Activities Report
January - March 2008
An Update for BASIC Council, Advisors, Patrons,
Donors and Partners
Looking Ahead
- Paul Ingram, BASIC's Executive Director (see staffing
below), is visiting the US in early April and several events
are planned around this visit;
- Brian Eno is holding a reception at his studio to promote
the GTZ message later in the month, and BASIC is teaming
up with IPPR to hold a high level roundtable to discuss
the multilateral nuclear disarmament agenda on 25th April;
- Paul Ingram will be presenting a paper at the NPT Preparatory
Committee in Geneva on 8th May discussing the growing political
support for disarmament, and asking what more the P5 can
do.
Programme Activities, January - March 2008
"Getting to Zero"
We launched the GTZ blog in February,
attracting regular comment and news pieces from Board members,
staff and associates of BASIC. We have also been sending out
a new and expanded monthly Getting
to Zero Update to our list of subscribers, outlining progress
in developing the momentum towards disarmament, as well as
relevant news from around the world. For more information
on GTZ, please visit: http://www.basicint.org/nuclear/index.htm.
We have also been recruiting a number of senior Advisers
to the programme and intend to be making an announcement soon.
Iran's Nuclear Programme
In a short-notice visit, Paul Ingram presented two papers
to an international conference in Tehran on March 9. The two
papers focused on changing the frame of the international
debate over Iran's nuclear programme and were entitled: Iran's
Role in Moving Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World and
Other solutions to Iran's
Energy Insecurity, This was a valuable opportunity to
discuss with key Iranian officials their attitude to the nuclear
programme and to any compromise positions. Paul also continued
discussions with UK officials around the European position
in relation to the programme.
BASIC Co-Executive Director in London, Paul Ingram, continued
to host his weekly 45-minute discussion on issues of global
and regional security on Iran's domestic terrestrial TV news
station, IRINN. BASIC also produces a widely-read bi-weekly
email news update covering
issues related to Iran's nuclear programme.
Transatlantic Security Issues
BASIC's Andrew Imbrie published a paper
on NATO and the Afghan insurgency in advance of the NATO summit
in Bucharest (which he attended).
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global
Security and Non-Proliferation
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and
Non-Proliferation held two meetings in Westminster between
January and March 2008:
- On the 20th February 2008 the Group held a meeting on
"Nuclear mind reading: the US National Intelligence Estimate
and Iran", with speakers Professor Wyn Bowen, Dr Michael
Goodman & Dr James Acton, all of Kings College, London.
- On the 28th February 2008 the Group held a meeting on
"Towards A Nuclear-Free World", with speakers former
US Secretary of State George Shultz, and former chair of
the Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn.
Organization, Staffing and Fundraising
Paul Ingram, previously Co-Executive Director in the London
office, has been appointed Executive Director for BASIC as
a whole, in order to strengthen the transatlantic nature of
the organisation. Paul has worked with BASIC since 2002, first
as Senior Analyst and most recently as the London-based Co-Executive
Director. Paul will be dividing his time between London and
Washington, returning BASIC to an operating mode that in the
past has proved an effective way for BASIC to bring a valuable
transatlantic perspective to key arms control and international
security issues. We believe that this move will put us in
a position to be an even more effective member of the communities,
networks and coalitions in which we participate. BASIC is
most grateful to Steven Monblatt for his contributions to
BASIC during his tenure as the Washington-based Co-Executive
Director. We wish Steve every success in his future endeavours.
BASIC's Washington office welcomed Andrew Imbrie as a new
intern in January. Andrew previously interned at the U.S.
missions to the EU and NATO in Belgium. He has been working
on the Afghanistan Update and recently wrote a BASIC Paper
on NATO and the Afghan insurgency.
The Washington office bid a sad farewell to intern Candice
Boyer at the end of March. Since October she helped BASIC
with projects and events on Afghanistan and Getting to Zero.
Candice has joined the staff of Americans for Tax Reform.
BASIC received an anonymous individual donation of £5,000
towards its nuclear disarmament work in March, and $10,000
from the Rockeller Family and Associates towards our planned
Parliamentary visit to Washington.
BASIC in the News
Broadcast Interviews
IRINN (Iranian News Channel) - 45 Minutes
Paul Ingram, BASIC Co-Executive Director, hosts a weekly discussion
programme with two guests, on issues related to global and
Middle East security, broadcast live at peak time (8.40pm)
in Farsi (simultaneous translation).
- Aljazeera Intl, interview on the foreign policy
positions of the Iowa Caucaus winners : Obama and Hukerbee.
Paul Ingram, January 4
- Paul Ingram on the EADS/Northrup tanker contract success
with DoD, Mar
- Bloomberg TV, News interview with Paul Ingram -
is NATO's future threatened by its failure to pacify Afghanistan?
