Home › Ploughshares Blog

Ploughshares Blog: Nuclear Zero

Cutting the Nuclear Stockpile in 2012?
The ratification of New START by the U.S. and Russia set a new ceiling for deployed strategic nuclear weapons at 1,550 in each country. Given the cost of maintaining these weapons and their lack of utility on the modern battlefield, the U.S. could (and should) go even lower. Read more »
Add New Comment
Posted by Peter Fedewa on May 18, 2012
infographic, International security, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, President, Russia, Obama, United States
The Steady Decline of Global Nuclear Stockpiles
Russia got rid of an estimated 1,000 nuclear warheads last year, according to a new report from Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris of the Federation of American Scientists, a Ploughshares Fund grantee. That brings the estimated number of nuclear warheads in the world down below 20,000 for the first time since 1959. Russia had already retired these warheads and slated them for dismantlement, so the strategic calculus has not changed. However, it is a strong data point showing the steep downward trend of global nuclear arsenals. Read more »
2 Comments
Posted by Ben Loehrke on March 14, 2012
Dismantlement, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, Reductions, Russia, United States
We Ought to Go to Zero
Ploughshares Fund is conducting interviews with some of our first donors - recording their stories of why they initially took a risk on Sally Lilienthal’s big idea. Board member and former Ploughshares executive director Gloria Duffy interviews Lew Butler, our first chairman of the board below. The interview has been edited and condensed for space. A shorter version appears in this quarter’s newsletter. Read more »
Add New Comment
Posted by admin on February 28, 2012
30th Anniversary, Andrei Sakharov, Board, David Albright, Lew Butler, Nuclear Zero, Owen Chamberlain, Partners, Sally Lilienthal, San Francisco
Behind the Scenes: The Four Horsemen
Ever since their remarkable op-ed "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons" hit the Wall Street Journal in 2007, the world has been fascinated by the continuing efforts of five former high-profile Cold Warriors to rid the world of nuclear weapons. A new book, The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and their Quest to Ban the Bomb, by former New York Times journalist Phil Taubman takes us behind the scenes of this remarkable group. Read more »
Add New Comment
Posted by admin on February 21, 2012
Bipartisan, Commonwealth Club, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, New York Times, Nuclear Zero, Phil Taubman, Sam Nunn, Sidney Drell, William Perry
Concrete Steps to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism
All countries can – and must – do more to secure nuclear materials. And countries must take action today, not the day after terrorists explode a nuclear device in a major city. Read more »
2 Comments
Posted by Kelly Bronk on January 19, 2012
nuclear security summit, Nuclear Security, Nuclear Threat Initiative, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, South Korea
One Minute Closer to Doomsday
Today the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a venerable organization begun by Manhattan Project leaders who presciently realized the implications of their work, moved the Doomsday Clock one minute closer to midnight. It now stands at 5 minutes to “doomsday.” Read more »
7 Comments
Posted by Paul Carroll on January 10, 2012
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Doomsday Clock, Nuclear Zero
Must We Keep Living Under the Sword of Damocles?
The following is the third in a series of guest posts from graduate students reflecting on the 25th anniversary of Rekyavik. Twenty-five years ago, two of the leaders of the world’s greatest military powers sat together at the Hofdi House in Reykjavik, Iceland. They were President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and they met to discuss the possibility of eliminating all nuclear weapons. Read more »
3 Comments
Posted by admin on November 28, 2011
George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, John F. Kennedy, Nuclear Zero, Partners, Reykjavik, Sam Nunn, Wall Street Journal, William Perry
Reykjavik: The Vision Not Realized
The following is the second in a series of guest posts from graduate students reflecting on the 25th anniversary of Rekyavik. In Reykjavik, Iceland, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev held the first serious international talks to eliminate nuclear weapons. Unable to reach an agreement in Reykjavik, a year later Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev signed the INF treaty eliminating all mid-range nuclear missiles. Read more »
Add New Comment
Posted by admin on November 21, 2011
North Korea, Alan R. Fowler, Georgetown University, Mikhail Gorbachev, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Nuclear proliferation, Nuclear Zero, Partners, Reykjavik, Ronald Reagan, Iran
What if the “madman” is us?
The following is the first in a series of guest posts from graduate students reflecting on the 25th anniversary of Rekyavik.  October marked the 25th anniversary of the Reykjavik summit—an unprecedented event that many nuclear disarmament advocates claim brought us close to an agreement between the Cold War superpowers on the drastic disarmament and eventual abolition of nuclear weapons. President Ronald Reagan’s refusal to scrap the U.S. strategic defense initiative (SDI), or “Star Wars,” is said to have been the nail in the coffin for such an agreement at Reykjavik. Read more »
4 Comments
Posted by admin on November 15, 2011
Guest, Nuclear Zero, Reagan, Reykjavik, Student, US–Russia
The Budget Crisis Offers Opportunity To Bend The Arc Of Nuclear Policy
The U.S. government spends $54 billion a year on nuclear weapons and related programs. Despite the deep fiscal crisis, these budgets are about to go up — to a whopping $700 billion over the next 10 years. It is not at all clear why. Read more »
Add New Comment
Posted by Joe Cirincione on August 11, 2011
Congress, Department of Defense, Hiroshima, Joe Cirincione, Larry Korb, Nuclear Budget, Nuclear Zero, Politics, U.S. government, Obama