The author examines the challenges the world faces in the "second nuclear age", where the constraints on nuclear proliferation have been significantly weakened and the risks of a nuclear exchange have greatly increased.
North Korea's withdrawal could trigger further defections from the treaty and cause other states in the region to pursue nuclear weapons of their own. Of equal concern is the potential for North Korea to sell weapons grade fissile material or nuclear weapons themselves to other states and non-state actors, including terrorist groups.
The authors warn that U.S. plans to develop earth penetrating nuclear weapons would threaten the already fragile Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and could prevent future ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
CIA Director George J. Tenet warned yesterday that the "desire for nuclear weapons is on the upsurge" among small countries, confronting the world with a new nuclear arms race that threatens to dismantle more than three decades of nonproliferation efforts.
President Bush made an overt appeal to North Korea yesterday, offering to consider agriculture and energy aid to the desperately poor country if it dismantles its nuclear weapons programs.
U.S. officials and private experts are increasingly concerned a developing Iranian nuclear power industry might demand more attention at the same time the United States wrestles with nuclear crises in Iraq and North Korea. They contend that Iran?s efforts to build a nuclear power plant and other nuclear fuel cycle facilities could provide Iran with valuable nuclear expertise and materials.
"This article considers the potential impact of the Hague Code of Conduct, in both the near- and long-term, on efforts to address threats to regional and global security posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and related technology. While the omens from the launch are hardly auspicious, the initiative may yet prove able to make a valuable contribution to strengthening this crucial but sadly neglected aspect of the international non-proliferation regime."
Ted Galen Carpenter argues that economic sanctions and threats of military strikes will do little to persuade North Korea to renounce its nuclear ambitions.
Bennett Ramberg argues that current efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Iraq, and Iran could risk dismantling the legal framework that nonproliferation rests on -- the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Security analysts warn that with the disarmament agenda crumbling, more and more states including possibly Japan, Australia, and South Korea will seek to defend their own interests by developing nuclear weapons.