BASIC PUBLICATIONS

CONTACT US

BASIC IN THE MEDIA, 2002

BASIC BY-LINES

• "Pentagon Touts Nuclear Cuts While Escalating Risks, New policy lowers nuclear threshold", article by Mark Bromley, Global Beat, January 10, 2002.
  
  

• "US decision on atomic weapons is dangerous", Letter to the Editor, by Ian Davis, Financial Times, January 14, 2002.

• "US missile defence", Letter to the Editor, by Mark Bromley, The Times, February 14, 2002.

• "US developing nuclear arms", Letter to the Editor, by Christine Kucia, Financial Times, March 14, 2002.
  
  

• "For Peace in the Balkans", Letter to the Editor, by Ian Davis, Washington Post, March 15, 2002

• "Pre-emptive Nuke Policy Undermines Security", op-ed by Christine Kucia, Defense News, April 15, 2002. Christine wrote about the damage inflicted on international security and the NPT regime by recent U.S. and British nuclear policy statements, and advocated greater involvement by governments to attain a viable, non-nuclear path to preventing proliferation.
  
  

• "Will Washington Break the Taboo on Using Nukes?", Article by Christine Kucia, News in Review, April 17, 2002.

• "Lessons From the Mideast Agony ". Letter to the Editor, by Chris Lindborg, "Re 'Hijacking Mideast Peace' (editorial, May 8)", New York Times, May 9, 2002.
  
  

• "Bush misses opportunity", Letter to the Editor, by Ian Davis, The Daily Telegraph, May 16, 2002.

JUNE 2002

• "Admit truth about US defence", Letter to the Editor, by Ian Davis and David Grahame, Financial Times, June 14, 2002.

JULY 2002

• "Beware Bush's Summer Charm Offensive", Op-Ed by Ian Davis, The Observer, July 14, 2002. "Cooperative engagement and multilateralism remain the key tenets of European security thinking. After all, this is exactly what the EU is built on. Missile defence is a diametrically different approach, symbolically erecting a wall against the rest of the world. Without greater dialogue between European policy makers and the White House about security issues of global concern, it could be a long hot summer for US-European diplomacy."
  
  

• Letter by Ian Davis commenting on the alliance between Boeing and the European defence group, EADS, is part of a charm offensive to turn the US-led global missile defence system programme into a more international venture. The Guardian, July 25, 2002.
  
  

• " Washington's Nuclear Bunker Busters", the executive summary of BASIC's report "Bunker Busters: Washington's Drive for New Nuclear Weapons", was published. The Observer, July 28, 2002.

AUGUST 2002

• "Missile defence", Letter to the Editor from Ian Davis arguing that "co-operative engagement and strengthening of international arms control agreements quite rightly remain the key European responses to these threats". The Times, August 5, 2002.

SEPTEMBER 2002

• "Bunker Busters: Washington's Drive for New Nuclear Weapons", article by Mark Bromley and David Grahame. Global Beat Syndicate, September 5, 2002.
  
  

• "Eradicating the Seeds of Terror", article by Robert Barry on OSCE's record at pre-empting the conditions that lead to terrorism in Europe and Eurasia. Global Beat Syndicate, September 16, 2002.

OCTOBER 2002

• 'European struggles over "solutions" to Iraq', by Nigel Chamberlain. GlobalBeat Syndicate, October 8, 2002.
  
  

• 'All We Are Saying Is Give (Enhanced) Inspections A Chance' by Trevor Findlay (VERTIC) and Ian Davis. Global Beat Syndicate, October 21, 2002.

BASIC QUOTES

JANUARY 2002

• "U.S. Wants to Store Warheads", by Megan Twohey, Moscow Times, January 11, 2002. Ian Davis is quoted: "The cuts offered in the NPR are a mirage, said Ian Davis. The Pentagon isn't recommending genuine reductions at all. Placing nuclear weapons into storage allows the United States to sustain its current level of lethality, just in a different place."

FEBRUARY 2002

• "U.S., Britain Conduct Nevada Nuclear Experiment", by Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters, February 14, 2002. BASIC is mentioned saying: "Britain could be studying possible new warhead designs since it will have to decide about replacing Trident missiles by the end of this decade."
  
  

• "US testing II: US and UK Conduct Joint Subcritical Nuclear Test", Global Security Newswire, February 15, 2002. Ian Davis is quoted "Britain now appears to be increasing its involvement in Washington's controversial subcritical nuclear testing program while turning a blind eye to ... the Bush administration's efforts to destroy the CTBT."

APRIL 2002

• "Britain to extend role in Afghan force" , by Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, April 12, 2002. Christine was quoted saying: "Essentially, Britain has been the only country in Europe stepping up to this role". ... "Such declared support for what the US is doing in Afghanistan and possibly Iraq is going to be the only buffer against charges that Bush is going at it unilaterally. Bush knows he really needs a salesperson in Europe, and the special relationship with Britain has never been more essential."

