Four weeks after the Ukrainian presidential election that was meant to normalize the situation in the country, the pacification of troubled Ukraine is still a far cry. Sadly, in the eastern parts of the country violence is rife and the region is plunging further into civil strife. The military approach…
Read MoreRegrettably, the West stubbornly maintains a unilateral position on the Syrian conflict. Hence the chances of its resolution become minimal. As the conflict enters its third year, the regime of Bashar al-Assad seems to be enjoying the support of the majority of the Syrian people and is not going to…
Read MoreWritten by Administrator Dr Yiorghos Leventis, Director of the International Security Forum (ISF), participated upon invitation in the debates of the 25th Winter Course of the International School on Disarmament & Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO). The week long winter course held at Andalo – Trento, Italy, 8-15 January 2012,…
Read MoreDr. Yiorghos Leventis, Director of International Security Forum (ISF), represented the organization upon invitation at the XXIV Winter Course of the International School on Disarmament & Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO), Italian Pugwash Group. The course focused on the theme of Eliminating Nuclear Weapons and Safeguarding Nuclear Technologies. A group of…
Read MoreI. The Challenge and Objective of ‘Zero Nuclear Weapons’ The calamity of nuclear bombs and their destructive power was illustrated in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks that caused 200,000 deaths on impact and several hundred thousands of radiation related illnesses and cancers over the years. In the post cold…
Read MoreThe fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the subsequent reunification of Germany were followed by the quick dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Mikhail Gorbachev timely withdrew his support from the collapsing GDR. In June 1989, the former Soviet leader stated in Bonn, where he received a rapturous…
Read MoreCertainly, this is not the first time the West engages in ‘civilizing missions’. The calls for ‘enlightening’ or ‘liberating’ more ‘primitive’ peoples echo throughout the ages. But the historical mix of the rise of universal human rights, globalized mass media, and democracy puts more pressure than ever on politicians to…
Read MoreAfter a hiatus of almost a decade strategic arms control is back on the agenda of the two former superpowers and might lead to a fundamental realignment of U.S.-Russian relationship in the twenty-first century. The first step towards this new rapprochement – as could have been expected – was taken…
Read MoreSTART-1 treaty forms to this day the cornerstone of the prevailing nuclear arms control regime. The treaty will expire at the end of the current year. It needs to be reviewed and updated. Renegotiating START-1 was not a priority for the previous US administration; an attitude that bothered Moscow. The…
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