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Pakistan’s PM, Politics, and Prospects
  On the radar: Nawaz Sharif; Dealing with loose nukes; More missile launches; Obama’s opportunities for reductions; New pork for New York; Polling proliferation; and Nuke bunker turned into bat cave.   Read more »
EARLY WARNING for May 20, 2013
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A Giving Opportunity
If you are 70½ or older and care about the work of Ploughshares Fund, we have good news for you. The fiscal-cliff bill, known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA), allows you to donate income of up to $100,000 from your IRA distributions to charitable organizations like Ploughshares Fund in 2013, and retroactively for 2012, for a savings on your 2012 taxes due this April. Read more »
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Posted by Samara Dun on January 8, 2013
Individual Retirement Accounts, Philanthropy
World Nuclear Stockpile Analytics
This year we saw a nearly 16% decrease in the number of nuclear weapons in the world. This is great progress but there is far more work for us to do. Read more »
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Posted by Peter Fedewa on December 21, 2012
infographics, Nuclear Zero, Syria
Syria’s Chemical Weapons – Foreshadowing a Nuclear Scenario?
With the real possibility of Syria’s use of chemical weapons and the security of their stockpiles in question, the comparison to a nuclear scenario is not hard to imagine. Read more »
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Posted by Jessica Sleight on December 18, 2012
South Asia, North Korea, chemical weapons, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, Syria
North Korea’s Rocket Launch: Who’s Up, Who’s Down?
As the United Nations Security Council considers a response to the North Korean missile launch, I’d like to offer my view on the immediate “winners and losers” from this episode. Read more »
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Posted by Paul Carroll on December 12, 2012
North Korea, Iran
Weighing Benefits and Costs of International Sanctions Against Iran
The Iran Project, a group of leading national security experts and former officials, and a grantee of Ploughshares Fund, has published a new report about the costs and benefits of international sanctions against Iran. The report, endorsed by 38 leading national security figures, springs from the observation that “the costs of sanctions themselves are not routinely addressed in the public or policymaking debate.” Read more »
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Posted by Yelena Altman on December 7, 2012
Bill Luers, Jim Walsh, Nuclear proliferation, Thomas Pickering, Iran
Re-elected, Obama Reaffirms His Vision (Video)
On Monday, December 3, I was honored to be part of a select audience for President Obama's first national security speech since his reelection. That night, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rachel Maddow to talk about the President’s speech. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on December 5, 2012
Joe Cirincione, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, Rachel Maddow, Video
The Lost Art of Compromise: Sustaining American Security in the 21st Century
On the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Foreign Policy published two compelling, yet opposing, viewpoints by Leslie Gelb and Stephen Sestanovich concerning the lessons learned from those thirteen fateful days. Read more »
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Posted by admin on December 3, 2012
Cuban Missile Crisis, Partners, Russia
What the Cuban Missile Crisis Failed to Teach Us About Iran
With the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis at hand, a re-examination of the thirteen days of confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union has led to new interpretations of “the most dangerous moment in human history.” Read more »
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Posted by admin on November 27, 2012
Cuban Missile Crisis, Partners, Russia, Iran
Getting the Inside Scoop
Now that the 2012 elections are over and the results are in, the nation’s capital is getting back to the business of policymaking. And, certainly, it seems that policymakers are energized and ready to go. And so are we!  Read more »
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Posted by Philip Yun on November 21, 2012
Board of Directors, DC briefing, Nuclear Policy, Partners
Obama’s Arms Control Goals Likely to Fall Short
President Obama’s administration portrayed the 2010 nuclear arms reduction treaty—which provides modest cuts to US and Russian strategic arsenals—as a  means to “prime the pump” to achieve deeper and more comprehensive cuts down the road. But after enduring a grueling fight with Senate Republicans to ratify the treaty, the administration decided to table new talks with Russia until after the 2012 presidential elections, when the new political environment would make an agreement easier to achieve. Read more »
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Posted by admin on November 20, 2012
arms control, Nuclear Weapons, Partners, Russia