Last week, Russia announced it had started tactical nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine. Pavel Podvig explores whether this move is an attempt to go beyond signalling and bring non-strategic nuclear weapons closer to the frontline and asks how the international community should respond.
This ELN and APLN report compares Australian, Japanese, South Korean, and UK risk perceptions towards Taiwan and North Korea. It finds that diverging perceptions of risk in the Asia-Pacific are potential obstacles to policy coordination and offers recommendations for how to address this.
The ELN’s Policy and Impact Director, Jane Kinninmont, analyses why the deaths of Iran’s President and Foreign Minister, Ebrahim Raisi and Hossein Amirabdollahian, doesn’t necessarily represent a shift in global politics. She explains that the probable candidates to replace Raisi are likely to endorse a continuation of current Iranian foreign policy, and any changes will be hard to notice for external observers.
As debate around UK defence policy increases ahead of a general election, a new survey of defence and foreign affairs opinion makers explores how the UK can help get the world back on a path to nuclear disarmament and offers 50 proposals to the UK government.
While confidence in the stability of nuclear deterrence is hitting a new low, states appear to be doubling down on their bets. Ward Wilson and Paul Ingram explore the adverse effects of nuclear deterrence and write that it is time to reverse the slide into a new nuclear arms race.
Nobumasa Akiyama discusses Japanese perspectives of strategic risks in East Asia, including the North Korean threat and navigating Japan’s relationship with China amid great power rivalry.