With just over a month left until the March 31 deadline, it appears the US negotiating stance has begun to soften.

Iran is currently sending two distinct messages to the West:  1) Iran is willing to cooperate with the IAEA and engage in productive diplomatic discussions; 2) Iran is hell-bent on the destruction of Israel and is only interested in engaging in protracted diplomatic discussions to delay its inevitable pursuit of enriched uranium.

Iran’s nuclear program has put it on a collision course with the United States and Israel as both countries reject Iran’s insistence that the program is for peaceful civilian purposes.

It is increasingly unlikely that the United States, or Israel, will engage in a military confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program in view of significant political changes within the Islamic Republic and the growing isolation of the Israeli government.

For nuclear weapons to fade toward oblivion, perhaps nothing needs to be done except wait, while their low value and high cost cause more and more peo­ple to question their usefullness.

As Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, gets ready to visit China from January 9 to 12 and as President Hu Jintao’s State visit to Washington DC on January 19 approaches, the People’s Liberal Army (PLA) of China seems to have mounted a psychological warfare against the US by disseminating through the Internet and through the “ People’s Forum” columns of the Party-controlled “People’s Daily” two unverified and unverifiable news items which would add to the concerns of the US and ultimately of India too.

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, we find a nuclear-armed state with a collapsing economy and a blurred line of leadership succession. In short, a geopolitical time bomb.

This backgrounder examines the international nuclear nonproliferation regime; specifically the origins, benefits, and drawbacks of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

American decline has once again become a fashionable prophecy in academic and media circles. This time, BRIC countries like China and India have replaced the specter of a rising Japan, the country that was often cited by ‘declinists’ as a challenger to American hegemony during the 1980s. This backgrounder will examine both sides of the debate and provide an objective analysis of the causes and possible effects of American decline.