Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb
Come hear of how the country of Kazakhstan said no to the most powerful weapons in human history.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, this country in Central Asia suddenly found itself with the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal on its lands.
Would it give up these fire-ready weapons — or try to become a Central Asian North Korea?
Togzhan Kassenova, D.C.-based senior fellow with the Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at the Center for Policy Research, SUNY-Albany and a nonresident fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, introduces us to engineers turned diplomats, villagers turned activists and scientists turned pacifists who worked toward disarmament.
With thousands of nuclear weapons still present around the world, the story of how Kazakhs gave up their nuclear inheritance holds urgent lessons for global security.
This event will be held at ASU in Coor Hall, Room 184 (975 S Myrtle Ave, Tempe, AZ 85281), and by Zoom at https://asu.zoom.us/j/2547561917
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Atomic Steppe is co-sponsored by the:
- ASU School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS)
- ASU Melikian Center: Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies