Nonproliferation News - November 19, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
North Korea Arms Trade Funds Nuclear-Bomb Work, UN Panel Says
Bloomberg by Bill Varner

Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad
NYT by Michael Slackman

Iran Imperils Western Nuclear Deal
WSJ by Chip Cummins and Jay Solomon

The Conventional Arms Control Challenge
Foreign Policy in Focus by Frida Berrigan

EAST ASIA
1. North Korea Arms Trade Funds Nuclear-Bomb Work, UN Panel Says
Bloomberg by Bill Varner
North Korea is running a global arms smuggling enterprise to finance its nuclear weapons program, a United Nations panel said in a report on sanctions imposed on the regime.

2. Obama Ready to Help A Non - Nuclear North Korea
NYT by Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama said he was willing to help North Korea repair its economy and end decades of international isolation if Pyongyang stopped a cycle of threats and finally moved toward nuclear disarmament.

3. North Korea maneuvers to evade U.N. sanctions: experts
Reuters by Patrick Worsnip
North Korea appears to be taking elaborate measures to evade U.N. sanctions aimed at its nuclear and missile activities, arms trading and import of luxuries, U.N. experts say in a new report.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Minister Says Iran Won’t Ship Uranium Abroad
NYT by Michael Slackman
Iran’s foreign minister said this week that his government would not ship its stockpile of low-enriched uranium out of the country, making him the highest ranking official so far to declare that Iran would renege on a deal aimed at defusing a confrontation with the West over its nuclear program.

5. Iran Imperils Western Nuclear Deal
WSJ by Chip Cummins and Jay Solomon
Iran's foreign minister appeared to renege on a pact that the U.S. had hoped would curtail the Islamic Republic's ability to build a nuclear bomb, dealing a blow to the Obama administration's efforts to try to resolve the West's standoff with Tehran.

6. U.S. warns Iran of consequences over standoff
Reuters by Patricia Zengerle and Manny Mogato
U.S. President Barack Obama issued a strong warning to Iran on Thursday of consequences of its failure to respond to the offer of a nuclear deal and could have a package of steps to take "within weeks."

7. UN inspectors to visit Iran's second uranium plant
AFP
UN inspectors were expected to visit Iran's controversial second uranium enrichment plant on Thursday, a day after Tehran rejected a Washington-backed nuclear fuel deal.

8. World 'not quite' at point of getting tough with Iran: US
AFP
The United States said Wednesday that the international community was "not quite" at the point of switching from trying to engage Iran to pressuring it over its suspect nuclear program.

SOUTH ASIA
9. Pakistani nuclear scientist said to affirm Post article's accuracy
WP by R. Jeffrey Smith
A leading Pakistani newspaper said Wednesday that the former director of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear program had affirmed a recent account in The Washington Post of the country's nuclear dealings with China, saying the account was accurately based on a letter that Abdul Qadeer Khan said he sent to his wife.

10. India and U.S. to resolve remaining issues on nuclear deal
The Hindu
The U.S. and India will attempt to close the nuclear agreement by trying to resolve the remaining issues, including reprocessing, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s four-day visit to Washington beginning on Saturday, U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer told newspersons here on Wednesday.

RUSSIA/FSU

EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS

OPINION
11. Iran nuclear deal collapses. Time for US to get tough?
CSM by Howard LaFranchi
Iran's rejection of a nuclear deal with international powers for treatment of its enriched uranium stockpile shifts the focus to the Obama administration. Washington now must lay out the "consequences" it said would result from any Iranian "no" to the negotiated agreement.

12. The Conventional Arms Control Challenge
Foreign Policy in Focus by Frida Berrigan
The message is — we do not need nuclear weapons to deliver massive destruction. And some nuclear arms control advocates are comfortable with getting rid of nuclear weapons not because they are destructive but because the taboo against their use is so strong we cannot use them. As we begin to reduce our nuclear capabilities, watch out for a lot of pressure to ramp up conventional weapons procurement.

13. Nuclear fallout rocks Pakistan
Asia Times by Syed Saleem Shahzad
Sharp differences between Pakistani leaders over safeguarding the country's nuclear arsenal are placing increasing pressure on the embattled administration of President Asif Ali Zardari.