Establishing a nuclear weapon-free area in Central Asia
– Abstract
A treaty establishing a nuclear weapon-free zone in Central Asia has been signed by the five countries in the area, on September 8th, 2006, in Kazakhstan (Semipalatinsk). The event has almost passed unnoticed: is this a non-event? Western diplomacies, who have endeavored to prevent the Treaty from being signed, may want it to be so. Indeed, studying the zone’s context and profile as well as the origin of the Treaty sheds light on the conflicting nature of this new nuclear weapon-free zone. This very acknowledgement significantly enlarges the issue of future perspectives.
