The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review reflects modern reality and gives momentum to President Obama's long-term goal of living in a world without nuclear weapons.
President Obama's vision of a world without nuclear weapons will require step-by-step progress on disarmament by nuclear-armed states, reciprocated by step-by-step progress toward strengthening the nonproliferation regime by non-nuclear-weapon states.
The consideration of nuclear abolition is highly speculative, but keeping the long-term goal in mind while addressing near-term security challenges can achieve more good than harm.
The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review gives much-needed momentum to the nuclear agenda President Obama set out in Prague last year.
The new START agreement that President Obama and President Medvedev will sign in Prague on April 8 provides concrete and tangible progress in bilateral relations and addresses the biggest existential threat the United States faces—Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
When President Medvedev and President Obama sign the new START agreement in Prague on April 8, they should emphasize their common interest in nuclear disarmament and make the ratification process another step in the positive resetting of relations.
The United States and India recently concluded arrangements for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. This removes one of the final hurdles to fully implementing the 2008 U.S.-India nuclear deal, which exempted India from nuclear trade restrictions and has exacerbated nuclear tensions in South Asia.
A year after President Obama outlined an agenda of nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism in his speech in Prague, the administration has moved forward with its release of a new Nuclear Posture Review and agreed to a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
Nuclear weapons are again at the forefront of U.S.-Russian relations. The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) agreement has been signed, but its ratification still faces opposition in both Russia and the United States.
High-level officials from nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states should consult one another directly on disarmament initiatives and to seek agreement on corresponding nonproliferation measures.
In May 2010, nearly 190 nations will meet in New York to assess the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to chart a path forward for progress on its three pillars: nonproliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
President Obama should assess whether any other leaders of major countries are seriously prepared to pursue a nuclear-weapon-free world. If some are, he should invite them to join him in detailing a ten-year action plan to minimize the dangers posed by fissile materials and maximize the potential of peaceful nuclear energy.
World government need not be invoked in considerations of abolishing nuclear weapons. Instead, nuclear abolition can be a realistic organizing principle of states seeking to balance and order their relations in ways that remove the threats of mass destruction.
Although there is no precedent for a preventive UN Security Council resolution, it should be more effective in making clear to Iran the negative consequences of its actions than any post facto curative measure.
U.S. Secretary of State Clinton leaves for Moscow for a Quartet meeting on efforts to revive Israeli–Palestinian peace talks. She will also meet with President Medvedev to address the bilateral agenda, not least the successor agreement to START and Iran's nuclear program.
The current discussion in the UN Security Council regarding a fourth sanctions resolution against Iran is a result of Iran's inability to convince the international community of its peaceful nuclear intentions.
The goal of nuclear superiority is unattainable. Instead, the United States can enhance its security by giving nuclear-armed adversaries strong incentives for restraint in a crisis.
More than ever, preventing nuclear weapons proliferation requires cooperation among the United States, Russia, and China, plus emerging powers. To achieve this cooperation, measures must be crafted to uphold the bargain between disarmament and nonproliferation.
While Russian leaders support the idea of a world free of nuclear weapons in theory, the Russian security community is still committed to the principle of nuclear deterrence.
Opponents of the START follow-on agreement are employing scare tactics to impede Senate ratification of the treaty at the long-term risk of imperiling national security.
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