Digests and Blog

By Jeff Abramson At the end of this month, delegates will meet again at the United Nations to continue work on a legally binding accord to regulate the conventional arms trade. As we launch a week of assessing the Obama administration's conventional arms control record, we begin with: Arms Trade Treaty: B In 2009, the Obama administration broke with the Bush administration and voted to support the international effort to seek a legally binding global arms trade treaty (ATT). Last year at an ACA co-sponsored event, U.S. delegation head Ambassador Donald Mahley gave an address on behalf of…

By Jeff Abramson With news out of Egypt that U.S. manufactured goods are being used to suppress protests, an administration overhauling its export control system, and notifications to Congress in 2010 of record-breaking potential arms sales (including more than $60 billion to Saudi Arabia), now's a good time to ask what's going on with U.S. conventional arms control policies and practices. Not surprisingly, you won't find an answer in last week's state of the union speech address, which lacked any real talk of this administration's conventional arms control record and how it is…

By Tom Collina The Arms Control Association often finds itself at odds with Senate Republican Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.). After all, Sen. Kyl led opposition to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1999 and to New START last year, both of which ACA strongly supports. Even so, ACA prides itself on cultivating a civil, fact-based debate on policy issues, and we expect the same of others. We were thus disappointed to read Sen. Kyl's Jan. 31, 2011 floor speech in which he mischaracterized ACA's position. In his prepared remarks, Sen. Kyl stated that the Senate's Resolution of Ratification,…

Source: PBS Newshour By Tom Z. Collina New START is reaching the finish line. After three votes in Russia's lower house of parliament, or Duma, Russia's upper house, the Federation Council, gave unanimous final approval today. The U.S. Senate approved New START on Dec. 22. The only thing still standing in the way of the treaty's entry-into-force is the exchange of official documents, called "instruments of ratification" between Presidents Obama and Medvedev. This could happen in a matter of days. Inspections could resume by April Once the treaty is in force, the two sides have 45 days…

Image Source: White House By Rob Golan-Vilella Last night, President Barack Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. As expected, the speech focused heavily on domestic and economic policy. With unemployment still over 9% and the national discussion still largely overshadowed by the fallout from the recent shootings in Tucson, it was unsurprising that foreign policy issues received little mention. Most of the comparatively brief section on foreign policy was devoted to terrorism and America's ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Still, Obama…

Tonight's State of the Union address is expected to focus mainly on domestic and economic topics. However, those looking to learn more about the state of arms control in the U.S. and abroad need look no further than this month's Arms Control Today. The January/February edition includes forward-looking policy-focused articles from: ? Bill Richardson With his three co-authors, Richardson-the former New Mexico governor, U.S. energy secretary, and ambassador to the UN-identifies important benchmarks for the U.S. as officials prepare for the 2012 nuclear security summit. ? Bonnie Jenkins The…

By Alfred Nurja The Arms Control Association has just put up the full transcript from our January 20 event entitled "Toward a Negotiated Solution," part of ACA's "Solving the Iranian Nuclear Puzzle" Briefing Series. The ACA's upcoming Iran briefing on "Impact and Limitation of Sanctions on Iran's Nuclear Choices" will take place in early March. To read the full transcript please click here.

By Rob Golan-Vilella As Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington this week, the United States and China have reached an agreement that will improve nuclear security in China. The NNSA announced yesterday that the two nations have signed a memorandum of understanding that will establish a nuclear security "Center of Excellence" in China. According to the NNSA: The Center will serve as a forum for exchanging technical information, sharing best practices, developing training courses, and promoting technical collaborations that will enhance nuclear security in China and throughout Asia. This…

By Alfred Nurja The Arms Control Association hosted a briefing today on Iran's nuclear program entitled "Toward a Negotiated Solution," part of ACA's "Solving the Iranian Nuclear Puzzle" Briefing Series. The session focused on examining what a viable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue would look like and ways to achieve it. This was the second of four briefings designed to analyze the threat posed by the Iranian nuclear program and explore ways to deal with it. A full transcript of the session will be available early next week. The following highlights are based on my notes:…

The permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran are scheduled to hold a second round of discussions over Iran's nuclear program on Jan. 21-22 in Istanbul. This second round of talks comes in the wake of increased reports that a combination of sanctions and technological set-backs have slowed down the Iranian nuclear program buying more time for negotiations. As a tool for providing leverage these measures may have improved the international community's negotiating position but all these reports have provided little new light on the outlines of a negotiated agreement that…