In The News

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part II

Alan Robock March 17, 2008
Alarm about nuclear weapons and the irreversible harm that detonation might cause for the globe prompted nations to sign the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which went into force in 1970. Signatory nations without weapons agreed to not pursue the research, and nations with them agreed to reduce the numbers. But with the end of the Cold War, public fear about nuclear warfare...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part I

Graham Allison March 14, 2008
The detonation of a nuclear weapon – intentionally or not, by state powers or terrorists – will produce no winners. The very real danger that terrorists could unleash a nuclear weapon in major cities adds new urgency to dealing with the gathering threat. This three-part series explores the consequences of nuclear Armageddon and explains why immediate plans to eliminate all nuclear weaponry are in...

China and Pakistan: New Friends Can’t Compare

Willem van Kemenade March 12, 2008
The United States built a close relationship with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the basis of his hard line against terrorism. Shared recognition of a security threat bound the two states together, much as it did during the early Cold War. But Pakistani voters questioned that priority, and the outcome of February parliamentary elections revealed the fragility of the current US-Pakistan...

Slowly, But Surely, Pyongyang Is Moving

David Albright January 29, 2008
North Korea is dragging its feet on dismantling its nuclear program. The slow pace does not indicate that the country is backing away from commitments made during Six Party Talks, explain David Albright and Jacqueline Shire, with the Institute for Science and International Security. Evidence suggests that the country’s nuclear program may be less advanced that previously assumed. Reports that...

An Empowered Middle East – Part I

Pranay Gupte January 10, 2008
President George Bush’s trip to the Middle East comes at a time when Iraq is stabilizing and the oil-producing countries’ fortune is rising. Bush will visit Israel and Saudi Arabia, also making stops in Palestine, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirate and Egypt, perhaps even Iraq and Lebanon. Along the way he’ll witness results of US foreign policy – diplomacy, intervention and some neglect. A...

Why Iran Didn't Cross the Nuclear Weapon Road

Dilip Hiro December 11, 2007
A US national intelligence estimate – a consensus of 16 intelligence agencies – recently concluded that Iran discontinued its nuclear-weapons program due to “international pressure.” Author and Middle East analyst Dilip Hiro examines the chronology of events and argues that Iran started and ended its nuclear-weapons program for one reason: the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq....

The Costs of Containing Iran

Vali Nasr December 5, 2007
A US intelligence report published December 3 concludes that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. The report from 16 US intelligence agencies could slow an aggressive policy on Iran from the Bush administration. The US has failed to build a US-Israeli-Sunni alliance against Tehran – and also fails to recognize that, even if possible, such an alliance would further inflame...