Looking for compromise in the US-India nuclear deal

August 18th, 2007

On August 3, 2007 the United States and India set out the details of their proposed Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful uses of Nuclear Energy. This “123 agreement”[i] would bring significantly more of India’s civilian nuclear facilities under an international inspections regime, but it also in effect calls for the international community to embrace India […]

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Nuclear Disarmament

Rethinking the Afghanistan Mission

July 30th, 2007

That the international effort in Afghanistan is faltering, most recently confirmed by a British House of Commons report,[1] is not in doubt.[2] Nor is it in doubt that sooner or later Canada will leave Afghanistan. But the latter should not be determined by the former. Whether Canada stays beyond February 2009 involves a broad range […]

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Armed Conflict

Closing the Afghanistan credibility gap

June 18th, 2007

The Toronto Star recently described Canadian Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier as optimistic about the mission in Afghanistan.[i] At the same time, an impressive (and depressing) array of independent reporting from Afghanistan is consistent in describing Afghanistan’s security situation as dire and deteriorating.[ii] Background briefings and roundtables involving Canadian military officials are consistently […]

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Armed Conflict

Another Nobel Peace Medal Comes to Canada

June 13th, 2007

A central feature of the 50 th anniversary of the first Pugwash Conference, commemorated with an international experts’ workshop (July 5-7) on “revitalizing nuclear disarmament” at the site of the first conference in 1957, was a ceremony to present the medal for the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize to the Pugwash Peace Exchange. The Pugwash Peace […]

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Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear Disarmament Imperatives after the NPT PrepCom

May 30th, 2007

This year’s Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference has confirmed two central realities: First, if the ailing NPT is to fulfill its foundational role in advancing global security it must be solidly balanced on its three equal pillars: disarmament, nonproliferation, and peaceful uses. Second, the international community is now well […]

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Nuclear Disarmament

Momentum building for an arms trade treaty

May 22nd, 2007

A recent survey, conducted in countries that together represent just over half the world’s population, found strong public support for a strengthened United Nations, including strong majority support for a standing UN peacekeeping force, UN regulation of the international arms trade, and UN authority to investigate human rights violations. The survey was conducted by the […]

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Arms Trade

It’s not really a matter of hate

May 9th, 2007

A BBC Television report on Northern Ireland ‘s transition into a new era of self-rule under a government of unity felt obliged to warn viewers that the old hatreds have not vanished.[i] Or, as the BBC’s website puts it, “Old enmities have been foregone, rather than forgiven or forgotten. It is just that [the old […]

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Armed Conflict

Pushing a stalled nuclear disarmament agenda

April 27th, 2007

No statement or commentary about this NPT PrepCom, which runs through to May 11, begins without a reminder that the NPT is in serious trouble. And so it is. And therein lies a disturbing irony. While the reasons behind the trouble are well-known – indeed, they can be summed up in a series of place […]

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Nuclear Disarmament

Myth-making, peace-making, and sacrifice in Afghanistan

April 16th, 2007

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor explained the decision to extend Canada’s military commitment in Afghanistan to 2009, the tone they set was one of hard-nosed defence of the Canadian interest.”Our rationale for being in Afghanistan is clear,” Mr. Harper told the House of Commons in the May 17/06 that preceded […]

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Armed Conflict

Canada, India, and changing the non-proliferation rules

April 10th, 2007

Canada has figured prominently, if unwillingly, in five decades of Indian nuclear weapons development. Now that Washington has proposed changing the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) – rules that currently preclude nuclear cooperation with India – Canada has an opportunity to channel its historical involvement to support for multilateral rules that constrain India […]

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Nuclear Disarmament