Nuclear Weapons

  • 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.

    May 18, 2012 - By Peter Fedewa
  • Indiana Senator Richard Lugar is a tough, seasoned conservative who could be brutal when fighting for his positions.  When it came to national security issues, however, Senator Lugar always put the national interest above partisan politics.

    May 9, 2012 - By admin
  • With Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye and Nick Fury facing off against Loki and a horde of Chitauri from another world one would not expect that the ultimate villain in the film, typically, is a nuclear weapon threatening to vaporize New York City under the auspices of saving the planet from invaders.

    May 7, 2012 - By Peter Fedewa
  • Senator Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA) has come out in strong support of a political solution to the Iran crisis. She is cautiously optimistic that the next round of talks in Baghdad on May 23, "may lead to a breakthrough on Iran's nuclear program," she wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle April 30.

    May 2, 2012 - By Joe Cirincione
  • It’s almost here – that time of year when we struggle to find a gift for the mother who either already seems to have everything, insists she doesn’t want anything, or is just so picky that nothing seems good enough to give her. This year, Ploughshares Fund is offering something special and meaningful for Mom, and it’s something you can’t find in a department store. Give Mom the gift of a nuclear-weapon free world. Still need convincing? Here are a few reasons why a donation to Ploughshares Fund makes an excellent present to the mother in your life.

    April 25, 2012 - By Megan Murphy
  • Last week, a British-German delegation of the European Leadership Network (ELN) made the rounds in Washington. ELN, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in the United Kingdom, works to promote the idea of multilateral nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The group has built and continues to expand an impressive, high-level network of senior political, military and diplomatic leaders.

    April 23, 2012 - By Rebecca Remy
  • A U.S. president once said that not achieving a nuclear test ban treaty “would have to be classed as the greatest disappointment of any administration – of any decade – of any time and of any party.” 

    April 3, 2012 - By Mary Kaszynski
  • Every year some 900 experts from the social, finance, private and public sectors convene in Oxford for the Skoll World Forum. Their goal: coming up with innovative, effective solutions to the problems of the dynamic, globalized, 21st century world.

    March 30, 2012 - By admin
  • Critics of a recent deal between North Korea and the United States had barely caught their breath before an announcement today by Pyongyang that North Korea plans to launch a satellite atop a long-range rocket in mid-April. It’s hard to argue that this isn’t a setback. But it’s also premature to write the whole thing off.

    March 16, 2012 - By Paul Carroll
  • 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.

    March 14, 2012 - By Ben Loehrke