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International Centre for Defence and Security Accessibility
LMC 2022

Two Minutes to Midnight: Arms Control  

Arms control, China, Russia

Iron Maiden, 2 minutes to Midnight [1984]

Most of the arms control agreements agreed since the end of the second world war have fallen by the wayside. For Russia and others, adherence to those that remain has become a matter of expediency rather than principle. With its nuclear and chemical blackmail, cluster and thermobaric munitions, and dual-use hypersonic missiles, Russia has reminded the world that horrific and destabilising weapons still exist with few constraints on their use. China, meanwhile, remains outside all but a few arms control regimes.

Speakers

Marshall Billingslea

Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute

Iulian Chifu

State Counsellor of the Romanian Prime Minister

Koichiro Matsumoto

Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs, Prime Minister's Office of Japan

Olga Oliker

Director of the Europe and Central Asia Program at the International Crisis Group

Moderator

Ben Hodges

Former Commander US Army Europe

  • How should law-abiding states and international society react to these developments?
  • Is there a realistic chance to build new arms control regimes?
  • What should be the priorities?
  • In times of rapid technological change, can any new agreements be future-proofed?
  • Can China be coaxed to join processes that have historically been grounded in east-west relations?
Photos by Annika Haas. View all.
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