Nuclear Nonproliferation

Head of NATO Says Ukraine Only Part of Putin’s Ambitions

By Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal

“I see Ukraine and Crimea in a bigger context,” Mr. [NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh] Rasmussen says. “I see this as an element in a pattern, and it’s driven by President Putin’s strong desire to restore Russian greatness

How Washington’s Polarization Endangers Nuclear Arms Control

By Jofi Joseph

The Global Treaty Banning Nuclear Test Explosions is Increasingly at Risk Five years ago this month, President Obama won international applause for his landmark speech in Prague calling for a world free of nuclear weapons – a commitment intended as a central organizing principle of his national security framework. But progress on that “Prague Agenda” […]

NATO Secretary General Concerned About Russian Plans to Deploy Offensive Weapon Systems

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

I am convinced that the vision that we agreed in 2010 in Lisbon remains the right one: a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia. But I am concerned that in key areas, we remain too far apart.

Overblown Rhetoric Exaggerates Proliferation Risks of Japan-Turkey Nuclear Cooperation

By Jessica Varnum

The international community faces many grave nuclear proliferation challenges. Possible nuclear energy cooperation between Japan and Turkey is not one of them, although a January 8th editorial in Japan’s second most widely read newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, suggested otherwise. It  called for an “urgent rethink” of the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement currently under consideration by […]

Getting to Zero in the Middle East

By Bilal Y. Saab

As Syria dismantles its chemical weapons infrastructure and Iran places verifiable limitations on its nuclear program for the next six months and potentially longer, an opportunity for further progress on the elusive goal of ridding the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) presents itself. While old challenges remain and new ones have […]

UN to Inspect Libya’s Uranium Stocks Amid Worsening Security

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

A U.N. nuclear team will visit Libya this month to assess the safety of thousands of barrels of milled uranium – known as yellowcake – amid concerns about the country’s deteriorating security situation, a U.N. official said on Monday.

Pavel and Kroenig Discuss Iran Deal on This Week in Defense

Council Vice President and Director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security Barry Pavel and Senior Fellow Matt Kroenig appeared on This Week in Defense with Vago Muradian to discuss the deal that’s been struck on Iran’s nuclear program. Watch the full interview. For more expert analysis and reactions to the deal, check out […]

Now for the hard part

By Matthew Kroenig

Early Sunday morning in Geneva, the P5+1 and Iran announced that they had reached an interim deal on Iran’s nuclear program. Many are heralding the agreement as an historic breakthrough, and the deal does indeed buy us time, but it is much too early to declare victory. Indeed, the Iranian nuclear crisis might still very […]

Obama Has an Opening with Iran

By R. Nicholas Burns

With a speed few predicted, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rowhani, has signaled his interest in negotiations this autumn on Iran’s controversial nuclear program. This could produce the first extensive contact between Washington and Tehran since diplomatic relations ruptured during the Jimmy Carter administration.

Obama’s Red Lines

By Henry Johnson

President Obama’s tepid response to Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons illuminates how he might react to a decision by Iran to build nuclear weapons. In both cases, he has drawn red lines that are extremely costly to enforce.