Skip to content

Results:

1 - 10 of 632

Documents

February 22, 2024

Interview with Noël Stott

Noël Stott, based in South Africa, is a seasoned expert in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. At VERTIC, he works on fostering African perspectives in global nuclear discourse, emphasizing the lack of organizations in Africa actively addressing WMD issues. Stott critiques the stagnation in disarmament since the Cold War and the failure to leverage moments of global cooperation. He calls for African states to pressurize nuclear powers to honor their NPT commitments, advocating for clear strategies to advance Article Six's disarmament provisions.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

April 10, 2024

Interview with Kudakwashe Mapako

Kudakwashe Mapako, a legal researcher specializing in international law, engages in nuclear security with a focus on Africa through the African Center for Science and International Security. His work highlights Africa’s strategic role in uranium trade and disarmament, advocating for African states to leverage their positions for policy influence. He critiques inequalities in global non-proliferation treaties, particularly the NPT, and underscores the need for inclusive diplomacy. Mapako also emphasizes educating African policymakers and citizens about nuclear issues as a step toward meaningful participation in global disarmament efforts.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

March 28, 2024

Interview with Ian Fleming Zhou

Ian Fleming Zhou, a PhD candidate in international relations, focuses on nuclear diplomacy and non-proliferation. His interest began during his undergraduate studies, where his academic curiosity about foreign policy narrowed into nuclear negotiations, influenced by his mentor. Active in both academia and activism, he sees these roles as complementary, enhancing his ability to advocate for disarmament. Zhou critiques the current geopolitical climate, noting failures in arms control dialogue and the destabilizing effects of nuclear weapons, and calls for greater civil society involvement to pressure governments for policy change.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

February 19, 2023

Interview with Geoffrey Wiseman

The interview with Geoffrey Wiseman highlights his career, including his time at the Ford Foundation, where he managed the Peace and Security program during a transformative post-Cold War period. He outlines three main priorities: promoting alternative security concepts, advancing arms control and disarmament, and strengthening international organizations, particularly in UN peacekeeping. Wiseman reflects on the optimism of the 1990s regarding nuclear disarmament but acknowledges missed opportunities and emerging challenges, such as non-proliferation issues involving India, Pakistan, and North Korea. He emphasizes the importance of proactive philanthropy, fostering new voices in civil society, and leveraging resources to maximize impact while critiquing the complexities of achieving lasting global nuclear disarmament. This transcript was lightly edited to ease understanding. Some names were withdrawn. 

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

July 10, 2024

Interview with Alimzhan Akhmetov

Alimzhan Akhmetov, a former Kazakh diplomat, became interested in nuclear disarmament issues when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' department for international security issues in 2015. Akhmetov believes nuclear weapons are a destabilizing factor due to the high risks and resources spent on them, and he was disappointed that non-nuclear weapon states agreed too easily to the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1995. Akhmetov's NGO, the Center for International Security and Policy (CISP), works on nuclear disarmament issues, brings nuclear test survivors to international forums, and collaborates with organizations like ICAN and Soka Gakkai International. Akhmetov expects nuclear weapons to be replaced by other advanced weapons like autonomous systems in the next 50 years, leading to a more secure but unequal world, with proxy wars continuing.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

September 20, 2022

Interview with Peter Buijs

In this interview, Peter Buijs recounts his journey into nuclear disarmament activism, influenced by his father’s views and his own medical background. He explains that his work with NVMP and IPPNW centers on raising awareness of nuclear weapons’ catastrophic risks, emphasizing prevention as the only viable option. Buijs highlights that civil society, particularly medical professionals, can exert considerable influence on policy by presenting the humanitarian and health risks of nuclear warfare. He shares successes within Dutch civil society, where NVMP’s activism has led to increased political discourse on disarmament and even influenced government policy positions.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

September 27, 2022

Interview with Patricia Lewis

In this interview, Patricia Lewis shares insights from her extensive career in nuclear policy and disarmament, highlighting her transition from nuclear physics to think tank and research work. She explains the risks nuclear weapons pose, not only as physical entities but also as symbols of power that disrupt global politics. Lewis advocates for a focus on risk reduction over immediate disarmament, emphasizing that reducing the chance of nuclear weapon use is the most urgent priority. She discusses the need for broader public awareness and cooperation among governments, think tanks, and civil society to address nuclear issues through a humanitarian lens.

This document summary was generated by an artificial intelligence language model and was reviewed by a Wilson Center staff member.

April 16, 1979

Stenographic Notes of the Session of the Current Affairs Subcommittee of the SIV Nuclear Energy Commission [Excerpt]

This excerpt is a part of the lengthy document from the Yugoslav Nuclear Energy Commission meeting held on April 16, 1979. The discussion included cooperation with different countries in the development of peaceful nuclear technology, exploration of options to acquire and sell uranium (yellowcake) on the global market without any restrictions, and joint programs in developing or exporting nuclear technology (Romania, Indonesia, and Iraq). 

The focus here is on investigating the possibility of constructing a nuclear reactor in Iraq in cooperation with France. The details are fuzzy, although it is undoubtedly the Osiraq nuclear reactor. Important for understanding the context is the fact that Yugoslavia and Iraq had already established lucrative barter arrangements on the principle “armaments for oil.” More importantly, the general undertone throughout this and other meetings of the Commission in a previous couple of years is the attempt of the Yugoslavs to find loopholes in the existing safeguards and other restrictions related to selling sensitive nuclear technology to other countries based on a belief that the NPT did not function and that the ‘nuclear haves’ were once again trying to reestablish much stricter monopoly on nuclear technology than before. 

April 4, 1962

Letter, Eng. Predrag Anastasijević to Comrade Secretary of the SKNE, 'Meeting with Comrade Djura Ničić, April 2, 1962'

Throughout the 1950s, Yugoslav nuclear policy was designed by President Tito and a small circle of his closest associates. Very few official documents from that time remain or indeed ever existed. Things began to change after the establishment of the UN Eighteen Nations Disarmament Committee (ENDC) in December 1961, followed by the committee’s first meeting in March 1962, which marked the beginning of global negotiations that eventually led to the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) in 1963. This initiative forced the Yugoslav political leadership to approach the problem more systematically. 

The short document presented here comes from the first meeting during which the Yugoslav nuclear policy started to be officially formulated. The meeting was organized by the Yugoslav State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs [Državni sekretarijat za inostrane poslove — DSIP] and included representatives of the Yugoslav People’s Army [Jugoslovenska narodna armija — JNA], the Institute for International Politics [Institut za međunarodnu politiku] and the Federal Nuclear Energy Commission [Savezna komisija za nuklearnu energiju — SKNE]. The main goal was to initiate the coordination of activities and permanent consultations between these institutions in order to provide expert support to the DSIP and better comprehension of the ongoing negotiations in the ENDC.

April 24, 1968

Extracts from a Memorandum for the Information of the Government by the Department of External Affairs, ‘The General Assembly of the United Nations (Resumed Twenty-second Session’ (417/289), Dublin

The view of Frank Aiken throughout the 1960s was that once the United States and the Soviet Union had come to a basic agreement on the treaty, it was in the interests of all states to sign it on the basis of enlightened self-interest. He was not in favor of delay to finalize agreement on finer points as the will of the superpowers was of paramount importance.

Pagination