March 1, 2010

Royal United Services Institute

Malcolm Chalmers, Simon Lunn

Reports/Studies

The purpose of this RUSI occasional paper is to contribute to the emerging debate on the future of the small number of remaining US nuclear weapons in Europe. During the Cold War, these weapons played a central role in NATO plans for deterring a Soviet attack on NATO. As late as 1991, the US maintained around 2,500 such warheads in Europe, operationally deployed with short-range artillery and missiles, surface ships and dual-capable aircraft. The clear message was that, if it came to war with the Soviet Union, early nuclear use by NATO was a distinct possibility. Since the Cold War ended, however, the role of these weapons in NATO strategy has been dramatically reduced, as have their numbers.

January 19, 2010

The Wall Street Journal

George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn

Op-eds/Statements

The four of us have come together, now joined by many others, to support a global effort to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons, to prevent their spread into potentially dangerous hands, and ultimately to end them as a threat to the world. We do so in recognition of a clear and threatening development.

November 1, 2009

Lowy Institute

Shen Dingli

Reports/Studies

There is pressure and expectation on China from some quarters to be more transparent about its nuclear arsenal and to engage in a nuclear disarmament process. Given, however, the recent official statements on Chinese nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament policy, including in response to President Obama’s proposal, see: Statement by President Hu Jintao at the United Nations Security Council Summit on Nuclear NonProliferation and Nuclear Disarmament, very small size of the Chinese arsenal alongside those of the United States and Russia, and given that China already has a policy of deemphasizing the role of nuclear weapons in its national security, it would be reasonable to expect Beijing to participate in nuclear disarmament only if Washington and Moscow have reached much lower force levels. In the meantime, however, China can contribute as a responsible stakeholder, including in addressing proliferation cases on its periphery and in other regions of concern.

"Pour un désarmement nucléaire mondial, seule réponse à la prolifération anarchique" ("For Global Nuclear Disarmament, the Only Answer to Anarchic Proliferation")

October 14, 2009

Le Monde

Former Prime Minister of France Alain Juppé, General Bernard Norlain, former Commander of the French Combat Air Force, former French Minister of Defense Alain Richar and former Prime Minister of France Michel Rocard

Op-eds/Statements

Read the op-ed

October 1, 2009

Lowy Institute

Rory Medcalf, Amandeep Gill

Reports/Studies

To reduce the grave dangers posed by the continued existence and spread of nuclear weapons, and the risk that they will one day again be used, unconventional diplomacy is needed. Part of the problem is the way in which global agreements or pragmatic interim solutions are often obstructed by longstanding divisions among nations: nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states; Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) members and nonmembers; Western states and the non-aligned. New partnerships and platforms for dialogue could cut across these stale categories, at least on some issues, and expand the space for agreement and new thinking. Australia and India could take the lead in crafting one such new partnership.