With North Korea wreaking havoc by testing nuclear weapons and missiles, and with the Iranian nuclear program becoming once again the focus of U.S. foreign policy, Washington is searching for solutions to both crises. In 1991, Kazakhstan hosted one of the largest nuclear test sites of the Soviet empire, as well as the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world, larger than that of the United Kingdom, France, and China combined. Although wedged between two nuclear-armed giants, Kazakhstan chose to accede to START-I, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty. Under these, Kazakhstan relinquished all nuclear warheads to Russia instead of maintaining and building up an independent deterrent it could ill afford. This was vastly consequential — and highly controversial. Read the rest here.
