Crispin Rovere and Kalman A Robertson suggest eliminating low-yield non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNW) in ‘Non-strategic nuclear weapons: The next step in multilateral arms control’. I’m sceptical of their proposed solution—a Minimum Yield Threshold Treaty. Firstly, …
From the late 1940s until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the two superpowers engaged in a standoff whereby each threatened the very existence of the other with tens of thousands of strategic nuclear warheads. …
Australia, like most nations, is happy to voice support at the UN for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. Even the P5 nuclear powers endorse this “ultimate” goal: in 2000 they famously made an “unequivocal …
Last week, a major UN conference on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament (known as the 2013 NPT PrepCom) wrapped up in Geneva. The outcome? Yet another frustratingly weak factual summary, reflecting the seemingly irreconcilable positions of …
The role that US nuclear weapons play in Australian strategic policy is given far less emphasis in the new Defence White Paper. While the 2009 document contained five paragraphs that directly addressed the issue of …
