NukeTalk

This season on Press the Button, we’re handing the microphone to members of communities impacted by nuclear weapons so they can share their stories and their experiences the way they want to tell it.

This episode features Shampa Biswas, Professor of Politics at Whitman College and a 2022 Ploughshares Fund Equity Rises grantee. She is working to transform nuclear studies by putting race, colonialism, gender, disability, ecological thinking, and intersectionality right at the center of that study. She explains how intersectional thinking in nuclear policy changes the nature of the conversation, why current thinking surrounding the concept of security can be dangerous, and the ways in which the nuclear field can engage with young people.

February marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unjust invasion of Ukraine. In this special report, Tom Collina sits down with Rose Gottemoeller, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, to talk about the New START Treaty and Russia’s move to suspend the treaty.

Alex Hall also talks with Andrea Gittleman, the policy director at the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. She talks about how nuclear weapons have enabled Russia to violate human rights in Ukraine.

In early February, the world watched as a Chinese “spy balloon” floated across the United States, sparking a furor that led President Biden to postpone a high-level US visit to Beijing. This week, Tom Collina talks with Sahil Shah, senior fellow and program manager at the Council on Strategic Risks. He discusses the balloon, the postponement of the US visit, and how this event affects Chinese threat perceptions. 

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Connor Murray from Council for a Livable World. They discuss prospects for further New START negotiations and the potential fall-out if US and Russia fail to find consensus before the treaty expires.

After nine years as Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Beatrice Fihn is stepping down. She talks with Ploughshares President Emma Belcher to reflect on her time leading the organization, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and her hopes for the future.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet sits down with Tong Zhao, senior fellow at Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program. He discusses the leaked memo by a high-ranking US general predicting a war between the US and China by 2025 and how it furthers the narrative of the “China threat”.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ have set this year’s clock at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to midnight it has ever been. Why is the clock so close to midnight and how do we come back from the brink? To answer these questions, Tom Collina talks with Dr. Rachel Bronson, President and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett sits down with Lilly Adams, senior outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists. They discuss reports that officers who worked in a nuclear missile base have been diagnosed with blood cancer and how nuclear weapons have a long history of negative impacts on people.

We’re now halfway through the Biden Administration’s first term, so it’s time to take stock of the Administration’s national security and nuclear policies. Tom Collina sits down with Matt Duss, former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). They discuss Biden’s foreign policy over the past two years.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall talks with Dr. Ellen Kim, deputy director of the Korea Chair at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She discusses South Korean President Yoon’s recent remarks that South Korea might consider developing its own nuclear arsenal.

As the war in Ukraine spills from 2022 into 2023, Tom Collina sits down with Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, PhD student from the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss ongoing developments. She talks about what’s happening in the war in Ukraine right now, what we could expect in the coming year, and how the crisis is turning into a long-term stand-off.

On Early Warning, Lauren Billet talks to Marylia Kelley, Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs. They discuss President Eisenhower’s military industrial complex speech and where we currently see unprecedented spending on the military and nuclear weapons development.

To start off the new year, Tom Collina sits down with Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea. He discusses Kim’s plans to increase the production of nuclear weapons and what kind of US diplomatic efforts we might see in response.

On Early Warning, Angela Kellett talks with John Pope, Chief Audience Officer at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. They discuss the historical significance of the Doomsday Clock as the Bulletin prepares to unveil this year’s clock setting on January 24th.

…and that’s a wrap! Join co-hosts Tom Collina and Lauren Billet as they cover their favorite interviews and stories from the past year. And as an end of the year treat, enjoy a highlight reel that takes you through some of the biggest stories quote by quote.

Since invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladmir Putin has relied on nuclear threats to deter Western intervention and signal his commitment to this war. Ploughshares Fund President Dr. Emma Belcher talks with Dr. Heather Williams, director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). They discuss the role of nuclear deterrence in the war in Ukraine, whether the war has shifted the current thinking on deterrence theory, and possible pathways for arms control.

On Early Warning, Alex Hall recognizes Human Rights Day with Raeghn Draper, associate partner for mobilization & partnerships at Global Zero. They discuss the human costs of nuclear weapons and how the nuclear abolition movement can learn from other social justice movements.