Nonproliferation News - October 22, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
Iran Envoy Backs Uranium Deal, but Will Tehran?
AP by George Jahn

What's With Iran?
NYT by Mark Medish

Clinton cites nuke worry; panel fears bio attack
AP by Robert Burns

Gates Pledges Nuclear Umbrella to Counter North Korea
NYT by Reuters

EAST ASIA
1. Gates Pledges Nuclear Umbrella to Counter North Korea
NYT by Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday that North Korea poses a threat to Washington's allies in North Asia and promised to protect them under the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

2. NKorea sanctions to end with full denuclearization: Clinton
AFP by Lachlan Carmichael
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that sanctions against North Korea will only be relaxed when Pyongyang takes "verifiable and irreversible" steps for full nuclear disarmament.

3. Japan-U.S. missile defense faces budget limits
Reuters by Isabel Reynolds
Tokyo may not have the money to complete its joint missile defense plans with the United States, aimed at protecting it from regional threats such as North Korea, Japan's defense minister said on Wednesday.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran Deal Would Slow Making of Nuclear Bombs
NYT by David E. Sanger
Iranian negotiators have agreed to a draft deal that would delay the country’s ability to build a nuclear weapon for about a year, buying more time for President Obama to search for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.

5. Iran Envoy Backs Uranium Deal, but Will Tehran?
AP by George Jahn
A top Iranian negotiator praised a plan Wednesday that would ship most of his country's uranium abroad for enrichment and limit its ability to build a nuclear weapon. There was no guarantee, however, that Tehran's leaders would accept the idea.

6. Iran will not renounce enrichment rights: Salehi
AFP by Siavosh Ghazi
Iran has said it will not renounce its right to enrich uranium to more than five percent purity even if it strikes a deal for a third party to do it, as Israel expressed scepticism over its true intentions.

7. Khamenei's hostility to West shapes Iranian policy
Reuters by Alistair Lyon
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's deep aversion for the West dims any prospect of a lasting nuclear deal or a rapprochement with the United States.

8. Israel largely quiet on Iranian deal
Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon and AP
Israel was largely mum Wednesday on reports that Iranian negotiators had expressed support for a deal that - if accepted by their leaders - would delay Teheran's ability to make nuclear weapons by sending most of its known existing enriched uranium to Russia for processing.

9. Iran denies holding secret nuclear talks with Israel
Haaretz by Yossi Melman
A representative of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and a senior Iranian official met last month to discuss the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, Haaretz has learned. This is the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two states since the fall of the Shah in 1979.

10. US cuts funding to Iran opposition
BBC News by Bahman Kalbasi
In an apparent shift from the Bush administration's efforts to foster regime change in Iran by financing opposition groups, the Obama White House has all but dismantled the Iran Democracy Fund.

SOUTH ASIA
11. Indo-US nuke deal unique, part of broader strategic ties: Hillary
Times of India by Chidanand Rajghatta
Affirming that the Obama administration fully backs the US-India nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said that it was part of broader American strategic approach towards New Delhi and could not be used as a precise template or precedent for other countries.

12. US Closely Monitoring Safety of Pak Nukes
Outlook India by Lalit K. Jha
The US is keeping a close tab on efforts by Pakistan to keep its nuclear arsenal safe from militants, but feels that the recent terrorist attacks in the country does not pose a threat to the atomic weapons.

RUSSIA/FSU
13. Clinton urges support for U.S.-Russian arms-control treaty
WP by Mary Beth Sheridan
With a congressional battle looming, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday defended the administration's broad arms-control agenda and said that reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles would be a critical first step in preventing the spread of the deadly weapons to other countries.

EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
14. U.N. Agency Hunts For Microscopic Nuclear Clues
NYT by Reuters
A hotchpotch set of grey and white buildings huddled in fields outside Vienna may seem an unlikely setting for a laboratory which could help uncover illicit nuclear activity.

MISCELLANEOUS
15. Clinton cites nuke worry; panel fears bio attack
AP by Robert Burns
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday warned of dire consequences from the spread of nuclear weapons, while a special U.S. panel asserted that the more worrisome and urgent threat is terrorists attacking the United States or its allies with biological weapons.

16. Nuclear negotiator: Time to ratify comprehensive testing ban
Salt Lake Tribune by Matthew D. LaPlante
 Over time, things just changed. That's how Linton Brooks, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and a longtime detractor of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, decided the United States should finally join 150 other nations that have ratified the accord.

OPINION
17. The Iran talks we should end
WP by John B. Bellinger III
Since 1981, officials of the two countries have been quietly meeting in The Hague to resolve billions of dollars in claims arising from the Iranian revolution and the resulting rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Rather than continuing to hope for the best, the Obama administration should add the future of the tribunal and remaining bilateral claims to the list of issues to be discussed with Iran.

18. Iran Keeps Obama Waiting on Nuclear Deal
Time by Tony Karon
The points of contention not only highlight the differing objectives of the two sides in making a deal. They also serve as a reminder that as significant a confidence-building mechanism as the Vienna deal may be, it doesn't actually begin to address the deadlock between Iran and the West over whether the Islamic Republic will continue to enrich uranium.

19. Draft nuclear deal is a victory for Iran
Haaretz by Yossi Melman
The already distant option of military action against Iran drew even further away on Wednesday, as a draft agreement on Iran's nuclear program dealt a serious blow to chances that the United States will attack Iran.

20. What's With Iran?
NYT by Mark Medish
As a former U.S. national security official, I have been straining — along with many fellow Americans — to understand the Iranian nuclear puzzle. What is really going on with Iran? While it is difficult to know exactly what or whom to believe, we can try to connect the dots of recent news reports and put forth several hypotheses.

21. Iran brings urgency to U.S.’s need to ratify nuclear test ban treaty
The Hill by Deepti Choubey
Proliferation threats like Iran make U.S. ratification of the CTBT more urgent and a smart global security strategy. After the U.S. and China ratify, the major powers will have another tool for impeding Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Because China’s ratification is linked to the timing of U.S. ratification, the United States must act first.

22. What Missile Defense?
Foreign Policy by Yousaf Butt
Barack Obama's administration has characterized its new missile defense plan as a more judicious alternative to George W. Bush's expensive (but untested) Eastern European-based interceptor system. Writing in the Financial Times last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it "a stronger and smarter approach than the previous program," noting it will be deployed faster and less expensively, so as "not [to] waste time or taxpayer money." That may sound like a winning combination, but in reality, the main difference between the old and new plans is that the latter doesn't step on Russia's toes. Otherwise, it will be just as strategically ineffective as the original.