U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking at Carnegie on October 28, warned that as long as others possess nuclear weapons, the United States must maintain a safe and reliable nuclear arsenal. He urged the development of a Reliable Replacement Warhead program which he said could be done without nuclear testing. Gates further urged the next U.S. president to engage Russia in new arsenal reduction talks.
During the question and answer session, Gates supported ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)—which the United States Senate refused to ratify in 1999—if it included adequate verification measures.
Gates also voiced support for deeper reductions in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals as part of a new arms control agreement to replace START, set to expire in December 2009. The follow-on agreement, he argued, should preserve the verification provisions of START and reduce the number of deployed warheads to somewhere below the current target of 1700-2200.
Other highlights:
Drawing upon extensive interviews with foreign ministry officials from sixteen non-nuclear-weapon states, Carnegie's Deepti Choubey assesses the level of eroding confidence that non-nuclear-weapon states have about how seriously nuclear-weapon states take their disarmament obligations.
As armed clashes last weekend show, north Lebanon is becoming a growing support base for the Syrian revolution. Sunni mobilization in support of the uprising in Syria is mounting and the Lebanese government is losing its ability to maintain its policy of neutrality.
The U.S. pivot to the Asia-Pacific has created both tension and opportunity in its relations with China.
The success of Germany's Pirates party is the result of its transparency and accountability. Sustaining that enthusiasm through national elections in 2013 will be a challenge, however.
Putin has returned to the Kremlin, but he faces a significantly different Russia, because the country's situation has changed drastically. The previous Putin’s consensus between those in power and society has fallen apart.
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