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This backgrounder will examine the international nuclear nonproliferation regime; specifically the origins, benefits, and drawbacks of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).  Increasingly obvious loopholes and a looming NPT review conference in May are coming together to make 2010 a watershed year for the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

With the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms expiring last December 5 and its successor held up almost three months in large part because of U.S. missile shield provocations in recent weeks, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is forging ahead with the formulation and implementation of a new Strategic Concept.

The United States, separately and through the military bloc it controls, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is accelerating military deployments and provocations throughout Eurasia and the Middle East.

The defense chiefs of all 28 NATO nations and an undisclosed number of counterparts from non-Alliance partners gathered in Istanbul, Turkey on February 4 to begin two days of meetings focused on the war in Afghanistan, the withdrawal of military forces from Kosovo in the course of transferring control of security operations to the breakaway province’s embryonic army (the Kosovo Security Force) and “the transformation efforts required to best conduct the full range of NATO’s agreed missions.”

January 11th (Al Jazeera) - The severity of the H1N1 outbreak was deliberately exaggerated by pharmaceutical companies that stood to make billions of dollars from a worldwide scare, a leading European health expert has claimed.

BRUSSELS December 22, 2009 (NY Times) — European Union leaders on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism that they had fumbled their strategy at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting, just as a feud between the British and the Chinese over whom to blame for the outcome worsened.

December 18, 2009 (Al Jazeera) - Five countries have reached a non-binding agreement at the Copenhagen climate change summit, but leaders from developing countries have reacted angrily to the deal.

December 17, 2009 (Al Jazeera) - Negotiators from about 30 countries at climate talks in Denmark have worked on an outline draft accord, hours before scores of world leaders were due to arrive for the summit's final day.

December 16, 2009 (Al Jazeera) - The climate summit in Copenhagen has reached a crucial phase with talks on Thursday set to next 24 hours crucial to determining success or failure, the United Nations climate chief has said.

December 11, 2009 (BBC News) - EU leaders have agreed to pay 7.2bn euros (£6.5bn; $10.6bn) over the next three years to help developing nations adapt to climate change.