Digests and Blog

By Kelsey Davenport Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN General Assembly on October 1, 2013. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly today that Israel will "stand alone" in order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It is good that Prime Minister Netanyahu is prepared for that, because alone is where Israel is right now when it comes to policy on Iran's nuclear program. Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to have missed the readout on the positive progress made last week on the negotiations between six world powers, or the P5+1, and…

This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions for events to be covered here.) - Jefferson Morley,Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today. Netanyahu to Huddle With Obama On Monday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Obama at the White House. On the agenda are Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and Israel's concerns about rapidly evolving nuclear diplomacy with Iran. For more on Iran, see "Solving the Iranian…

Mock Scud-B missiles on display at the Korean War Museum in Seoul. (Source: AP Photos) By Daryl G. Kimball News reports published today citing senior U.S. officials indicate that the Obama administration will make the United States a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty, which was concluded in negotiations earlier this year and approved by the UN General Assembly in April and opened for signature in June. The Arms Control Association--along with dozens of major U.S. human rights, religious, international development, and arms control groups--welcome U.S. signature of the treaty. The Barack…

This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions for events to be covered here.) - Jefferson Morley,Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today Obama, Rouhani to Speak at UN on Sept. 25 Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani has launched a charm offensive that opens new possibilities for the stalled talks relating to Iran's nuclear program. Those talks, between Iran and the United States and its P5+1 partners are expected to resume in October. Iran meets the…

By Greg Thielmann and Daryl G. Kimball UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon receives the UN report on chemical weapons use in Syria from Ake Sellstrom, head of the investigation team. The evidence in the United Nations inspectors' report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria released today -- particularly the findings on the munitions and their trajectory – provides additional and substantial evidence that Assad's forces were responsible for a large-scale attack involving rockets armed with Sarin nerve gas in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. The report further documents numerous casualties…

By Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association Today, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reached agreement on a detailed plan for the expeditious accounting, inspection, control, and elimination of Syria's sizable arsenal of chemical weapons, with provision for enforcement by the UN Security Council. Among other things, the plan calls on Syria to provide a full declaration of its stockpile "within a week" and "to achieve accountability for their chemical weapons, the Syrians must provide the OPCW, the UN, and other supporting…

This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions here.) - Jefferson Morley,Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today UN Report on Syria's Chemical Weapons Due on Monday The U.N. chemical weapons inspectors are expected to deliver their report on a suspected Aug. 21 nerve agent attack in the suburbs of Damascus to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday or sooner, according to Foreign Policy magazine, and other news organizations. The report is expected to…

By Daryl G. Kimball Today, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Russia will push Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control if such a move would help avert a possible, punitive U.S. cruise missile strike on Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons on August 21 by regime forces. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham said this afternoon in remarks at White House that if Syria immediately surrenders stockpile, as suggested by Secretary of State Kerry and Russia, "that would be an important step" but can't be "another excuse for delay." Senior…

This bulletin highlights significant events in the world of arms control in the coming week, as compiled by staff and friends of the Arms Control Association. (Send your suggestions here.) - Jefferson Morley,Senior Editorial Consultant, Arms Control Today House and Senate to Open Syria Debate; Obama to Speak to Nation On September 9 or 10, the House of Representatives and the Senate will open floor debate on President Obama's request for authorization to use military force to respond to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by the forces of Bashar al-Assad on August 21. The Senate Foreign…

By Greg Thielmann BAGHDAD, IRAQ - (VIDEO STILL) U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein shake hands December 20, 1983 in Baghdad. Rumsfeld met with Hussein during the war between Iran and Iraq as an envoy for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Rumsfeld made no reference to Iraq's use of chemical weapons, according to detailed official notes on the meeting. (Photo by Getty Images) As the international community seeks to craft an appropriate response to the Syrian government's August 21 use of chemical weapons (CW), ghosts from the Iran-Iraq War haunt the…