A GSTE-NDV would be a generational goal: concrete international collaboration in discussing crucial practical aspects of nuclear disarmament. Join us next Friday for an online discussion of how this could work, and why it's so necessary!

Join NPSGLOBAL Foundation and VERTIC for a timely global webinar that will explore how a Group of Scientific and Technical Experts (GSTE-NDV) could strengthen multilateral nuclear disarmament verification. Friday 3rd October, 9am New York Learn more and register: www.vertic.org/2025/09/glob...

Ah yes, I remember when I negotiated with the Russians and Chinese and North Koreans and Iranians that the best way to maximize your impact is to admit up front that it is all a negotiating position and not a deeply held policy. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

What next in Iran? A new piece by @thebulletin.org, including comments from my VERTIC colleague Hugh Chalmers

In a recent project, VERTIC & KCL joined forces to look at options for verification & monitoring under the BWC - what paths a proliferator might take, & how long-standing proposals and new technologies could come together to identify them. Read more @thebulletin.org thebulletin.org/2025/09/how-...

How can we look at different options for BWC verification? exciting work with a great team, @filippalentzos.bsky.social, Jez Littlewood and @haileywingo.bsky.social. Read the article on @thebulletin.org now, and wait for the full report to drop soon! thebulletin.org/2025/09/how-...

Good new article in @thebulletin.org by @filippalentzos.bsky.social @haileywingo.bsky.social Jez Littlewood & @albertomuti.bsky.social on options for verifying BWC: How new technology could make it easier to identify covert bioweapons programs thebulletin.org/2025/09/how-...

Comments by our colleague Hugh on @thebulletin.org

Come see us next week at the BWC Working Group! I'll be there talking about options for BWC Compliance Verification, while my colleagues will be talking about their outstanding work on supporting legal implementation of the BWC.

Letter of the day (in the Times)

It's rare to see my hobbies break containment and end up on my timeline for this account - but this thread was a delight, and Band of Blades is a memorable, memorable game.

This was an excellent workshop!

Meanwhile, the political and normative costs accumulate: erosion of IL, weakening of nonproliferation norms, and the creeping normalisation of preventive force. At some point, we’ll need to ask whether all this performative force is masking a deeper strategic vacuum.

Not to be petty, but I find it especially delicious that the source of this graph is Albright's ISIS, who were the standard-bearers of attacking the JCPOA for being "insufficient".

This meme is patently wrong: it ignores that time in 2011 when guided weapons and air power made ground operations obsolete in Libya.

If the Khamenei regime does ever fall you end up with the question of who gets there hands on 400 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium whose location in Iran is currently unclear

When reason fails, I can at least count on being an Italian stereotype.

*stares at the guitar collection*

We now have an explanation: "island of strangers" means "lack of social cohesion", nothing to do with Powell. This is now The Truth; insisting on the matter is gauche and misguided. BUT Labour MUST have known how a Reform voter - an audience they think about a lot - would hear it. (cont'd)

Starmer's anti-immigrant speech today wasn't just a moral and political embarrassment. It was also an intellectual embarrassment. inews.co.uk/opinion/star...

After reading more news, I should also apologise for my role in inflicting "incalculable damage" to this country.

Incredibly depressing day. I've spent my entire life being told by British governments how dreadful immigration is. New Labour did it. The Coalition. The Brexiters. Now Starmer. All of them accusing the ones who came before them of failing to clamp down. The same old vacant mean-spirited bollocks.

Once again, as an immigrant, I'm being blamed.

You are a "citizen of nowhere", they said. A "queue-jumper", they said. Now I am a "squalid chapter", they say. A risk as I might make this an "island of strangers", they say. I am "pulling the country apart", they say.

Ah yes, "a squalid chapter" and "Failed experiment" in the UK's history. Sorry, I thought of them as the last 14 years of my life, studying, building a career here, buying a house, paying taxes. Glad to hear it was a misunderstanding.

Same line as John Bolton during the last round of DPRK negotiations, as memory serves.

been waiting for the cow tools tiny desk

What a good day to be flying out of DC. Love it.

This was a great event - stay tuned for more on this project as we conclude it!

Last week, VERTIC hosted a seminar on current global prospects for nuclear disarmament & verification in collaboration with the African Nuclear Disarmament Verification Hub & the Radiation and Health Physics Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand. Read more here: www.vertic.org/2025/02/vert...

The current vandals trying to overturn the US Government will certainly destroy all sorts of records and databases that would be crucial to rebuilding. I sure wonder how many people are desperately tying to use their accesses to download and save things to safe locations.

Trust & Verify No.175 is out! Featuring a lead article on the establishment of the new Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team for implementation of UNSCRs relating to North Korea, plus pieces on North Korea’s enrichment programme & the use of AI for tracking dark ships www.vertic.org/2025/01/trus...

It may be trite to say it, but, fuck nazis.

"Democracy Dies in Darkness" is kinda like "Don't Be Evil" as a slogan. It's a bit worrying when you choose it, but it's a lot more worrying when you take it down

Finally some italian representation on Bluesky 🤌

🚨New VERTIC commentary Recent events in Syria present potential opportunities and challenges for verifiably eliminating chemical weapons stockpiles. Our latest piece explores the future implications for #CWC national implementation. Read our commentary here: t.co/v075n5NwXz

Now that the Internet is buzzing with news about the killing of Kirillov apnews.com/article/russ..., it’s important to caution that he was NOT in charge of any nuclear weapons or did NOT command any nuclear forces.

me in December, rushing to finish every task by November

Colleagues from @vertic.bsky.social and our partners at ONN and CNS ran an interesting experiment, using forecasting methods to investigate future scenarios for the North Korean nuclear weapons programme. Read more here! #Nukesky

Check out this piece in @38north.org by researchers from VERTIC and Open Nuclear Network (@sjladerman.bsky.social): how we used forecasting methodology to improve our understanding of North Korea's nuclear program in the coming decade.

Excellent list! I'd add two that I wouldn't miss for any reason: - The Peripheral by @greatdismal.bsky.social - Gnomon by @harkaway.bsky.social

Worried what will happen to #Syria's chemical weapons? Me, too. Important to remember @OPCW and other int'l orgs have experience with "Non-Proliferation in Areas of Limited Statehood". Good opportunity to re-up an older @SWPBerlin research paper on lessons learned ten years ago: is.gd/3S7oZX

🚨 4️⃣ positions to be filled! Join us in Frankfurt/Darmstadt for exciting work in #nuclear arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament at the crossroads of #science and policy! DLs mid-December and later, vary per position. Working language English. And we move into new fancy office spaces! 🚨

Is the correction actually worse than the original mistake?

Hey folks! VERTIC has landed on BlueSky too, give us a follow! bsky.app/profile/vert... We're already posting our content and updates over here so it's the best way to follow the org's work as the hellsite slowly empties itself.

Hey folks, looks like it's finally time to abandon the hellsite. Looking forward to recapturing the best parts of the nuclear community on here!