Items include:
- Video: Carlo Rovelli, Hay Festival annual lecture / interview
- Report: The Future for UK Defence, Diplomacy and Disarmament
- Recent articles and reports of interest
- Pugwash Forum mailing list
- Annual membership
1. Video: Carlo Rovelli, Hay Festival annual lecture / interview
This year’s lecture featured Professor Carlo Rovelli, who spoke on how ‘Relations, not Entities, Make up the World.’ The lecture took place on Saturday 1 June.
‘From the mystery of quantum physics all the way to the horrors of disruptions to world peace, we make the mistake of thinking in terms of individual entities. We forget that entities are made by their relations. Italian theoretical physicist and writer Carlo Rovelli suggests that trying to make sense of the world in terms of relations can help us make better sense of reality on all its levels.’
You can watch the lecture online here.
Student and Young Pugwash also conducted a wide-ranging interview with Prof Rovelli on science and politics at the festival. You can watch the interview online here.
Check out the other videos on our YouTube channel here.
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Report: The Future for UK Defence, Diplomacy and Disarmament
In May the Nuclear Education Trust published a report entitled ‘The Future for UK Defence, Diplomacy and Disarmament’. The report considers how, given current global instability, the UK can best harness its defence and foreign policy to reduce international tensions and help get the world back on a path to nuclear disarmament. For example, the report found that discussion regarding the UK’s international policy must be opened up to include a much wider range of voices, based on the principles of democracy, transparency, and accountability.
The report was written by British Pugwash Secretary Dr Tim Street and was based on over 40 interviews with parliamentarians, think tank experts, academics, and representatives of civil society organisations. Interviewees included Peter Jenkins, British Pugwash Chairman. The starting point of the report was the UK Government’s Integrated Review Refresh of 2023, which updated the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.
The report can be downloaded here.
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Recent articles and reports of interest
July
Tong Zhao, Carnegie Endowment, Political Drivers of China’s Changing Nuclear Policy: Implications for U.S.-China Nuclear Relations and International Security
Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, US Announces It Will Deploy Previously Banned Nuclear-Capable Missiles To Germany
Jennifer Hiller and Sha Hua, Wall Street Journal, China Outspends the U.S. on Fusion in the Race for Energy’s Holy Grail
Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction, Understanding the New Nuclear Arms Race: Views From Washington, Moscow and Beijing
Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov, Reuters, Putin says Russia may resume global deployment of intermediate range missiles
June
Michael Loria, USA Today, Which nation spends the most on nuclear weapons?
Greg Torode, Gerry Doyle and Laurie Chen, Reuters, Exclusive-U.S. and China hold first informal nuclear talks in 5 years, eyeing Taiwan
NBC News, Nuclear-armed nations are deepening their reliance on their nuclear weapons
Timothy Gardner, Reuters, US as many as 15 years behind China on nuclear power, report says
Shemuel Meir, Strategic Reflections, A Dissenting View from Israel: Nuclear Iran, IAEA and the International Arena
Will Daniel, Fortune, China has a ‘near monopoly’ on many critical minerals. JPMorgan says it could be the next battleground with the U.S.
Pranay Vaddi, Arms Control Association, Adapting the U.S. Approach to Arms Control and Nonproliferation to a New Era
Tom Z. Collina, Arms Control Association, Nuclear War: A Scenario (book review)
Theodore Postol, Responsible Statecraft, Droning Russia’s nuke radars is the dumbest thing Ukraine can do
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Why a substantive and verifiable no-first-use treaty for nuclear weapons is possible
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Pugwash Forum mailing list
The Pugwash Forum is a mailing list which regularly updates subscribers on interesting news, analysis and other information relating to the international Pugwash movement.
If you would like to join the mailing list email: e.ferguson@antenna.nl
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Annual membership
We ask that members of British Pugwash contribute £25 a year to the organisation.
We would be grateful if you can check that your subscription is up to date. If you need to set up a payment, our bank details are here.
Membership for students and people under 30 is free.