RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Steven Pifer, May 06, 2009, The Brookings Institution
In April, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced they would work on a new agreement to limit offensive arms before the START treaty expires in December. On Monday, the first round of talks on a new strategic arms reduction treaty begin in Moscow. Steven Pifer assesses the considerations of both countries and offers suggestions for building a new framework to reduce strategic arsenals. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Suzanne Maloney, November 04, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Three decades after Iran seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, igniting a 14-month hostage crisis, Suzanne Maloney examines the current state of power in the Islamic Republic. Maloney says that the recent demonstrations in Iran are an extension of the country's unanswered conversation of legitimate ruling authority, and that responses by hard-liners indicate a belief that any reform would beget revolution. Read More
PAST EVENT
Friday, October 30, 2009
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Washington, DC
On October 30, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings and the Slavic Research Center at Hokkaido University hosted leading experts from Japan and the United States for a conference on the U.S.-Japan alliance in relation to nuclear energy and nuclear nonproliferation. Topics included trends in international nuclear markets, the U.S. approach to nuclear energy and the future of nuclear nonproliferation. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Sun-won Park, October 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
After months of provocations by North Korea, conditions are now developing that should allow the U.S. Special Envoy, Stephen Bosworth, to visit Pyongyang. In this paper, Brookings Visiting Fellow Sun-won Park calls for a "Bosworth Process," a plan to achieve not only denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but also to bring North Korea into the international community in a far-sighted and peaceful way. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Brent Scowcroft, Joseph Nye, Nicholas Burns and Strobe Talbott, October 13, 2009, Politico
Ten years ago, the U.S. Senate rejected the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT), setting back efforts to reduce the world's stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Brent Scowcroft, Joseph Nye, Nicholas Burns and Strobe Talbott offer the Obama administration their counsel on how to build support for a revised CTBT and a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Bruce Riedel, October 12, 2009, The Daily Beast
Bruce Riedel says this weekend’s attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, the military center of Pakistan, underscores the volatility and fragility in the world’s second largest Muslim country. Riedel argues that the United States must encourage Pakistan too keep moving against extremists while assuring them we will not abandon the fight in the region. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Kenneth M. Pollack, October 02, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Kenneth Pollack says recent discussions between the P5-plus-one and Iran were not earth-shaking, with several questions remaining unanswered in the aftermath. However, Pollack does find it interesting that the Iranians demonstrated some willingness to compromise on small interests and there was no attempt to grandstand at the meeting. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Suzanne Maloney, October 01, 2009, PBS' NewsHour
Iran has agreed to a second round of discussions over its disputed nuclear program following a meeting in Geneva with diplomats from the United States and other world powers. Suzanne Maloney joined PBS' NewsHour to discuss how this week's talks were a positive step and what to expect from future engagement between the United States and Iran. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani , September 30, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Iranian officials agreed in principle with the United States and five other international powers in Geneva to export their uranium enrichment program in exchange for a halt in UN sanctions action. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani argues that sanctions would be the wrong choice anyway. Existing sanctions have had no discernible effect on Iran's nuclear policy, and harsher sanctions may actually strengthen President Ahmadinejad's populist control of the economy. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Steven Pifer, September 28, 2009, Current History
President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev both see a follow-on agreement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty as a top priority in U.S.-Russia relations. Steven Pifer writes that while a post-START treaty should not pose any major obstacles, complex nuclear issues are likely to make this the last “easy” arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Suzanne Maloney, September 25, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Suzanne Maloney writes that Friday’s announcement by President Barack Obama and his French and British counterparts about Iran’s covert nuclear activities had all the ingredients of a blockbuster. Maloney explores the likelihood that the announcement will force Iran's hand and outlines the potential impact on the stances of Russia and China. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Strobe Talbott, September 20, 2009, Financial Times
President Obama's decision to rethink and revamp the plan for Poland-based defenses against Iranian missiles was met with some criticism at home and in Eastern Europe for giving too much to Russia. However, argues Brookings President Strobe Talbott, the new strategy is a pragmatic step to counter Iran's real short-range missile threat, strengthens the transatlantic alliance, and better serves the goals of U.S.-Russian strategic arms reduction. Read More
PAST EVENT
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC
Former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang for a surprise meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday, and secured the release of two American reporters detained since March. This visit came at a tense time following North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile tests in the past months. Brookings expert Richard Bush and Politico's Fred Barbash took questions on the North Korea nuclear problem in this week’s edition of the Scouting Report. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Dennis Wilder, August 04, 2009, PBS' NewsHour
Following a surprise meeting with former President Bill Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned two jailed American journalists. Dennis Wilder joined other experts on PBS' NewsHour to examine the implications of the meeting. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Roberta Cohen, July 31, 2009, The Washington Post
The now-defunct six-party talks in which the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China participated focused almost exclusively on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But, as Roberta Cohen argues, with a struggle for succession underway in Pyongyang and some of the country's internal controls reportedly beginning to erode, it's the time to rethink the near-exclusion of human rights from the U.S.-North Korean dialogue. Read More