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What happens when you give women, particularly young women, the time, tools, and space to dream up a society better than the reality they inherited? Tomorrow’s Women, the only cross-border peace-building organization in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank exclusively focused on investing in the leadership skills of young women as a pathway to peace,…

I began my PhD at the Hacettepe University in Turkiye in September 2021, mere months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which involved the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. I had already developed an interest in a question that I felt nuclear security had traditionally ignored: what happens…

During my time as a Ploughshares x Horizon 2045 Nuclear Futures Fellow, I spent one year mapping the footprint of nuclear weapons in our neighborhoods. I was left surprised, and encouraged.  I scoured the corners of the internet, from newspaper archives to university library collections, the personal websites of local activists to organizational histories. Through…

After years of advocacy by downwinders, uranium workers, atomic veterans, communities harmed by nuclear weapons production and radioactive waste, and their allies, Congress has another opportunity to provide recognition and compensation to some of the people still excluded from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). On August 17th, Guam Delegate James Moylan (R-GU) introduced H.R.…

There is something genuinely refreshing about a new Hollywood film that takes nuclear diplomacy seriously. The Brink of War, opening August 14, dramatizes the extraordinary October 1986 meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavík, Iceland. The Reykjavík Summit lasted just two days, but the two leaders came remarkably close to…

The U.S.-Iran war has exposed the failure of a decades-long strategy built on coercion, maximalist demands, and the pursuit of decisive victory. A more sustainable approach must focus on managing rivalry, reducing nuclear and regional risks, and building a durable cold peace. Launched in February 2026, the U.S.-Iran war fundamentally altered the strategic landscape of…

The opportunity cost of nuclear weapons spending is staggering. In ICAN’s recently released “Premeditated: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2025” report, we juxtaposed astronomical increases in nuclear weapons spending and a humanitarian landscape that is struggling with budget cuts. In 2025, nuclear-armed states spent a record $119 billion on nuclear arms. Meanwhile, more than 22 million…

Today marks eight years since President Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, which was first signed in 2015. During his first term, Trump drove this action under the pretense that he would create a stronger, better deal with Iran. The work…

My journey to Ploughshares began in 2018 with air conditioning and lefse. I was a theology undergraduate studying peace methods in Oslo, Norway—the home of the Nobel Peace Prize. That summer, the Nobel Peace Center was recognizing the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)’s achievements in nuclear disarmament, and on an unusually warm Norwegian…

A month into the US and Israel war on Iran, a few clear patterns are emerging. Polling shows that the American public does not support the war. Members of Congress are publicly denouncing the war and advancing efforts to cut off funding. And countless experts, advocates, and organizers are driving home a key message: there…