MAY 2002

• "European Response: Europe Should Promote More Nonproliferation in Russia, Analysts Say" , by Kerry Boyd, Global Security Newswire, May 3, 2002. Christine Kucia was quoted in an saying "'Although European countries should dedicate more money to threat reduction, the United States will always beat Europe in terms of numbers, given its own size,' Christine Kucia of the British American Security Information Council said."
  
  

• "Bush wins the final battle for star wars", by Ian Traynor and Julian Borger, The Guardian, May 16, 2002. Mark Bromley was quoted, "Russian military industries had been lobbying for the past year and a half for Moscow to get involved in missile defence cooperation with the US, in the hope of winning American contracts and investment."

JUNE 2002

• "Secret Plan for N-Bomb factory", by Mark Townsend, The Observer, June 16, 2002. Ian Davis was quoted saying "there was mounting evidence of increased co-operation between Britain and the US on nuclear policy. Inquiries had found Labour becoming increasingly secretive over nuclear policy and demanded 'greater parliamentary scrutiny' over future decisions".

JULY 2002

• 'Is George W. Bush the most dangerous man to live in the White House?', by Tim Shipman, Sunday Express, July 7, 2002. Ian Davis discussed implications from Bill Hartung's recent report on how Bush's nuclear strategy was influenced by advisers in the MIC, and whether recent foreign policy decisions make America a 'rogue state'.
  
  

• " Bush set to flout test ban treaty", by Peter Beaumont, The Observer, July 28, 2002. Mark Bromley was quoted, "plans for new US nuclear weapons threaten decades of work toward eradicating the nuclear threat". This was in connection with BASIC's new report "Bunker Busters: Washington's Drive for New Nuclear Weapons".
  
  

• "United States: Report Warns Against New U.S. Nuclear Weapons", by Bryan Bender, BASIC's report "Bunker Busters: Washington's Drive for New Nuclear Weapons" was mentioned. Global Security Newswire, August 5, 2002.
  
  

• " Can the US go it alone against Saddam? " by Julian Borger. Ian Davis was quoted saying: "Whatever the British could supply in military capability, the US will supply anyway. Its marginal in terms of military capacity, although it's everything in terms of symbolism." The Guardian, August 31, 2002.

BASIC INTERVIEWS

FEBRUARY 2002

• Fredstidningen PAX (Pax, the Peace Magazine), February 2002, Christine Kucia talked about the Nuclear Posture Review and how the upcoming cuts in the US nuclear arsenal are deceptive. Swedish Peace & Arbitration Society (SPAS) publishes the magazine.

MARCH 2002

• BBC Three Counties Radio, March 11, 2002. Ian Davis discussed leaked reports from the US Nuclear Posture Review, that the Bush administration has directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries and to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations.
  
  

• BBC News 24, March 20, 2002. Mark Bromley was interviewed on UK nuclear posture. Stated that Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon's indication that the UK would use nuclear weapons in response to chemical or biological weapons being used against forward deployed troops marked a change in emphasis in British policy that could have serious implications for the NPT.

APRIL 2002

• WAAM, Ann Arbor, MI, Aptil 11, 2002. Christine Kucia was interviewed by the Mainstream Media Project. The topic was: "Rewriting the Nuclear Rules: U.S. Nuclear Plans and Initiatives". Christine discussed the NPR, nuclear arms control (and in relation to war on terror), new generation of nuclear weapons including 'bunker busters', the NPT, and other related topics.
  
  

• "On the Barricades" WRPI-FM, Troy, NY, April 17, 2002. Topic: Rewriting the Nuclear Rules. Christine Kucia discussed the NPR, nuclear arms control (and in relation to war on terror), new generation of nuclear weapons including 'bunker busters', the NPT, and other related topics.

MAY 2002

• Radio Five Live (UK) , May 13, 2002. Mark Bromley talked about the Bush-Putin deal and argued that the failure to deal with tactical nuclear weapons or destroy retired warheads meant that the deal was a missed opportunity that retained many of the worst aspects of the Cold War.

JUNE 2002

• Channel 5 News (ITN), June 10, 2002. Ian Davis was interviewed on the implications of the US uncovering of the al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive 'dirty bomb' on the streets of an American city. He focused on the more worrying nuclear dangers of non-state actors stealing weapons-grade fissile material, especially from Russia's vast and often ill-guarded nuclear complex, and continued US development of mini-nukes and bunker busters.
  
  

AUGUST 2002

• Austrian Radio (Vienna), August 2, 2002. Ian Davis was interviewed on the implications of the invitation to the chief United Nations weapons inspector to visit Baghdad for technical talks on readmitting weapon inspectors to Iraq. He discussed the role of, and conditionality for, the inspections and the extent to which the talks are a possible breakthrough in what had appeared to be a march to war.
  
  

• BBC Armed Forces Radio, August 8, 2002. Ian Davis took part in two 30-minute panel discussions on BBC Armed Forces Radio to be aired on 22 and 29 August.

Back to BASIC Home Page