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January 18, 2023

Interview with Francesco Vignarca

Francesco Vignarca describes his journey into advocacy as part of Italy's largest peace and disarmament network, merging activism with scientific rigor to address arms trade, military spending, and nuclear disarmament. He believes nuclear weapons threaten global democracy by disproportionately empowering a few nations, and he advocates for a multilateral, cooperative approach to security. His organization, closely allied with ICAN, pursues both normative and practical steps toward disarmament, including mobilizing Italian municipalities to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Despite the challenges, he remains optimistic about achieving global nuclear disarmament through grassroots efforts and sustained political engagement.

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

March 22, 2023

Interview with Emma Belcher

In this interview, Emma Belcher describes her journey into the nuclear field, inspired initially by her early exposure to anti-nuclear activism and later drawn to grantmaking through roles at the MacArthur Foundation and Ploughshares Fund. She discusses nuclear weapons as a "necessary evil" but hopes for a future without them, noting that recent conflicts like Ukraine highlight the urgent need for global nuclear awareness to prevent an arms buildup. Belcher reflects on challenges within the field, including reduced funding, limited public engagement, and entrenched norms that hinder collaboration and creativity. She emphasizes the importance of inclusivity, advocating for new perspectives and cross-field partnerships to build a more innovative, impactful approach to nuclear disarmament.

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

November 8, 2022

Interview with Daniel Högsta

In this interview, Daniel Högsta discusses his journey into ICAN, beginning as a law student interested in public international law, eventually interning with ICAN in 2013, and now working as an advocacy coordinator. He views nuclear weapons as destabilizing and highlights ICAN’s role in advocating for nuclear disarmament through a humanitarian lens, contrasting ICAN's approach with traditional deterrence views. Högsta emphasizes ICAN's unique, coalition-based structure, which collaborates with governments, academics, and civil society, each focusing on eliminating nuclear weapons while complementing the NPT. He is optimistic about the future impact of ICAN’s efforts, even if immediate results may not be visible, and he envisions a world without nuclear weapons as one founded on international norms and cooperation.

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

November 11, 2022

Interview with Beatrice Fihn

In this interview, Beatrice Fihn shares insights on her journey to lead the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and reflects on nuclear disarmament. She discusses her evolving views on nuclear weapons, describing them as both a global threat and largely ineffective in providing real security. She emphasizes ICAN's mission to make disarmament accessible, promote the humanitarian impact of nuclear arms, and engage diverse partners worldwide. Fihn critiques the nuclear status quo, attributing it to government and corporate interests that prioritize stability over disarmament, while highlighting ICAN’s commitment to collaborative, adaptable advocacy. Looking ahead, she remains hopeful yet cautious about achieving a world without nuclear weapons, noting the importance of sustained effort from civil society.

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

August 1961

Record of Conversations between Cde. N. S. Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CPSU CC, and Ho Chi Minh, Chairman of the CC of the VWP

Khrushchev and Ho Chi Minh discuss global tensions around imperialism, nuclear disarmament, and peace talks over Germany. They review worsening Soviet relations with Albania and China, as Albania aligns with Beijing and Western powers. The leaders also address the conflicts in Laos and South Vietnam, balancing support for revolutionary forces with concerns over provoking US intervention.

August 10, 1991

Japan-China Summit Meeting (Arms Control and Disarmament)

Li Peng and Kaifu Toshiki discuss China's accession to the NPT, the sale of conventional arms, and North Korea's proposal for the Korean Peninsula to be declared a nuclear-free zone.

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.

November 13, 1964

Extract from Memo. for Govt. dated 13/11/1964, 19th Session of U.N. General Assembly: 'III. Non-Dissemination of Nuclear Weapons'

This memorandum for Cabinet succinctly summarizes Aiken’s approach after 1961. He supported the negotiations of the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee (ENDC) but recognized and held to the position that Resolution 1665 (XIV) provided the basic roadmap for an eventual agreement of a global non-proliferation treaty. More specifically, he maintained that 1665 provided the basis by which NATO nuclear sharing could be accommodated. Aiken was skeptical of Soviet contentions that a non-proliferation pact would prevent the proposed Multilateral Force (MLF). The Irish position was that it would not engage in the detailed ENDC discussions as it was for that body and the nuclear powers to broker the detailed provisions for an NPT owing to their knowledge of, and interests in, nuclear energy.

December 5, 1961

Report from Seán Ronan to Con Cremin (Dublin), ‘Irish Resolution on Preventing the Spread of Nuclear Weapons’ (Confidential), New York [Excerpt]

Aiken drafted in additional personnel to the Irish Mission to the UN in the run-in to the XVIth UN Session. Seán Ronan, the head of the political and information divisions at headquarters in Dublin, was sent as a delegate to the First Committee of the UN, involving him intensely in Aiken’s non-dissemination efforts. His insider account reveals some of the dynamics and calculations at play in the building, as Ireland managed a balancing act of engineering consensus between East and West. In large part, the Irish Mission crafted the resolution’s language to skirt the issue of alliance nuclear sharing in a bid to manufacture unanimity. The Irish had pondered co-sponsoring a Swedish draft resolution but anticipated that it would face resistance from NATO comparable to earlier iterations of the Irish resolution. Similarly, Ireland neglected to mention a proposed new disarmament committee in the draft resolution – there was no guarantee that it would form and report expeditiously. Finally, by drawing on the instrument of acclamation, the Irish sidestepped French objections and gained universal approval for Resolution 1665 (1961), wrapping the resolution in universal legitimacy. 

July 25, 1968

Letter, Minister Willy Brandt to Franz J. Strauß, with Attachment 'Comments on a French Note sent by the Federal Minister of Finances to the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs by Letter of July 2, 1968'

Brandt answered Strauß by forwarding a memorandum from the Federal Government Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control, Ambassador Swidbert Schnippenkötter, who clarified that the ambiguity in wording reflected “a quite conscious dissent” between the United States and the Soviet Union. Concerns about this point of legal ambiguity remained central to the lines of argument taken by NPT opponents and many NPT skeptics in Bonn through late 1969 and, to a lesser extent, though 1973 and 1974 when NPT ratification was debated.

Pagination