SECURITY INDEX (Global Edition)

NO. 4 (105), Fall 2013

CONTENTS

FROM THE EDITOR

Sochi-2014: The G8 Should Set a New Benchmark for Global Partnership — Vladimir Orlov, Aleksandr Cheban

Sochi-2014 is not only the Winter Olympics. It is also the June summit of the G8. What will be the place of the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Nuclear Weapons on the nonproliferation agenda of the summit? To identify possible options for implementing the program, the experts analyze three aspects of international cooperation on WMD nonproliferation: bilateral Russian-U.S. cooperation, the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), and Global Partnership.

INTERVIEW

Industry Must Contribute to Practical Nuclear Security Measures — Grigory Berdennikov

Nuclear security has become especially important given the indispensible role of nuclear energy for growing economies all over the world. At the same time, the spread of peaceful nuclear energy also raises certain threats, and the search for an effective response to those threats requires a consolidation of the international community’s efforts. Security Index journal has interviewed the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Special Envoy Grigory Beredennikov on key aspects of the international nuclear security agenda.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Remains a Priority in Russian-U.S. Relations — Mikhail Lysenko

In September 2013 Russia and the United States signed an agreement on nuclear science and technology cooperation. The event did not attract many headlines, but it could prove extremely important for future Russian-U.S. nuclear cooperation. The head of the department for international cooperation at the Rosatom State Nuclear Corporation Mikhail Lysenko in his interview speaks about the new agreement and prospects for its implementation.

ANALYSIS

Changing Priorities in International Security – Sergey Ryabkov

The system of international relations goes through a historically unprecedented transformation. New centers of economic growth and political influence have emerged. Priorities in international relations have changed. Still Russia considers strengthening of the nonproliferation regime as one of the most important tasks which has an absolute foreign policy priority. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in his article addresses the most urgent aspects of international security describing Russia’s interests within each of them.

The Experience of Global Partnership for the Middle East — Artem Blashchanitsa

International cooperation on WMD nonproliferation is making its first tentative steps in the Middle East. Are opportunities for such cooperation limited to Syria? The author offers a comprehensive analysis of the situation with WMD nonproliferation and nuclear security in the Middle East. The article also outlines the prospects for the Middle Eastern countries' participation in the Global Partnership program, which has yet to arrive in that region.

Central Asian Nuclear Security: Specifics and Opportunities for Cooperation — Dauren Aben

The need for continued Russian-U.S. cooperation in Central Asia on WMD nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament is dictated by a whole number of factors. Such cooperation is in Moscow's and Washington's best interests because it helps to reduce the existing risks in the region and offers the two countries an opportunity to strengthen their political and economic positions in Central Asia.

ROUND TABLE

Russia and the United States in the Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security Maze — Andrey Baklitskiy, Evgeny Buzhinsky, Alexander Chernyshev, Mikhail Lysenko, Evgeny Maslin, Vladimir Orlov, Nikolay Ponomarev-Stepnoi, Vladimir Rybachenkov, Boris Tulinov

WMD nonproliferation and nuclear security problems are climbing up the agenda in a growing number of countries; resolution of these problems requires broad international cooperation. At the same time, bilateral cooperation between Russia and the United States remains very important for progress in this area. What awaits Russian-U.S. cooperation now that the Nunn-Lugar Program has expired? What are the most pressing areas of nuclear cooperation? Can the two countries work together in developing advanced nuclear technologies? And how much scope is there for cooperative Russian-U.S. efforts in third countries?

VIEWPOINTS

Blue Helmets: the Causes of Impotence — Evgeny Satanovsky, Alexander Shumilin

Amid the civil war in Syria and the general potential for conflict in the Middle East in 2013, questions are being asked as to the effectiveness of international peacekeeping in this day and age. There is also the need to assess the role of the UN in conflict settlement in the region, the political obstacles facing the peacekeeping efforts, and possible alternative ways of organizing peacekeeping activities. The President of the Institute for Middle East Studies in Moscow debates these issues with the head of the Center for Analysis of Middle Eastern Conflict at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

COMMENTARY

Nuclear Material Physical Protection, Control and Accounting: New Realities — Dmitry Kovchegin

One of the components of Russian-U.S. cooperation on joint threat reduction is a program to improve the nuclear material protection, control and accounting systems at Russian nuclear facilities. Russian and U.S. experience in implementing this program could be used to improve the security of nuclear materials in other countries. The approaches to projects in third countries should be formulated jointly by Russia and the United States.

LIBRARY

Space Nostalgia, Mackinder-Style – Pavel Luzin

The article reviews the book “Meta-Geopolitics of Outer Space. An Analysis of Space Power, Security and Governance”, by Dr Nayef Al-Rodhan, Senior Fellow at the Oxford University's St Antony's College. “Space geopolitics, just like Sir H.J. Mackinder’s classical geopolitics of seas and continents, is something akin to metaphysics and political mythology. It is also devoid of the orthodoxy espoused by the modern adherents of geopolitical theories”, - writes the author.

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