The new Iran talks: will both sides finally take the steps they have so far refused?

Posted on 18 April 2012 by Ernie Regehr

To no one’s surprise, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had only derision for the recently resumed nuclear talks with Iran, but for most the Iran debate has moved from the merits of a military attack to the key elements of a negotiated settlement.

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New Fighter Aircraft: 36-year Life-Cycle Cost Estimate Comparisons

Posted on 10 April 2012 by Ernie Regehr

Buying and operating contemporary fighter aircraft is hugely expensive, and the table (below) of cost comparisons suggests it doesn’t much matter whether they are fourth or fifth generation editions, whether stealth or not, still in development or off-the-shelf. The only real way to save money on fighter aircraft is to buy and operate fewer of them.

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The war in Sri Lanka is over but the search for peace continues

Posted on 3 April 2012 by Ernie Regehr

Canada has undertaken some welcome diplomatic activism in support of reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka – a critically important follow-up to the long and deadly civil war that ended in May 2009.

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Iran and the limits of deterrence

Posted on 30 March 2012 by Ernie Regehr

Deterrence would become the default response if Iran were not ultimately prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but neither the Cold War nor the South Asian experience offers much hope that stability would ensue.

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RCMP confirms investigation into Canadian drone transfers to Libya

Posted on 28 March 2012 by Ernie Regehr

The RCMP has confirmed that it has been asked to investigate whether the transfer of Canadian built drones to Libya was in violation of Canadian regulations to implement a UN arms embargo on Libya.

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Canadian uranium and China’s nuclear weapons arsenal

Posted on 17 February 2012 by Ernie Regehr

Exporting uranium to any state with nuclear weapons should obviously proceed only with the greatest of caution. Hence, this two-fold question: Is Canada taking sufficient care to ensure that Canadian uranium will never end up in a Chinese bomb; can Canada ensure that new supplies of uranium for China’s growing civilian needs will not free up uranium from domestic sources to facilitate expansion of its nuclear arsenal?[i]

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Returning to the basics of the Iran nuclear question

Posted on 18 January 2012 by Ernie Regehr

While a not-so-fringe cadre of Israelis and American Republicans can’t seem to stop talking about attacking Iran (at least for some Israelis it is
still a question for debate,[i] for Republicans it’s become a campaign  promise[ii]), there are still places where more sober voices struggle to be heard.

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Who will sit at the Afghan negotiating table?

Posted on 7 January 2012 by Ernie Regehr

The news that the Taliban will open a political office in Qatar is rightly being welcomed as a watershed moment – even though it is a belated one, coming at the 10-year mark of the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan.  The
pressing question now becomes, who will get a seat at the negotiating table
that will finally be set? It’s a question that should be of keen interest to
Canadians.

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Canadian drones and the UN arms embargo on Libya

Posted on 13 December 2011 by Ernie Regehr

The sale of a Canadian-built surveillance drone to Libyan rebels last summer may well have been in violation of the UN arms embargo. The Government says it has asked the RCMP to investigate.

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Red Cross champions Nuclear Weapons Convention, Canada still tentative

Posted on 5 December 2011 by Ernie Regehr

The International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement has come out strongly in support of negotiations toward a nuclear weapons convention, in a resolution passed at the biennial meeting of the Council of Delegates in Geneva a week ago.

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