Ludovica Castelli

Featured in: Favicon

tandfonline.com Favicon

stimson.org Favicon

inkstickmedia.com

Articles

A Prisoner’s Dilemma for Prohibiting Attacks Against Iranian and Israeli Nuclear Facilities

May 15, 2024 | stimson.org | Ludovica Castelli |Joaquin Matamis

Although fears of a wider war between Israel and Iran have begun to dissipate, there have been a flurry of statements and calls for action against Iran’s nuclear program from members of both Israeli and U.S. policy elites. In parallel, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Haghtalab, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander responsible for the security of Iran’s nuclear facilities, has warned that Iran would retaliate against Israeli nuclear sites if Iran’s nuclear facilities were targeted.
Justifying attacks on nuclear facilities

Feb 7, 2024 | tandfonline.com | Ludovica Castelli |Olamide Samuel

AbstractThe recent Russian military attacks on nuclear facilities in Ukraine raise questions about the normalization of kinetic military operations carried out by states against nuclear facilities. Although doubts persist about their practical efficacy, the first and second amendment protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions expressly prohibit kinetic attacks on nuclear facilities. Nonetheless, the practice of targeting nuclear facilities as a tool of statecraft has been gradually normalized.
Lessons From Libya’s Nuclear Disarmament 20 Years On

Dec 15, 2023 | stimson.org | Ludovica Castelli |Adrienne Cuffley

On December 19, 2003, a Libyan Foreign Ministry official announced the dismantling of Libya’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program. “The Great Socialist Peoples’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah … believes that the arms race will neither serve its security nor the region’s security and contradicts [Libya’s] great concern for a world that enjoys peace and security,” the announcement said.
The Fragile Balance Between Israel’s Domestic Crisis and Its Nuclear Status

May 4, 2023 | stimson.org | Ludovica Castelli

In a recent interview with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Ze’ev Snir, the former head of Israel’s Atomic Energy Committee, repeatedly emphasized that the “survival” of his country is extremely dependent on its close relationship with the United States. In his conversation with journalist Nadav Eyal, Snir didn’t dwell much on the substantial military, economic, or security assistance the U.S. has historically given to Israel.