Tag Archives: France

Global nuclear arsenal declines

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Over the past twelve months, the world has seen a drop in the number of active nuclear weapons as countries retire aged or obsolete weapons. China, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States possess in total approximately 19,000 nuclear weapons.

U.K. nukes to balance North Korea, Pakistan?

U.S. aerospace and defence magazine Aviation Week has succeeded in inventing the world’s most ridiculous justification for Britain’s “independent nuclear deterrent”–which is no easy feat given the quality of the entries in that particular competition over the years. According to AvWeek‘s Ares blog (“U.K. Trident Renewal: Maintaining West’s Nuclear Parity With China,” Ares, 19 May […]

WikiLeaks: France went to bat for Omar Khadr

U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday reveal that France’s Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, asked the U.S. to consider releasing Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay. Kouchner, who played a founding role in the international humanitarian NGO Médecins sans frontières, personally asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to review Khadr’s case during a meeting in February […]

Two hundred and twenty-five

The United Kingdom became the latest nuclear weapon state to join the movement towards greater nuclear transparency on Wednesday when Foreign Secretary William Hague informed the British House of Commons that the U.K.’s “overall stockpile of nuclear warheads will not exceed 225 warheads” (“Britain Reveals Nuclear Arsenal: 225 Warheads,” New York Times, 26 May 2010). […]