February 6
- Press TV, 4-corners interview on nuclear programmes
in the Middle East in the light of ElBaradei's comments
on Iran's nuclear programme, Paul Ingram, January 7
- Paul Ingram, broadcast talk on Iran's rights and interests
over its nuclear programme. January 30
- Press TV, Paul Ingram in a panel debate in Manchester
on Iran's nuclear file - the need to move from rights to
interests. February 2
- Sahar TV, The US primaries and debates of foreign
policy, Jan 9
- Paul Ingram on Iran's nuclear programme under pressure,
Mar 3
- Voice of America, Paul Ingram on Iran's nuclear
programme in the context of remarks by President Ahmadinejad
- reframing the debate from rights to interests, February
20 http://voanews.com/english/2008-02-20-voa36.cfm
Articles, op-eds, quotes and citations in print and on-line
media
- Guardian, A
World Without Nuclear Weapons, by Ambassador Robert
Barry, comment in The Guardian, January 22
- Ian Davis, 'NATO first strike doctrine exploded, http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,2245090,00.html,
Jan 23
- House Magazine, Notice of the APPG meeting with
George Shultz and Sam Nunn, Feb 25
- International Press Association, Paul Ingram on
the future of NATO and the EU, February 6
- MehrNews, Paul Ingram on the status of the dispute
over Iran's nuclear programme and what Iran needs to do
now, Mar 4, http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=650003
- Sunday Times Letters, Ian Davis, 'Nuclear World
Leader' on the link between nuclear weapons and status,
Jan 27 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3257090.ece
- Telegraph, Paul Ingram cited in The real Barack
Obama-Hillary Clinton fight, talking about the transatlantic
moves towards a nuclear weapon free world, by Mary Riddell,
March 6 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?
xml=/opinion/2008/03/06/do0602.xml
Publications, Meetings and Submissions
BASIC Email Updates Series
- Afghanistan Updates (published on
11 and 25 January, 8 and 26 February, 7 and 21 March)
- Iran Updates (published on 8 and
23 January, 6 and 19 February, 26 March )
- Getting to Zero Update (formerly
Washington Nuclear Update) (published in January, February
and March)
BASIC Papers
NATO
and the Afghan Insurgency: Looking Ahead to Bucharest
(PDF), by Andrew Imbrie, BASIC Paper, 25 March 2008.
Changing the Frame
of the International Debate over Iran's Nuclear Programme:
Iran's Role in Moving Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World
and Other solutions
to Iran's Energy Insecurity, BASIC Papers delivered by
Paul Ingram to an international conference on Iran's nuclear
programme in Tehran, 9 March 2008.
BASIC Events
A World Without Nuclear Weapons:
The International Dimension, BASIC event co-sponsored
with the United States Institute of Peace and the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC on 6 March
2008. Follow
this link to USIP for a summary and audio recording of
the event.
Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr.,
BASIC Advisor and Ambassador Robert L. Barry, BASIC Board
Member participated in a discussion on steps needed to
work toward nuclear disarmament. Cosmos Club, Washington,
DC, 7 February 2008.
Arms Control - A European Perspective, luncheon presentation
by Dr. Heinz Gartner. Jointly hosted by the Center for Arms
Control and Nonproliferation and BASIC, with Board Member
Dr. Daniel Nelson. Event held at the Hans Bethe Center in
Washington, DC on 6 February 2008.
Conferences and Presentations
Nuclear proliferation and the need to change course, Paul
Ingram talk to Kent Green Party AGM, January 19
Consultations on the new Foreign Policy Framework, Paul Ingram
at the Foreign Office, Jan 23 and Feb 4
Paul Ingram talk to the Gulf Cultural Club: Iran's rights
and interests over its nuclear programme. January 30
Paul Ingram talk to Manchester Iranian Society (300 people):
Iran's nuclear file - the need to shift from rights to interests
in the Iranian debate, Saturday February 2
Steven Monblatt participated in the EastWest
Institute's 5th World Wide Security Conference and presented
in a session on the Role of NGOs. The conference was held
in Brussels on February 19-21.
Paul Ingram talks at Warwick University: the history of nuclear
armament and disarmament; and Iran's nuclear programme: prospects
for resolution, February 27
Paul Ingram talk to national student Model UN Convention
at Warwick University: background to the dispute over Iran's
nuclear programme - recommendations for a changed relationship,
February 29
Paul Ingram attended an IPIS international conference on
Iran's nuclear programme in Tehran, and presented two BASIC
Papers: Changing the
Frame of the International Debate over Iran's Nuclear Programme:
Iran's Role in Moving Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World
and Other solutions
to Iran's Energy Insecurity, March 9
Paul Ingram at a RUSI roundtable on UK national defence and
security, March 14
Paul Ingram briefing to the Lib Dem defence team on the necessary
steps to achieve movement on multilateral nuclear disarmament.
March 18
Steven Monblatt participated in a panel discussion titled,
"Compañeros
de Armas ("Friends in Arms"): Chavez, FARC & South America."
The Counterterrorism Foundation organized the event, which
was held in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington,
DC, March 19, 2008.
Paul Ingram briefing to a visiting party of students from
George Washington University on the transatlantic relationship
and nuclear weapons, March 20
Paul Ingram attended briefing with Ambassador John Duncan
on the NPT Prep Com, March 26.
BASIC's work is made possible by the generous
support of our donors: the Ploughshares
Fund, the Ford Foundation,
the Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust, the Marmott Trust, Polden-Puckham
Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Family Associates,
and individual contributors to BASIC. We are grateful to all
of them for their support.
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