile defense cooperation with Russia include integration of U.S. and Russian sensors; joint research and development; joint missile defense testing; joint modeling and simulations; missile defense exercises; and joint analyses of alternative U.S.-Russian missile defense architectures for defending against common, regional threats. After the U.S. change of plans, NATO has also expressed readiness to explore the potential for linking U.S., NATO and Russian missile defense systems and declared missile defense cooperation with Russia its target for the next NATO Summit in Lisbon in November 2010...
• We're Hiring!
  06/22/2010 12:38:53 PM EST
  JOB OPENING - Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Outreach Coordinator Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation are seeking to hire an Outreach Coordinator, with a specific focus on organizing outreach trips across the United States and engaging online audiences and social networks.
• Non-Proliferation and... Video Games?
  06/03/2010 05:07:50 PM EST
  Thanks to our friends over at the Stimson Center, the office has cheerily been playing disarmament video games this afternoon.  Stimson launched "Cheater's Risk" today, described in their own words below:

  As part of Stimson's "Unblocking the Road to Zero" project, which seeks to advance the debate about negotiated nuclear disarmament as a viable and practical policy option, Alex Bollfrass and Barry Blechman have developed Cheater's Risk, an online game that explores the dynamics of a world without nuclear weapons. Players take on the challenge of breaking out of a hypothetical disarmament regime without being detected by national intelligence services and international monitors. Depending on which country is selected, different pathways to the bomb are available. As the player navigates the pathways, the cumulative odds of detection are calculated.  At the end, famed weapons inspector Hans Blix determines if the player has gotten away with it or has been caught.

  I'm currently trying to develop nuclear weapons for Afghanistan via uranium enrichment.  We'll see if I get past Hans Blix!  Congratulations to our friends over at Stimson for a job well done with the game.  And to our readers -- definitely check it out!  It's a fun way to explore issues of non-proliferation.
• NPT RevCon Produces Consensus Final Document
  05/28/2010 06:57:40 PM EST
  Well folks, the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference has successfully produced a consensus final document!  This is the third time in the 40-year history of the Treaty that a consensus document has been achieved, so it is a not-unsubstantial achievement, especially given the tense negotiations that sometimes accompanied the month-long negotiations. The past 24 hours in particular witnessed tense negotiations surrounding one complicated and highly politicized issue in particular: Israel.  Their nuclear weapons program is the big open secret of the international community, and this NPT RevCon witnessed a contentious debate surrounding their being called out on it. Negotiations between Egypt (representing the Non-Aligned Movement states) and the United States in the final hours of the conference resulted in the United States capitulating in the interest of achieving a consensus document and allowing the following language to remain in the final document:

  The Conference recalls the reaffirmation by the 2000 Review Conference of the importance of Israel's accession to the Treaty and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards.

  Immediately after agreeing to the final document, states were given the opportunity to speak.  Amidst a river of thanks to the Review Conference President, Indonesian Libran Nuevas Cabactulan, there were some pointed remarks.  Among them were words by the United States delegate, State department official Ellen Tauscher, that the United States "deeply regrets" that Israel was called out by name in the final text to join the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state and participate in a 2012 conference on the establishment of a Mideast Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. Meanwhile, other states -- from Egypt (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement) to Lebanon and Algeria -- reiterated their position that a reaffirmation of the intention to implement the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East was a vital point to be included in the final document. Other areas of disagreement that were ultimately sidelined in order to reach consensus were: the encouragement of stronger safeguards, particularly through the adoption of the Additional Protocol; a timeline for complete disarmament (NAM states in particular had been calling for a firm date of 2025 as the goal for complete disarmament by the nuclear weapon states); negative security assurances, i.e. a guarantee on the part of nuclear weapon states that they will not use their nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states; and a moratorium on the production of fissile material, amongst other issues. Overall, the consensus final document can be viewed as a success. Despite immense tension between some of the states party to this treaty, a substantive consensus document was still achieved through a month of gritty diplomacy. We would wish that the efforts of political rivals working alongside each other in the interest of disarmament and non-proliferation would encourage further diplomacy and frank discussions between countries.  The NPT Review Conference is only every five years, yet the cooperation and frank discussions witnessed at the RevCon should occur with much more frequency. --- Nukes of Hazard will post the final document text when it becomes available.  Until then, see this draft version.
• Interesting
  05/28/2010 11:40:50 AM EST
  attached to The NPT Review Conference's Focus on a Nuclear Free Middle East