Nonproliferation News - September 23, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
China, Russia wouldn't block new Iran sanctions:EU
Reuters by Louis Charbonneau

China Firms Selling Fuel to Iran as U.S. Sanctions Loom
NYT by Reuters

The nuclear options
Financial Times by Roula Khalaf, Daniel Dombey and James Blitz

Obama’s Misguided Nuclear Triad
National Review by Henry Sokolski

EAST ASIA
1. Obama presses China for help on Iran, NKorea
AP by Ben Feller

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao offered each other diplomatic assurances Tuesday as the U.S. sought help from China in dealing with Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs at a testy time in ties between Washington and Beijing.

2 New Defense Minister Stands Firm on NK Threat
Korea Times by Jung Sung-ki

Instability in North Korea could arise at any time, South Korea's new defense minister said Wednesday, vowing to transform the country's forces to deal with a broad range of threats.

3. Iran says wants abolition of nuclear weapons-Japan
Reuters

Iran wants to cooperate with Japan in working to abolish nuclear weapons, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told his Japanese counterpart at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, Japanese officials said.

MIDDLE EAST
4. EU: Meeting on Iran nukes Oct. 1 in Geneva
Washington Post by Slobodan Lekic

The European Union chief negotiator said Tuesday the six countries negotiating with Iran about its nuclear program will remain firm at an upcoming meeting in Geneva that Tehran must cease uranium enrichment.

5. China, Russia wouldn't block new Iran sanctions:EU
Reuters by Louis Charbonneau

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Tuesday he did not expect Russia and China would oppose Western powers if they call for new sanctions on Iran for refusing to freeze its nuclear program.

6. China Firms Selling Fuel to Iran as U.S. Sanctions Loom
NYT by Reuters

State-run Chinese companies are selling gasoline to Iran, a move that could undermine U.S. pressure on Iran to give up its nuclear programme, traders and a newspaper report said on Wednesday.

7. Netanyahu: Iran suspectible to pressure
AP

Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a nuclear threat from Iran, but the Islamic Republic's inner turmoil and weakened economy make it susceptible to pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

8. Netanyahu sidesteps questions on attacking Iran
Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no clue in a series of U.S. television interviews on Tuesday whether Israel might opt to attack Iran if world pressure failed to curb Tehran's nuclear program.

9. Iran in final preparations for launch of first nuclear plant
RIA Novosti

Iran's first nuclear power plant is 96% complete, and final testing will begin in the near future, the state IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.

10. Ahmadinejad urges Obama to see Iran as friend
AP by Robert Burns and Anne Gearan

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged President Barack Obama to see Iran as a potential friend instead of a threat ahead of addresses both leaders will give to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

11. Qatar to host GCC nuclear conference
Gulf Times

Doha: A number of experts and specialists from Qatar, other GCC member -states and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are scheduled to meet in Doha on Monday to study the mechanisms and strategy for the establishment of a nuclear training centre in the GCC region.

12. Israel hiding nukes in Golan, Syria claims
UPI

Damascus in a report submitted to the United Nations claims Israel is burying nuclear waste, and possibly more, in the occupied Golan Heights.

SOUTH ASIA
13. Scientist Santhanam's 'more H-bomb tests' call goes unheard
DNA India

Scientist K Santhanam, who called for two more thermonuclear tests on Monday to perfect the hydrogen bomb (H-bomb), found few takers on Tuesday, with most experts and western diplomats saying a test at this juncture would jeopardise India's position as a responsible world power and cost it a seat in the expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

RUSSIA/FSU
14. UN chief says Russia-U.S. arms deal key for nuke-free world
RIA Novosti

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the commitments made by the U.S. and Russia to reduce strategic and nuclear weapons were "extremely important" to achieve a world free of nuclear arms.

15. Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine
Wired by Nicholas Thompson

During the Cold War the Soviet Union developed a system called Perimeter that would automatically respond to a nuclear attack.  It’s also been called the Dead Hand or Doomsday Machine.  Some think there’s still a high risk of an accidental nuclear war caused by the deterioration of Russia’s early warming capabilities.

EUROPE
16. Brown move to cut UK nuclear subs
BBC

The prime minister is to tell the United Nations that he is willing to cut the UK's fleet of Trident missile-carrying submarines from four to three.

17. To Russia With Love, Or Not
WSJ by Sean Carney

U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent decision to scrap plans for a missile shield in central Europe raises a nagging issue (once again): Should the mostly Slavic nations of central Europe choose closer relations with Mother Russia or the West? Or both?

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
18. Terrorism and Nukes Top General Assembly Agenda
NYT by AP

More than 120 world leaders meet Wednesday on the heels of a climate change summit to tackle other crucial issues on the international agenda from terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons to growing poverty resulting from the global financial crisis.

19. IAEA passes resolution on Israeli nuclear issue
Xinhua by Liu Gang

The recently concluded 53rd General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution that urged Israel to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to put its entire nuclear program under IAEA inspection.

MISCELLANEOUS
20. Hopes for CTBT Conference Modest
GSN by Martin Matishak

Participation this week by the United States in a conference intended to promote entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is a positive development but does not guarantee the summit will result in substantial gains for the pact, observers and those involved with the effort said (see GSN, Sept. 21).

21. Nuclear test ban back on the table
Nature by Geoff Brumfiel

For the first time in a decade, a worldwide ban on nuclear testing could be within reach. The combination of a strong commitment from US President Barack Obama, along with new data on nuclear materials and the successful completion of a global nuclear-monitoring network, means that momentum is once again swinging in favour of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) that would ban all nuclear explosions for military or civilian purposes.

OPINION
22. The nuclear options
Financial Times by Roula Khalaf, Daniel Dombey and James Blitz

Iran’s recent nuclear offer didn’t change a lot.  Upcomign talks will be a chance for both the US and Iran to test each other’s intentions.  There probably isn’t a solution that doesn’t include some enrichment on Iranian soil.  There’s little chance of a compromise and  estimates predict they could develop a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015.

23. A smarter way to sanction Iran
CSM by Hossein Askari

In an effort to squeeze Iran into submission over its nuclear policy, there is talk, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has put it, of adopting "crippling sanctions" on Iran.  The US should drop these potential sanctions and instead enforce a bold new campaign to devastate Iran's financial sector – using existing US laws.

24. Cracks in Iran’s Clique
NYT by Thomas L. Friedman

For the first time since Iran began enriching uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon, we have a glimmer of hope for a diplomatic solution to this problem — as long as we are not too diplomatic, as long as the Iranian regime is made to understand that biting economic sanctions are an absolute certainty and military force by Israel is a live possibility. The reason we now have a slight chance for a negotiated deal is because Iran’s nuclear program has always been a survival strategy for Tehran’s ruling clique.

25. Obama and the Politics of Concession
WSJ by Mark Helprin

During last year's campaign, Sen. Joe Biden famously remarked that, if his ticket won, it wouldn't be long before "the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy" on foreign affairs. Last week, President Obama, brilliantly wielding the powers of his office, managed to fail that test not just once but twice, buckling in the face of Russian pressure and taking a giant wooden nickel from Iran.

26. Obama’s Misguided Nuclear Triad
National Review by Henry Sokolski

On September 24, President Obama will be campaigning again, not on Jay Leno’s program or the Sunday talk shows, but at a UN Security Council summit on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. Unfortunately, his UN Security Council appearance — a first for a U.S. president — is focused on pushing an arms-control agenda and a five-page draft UN resolution that is not all that well thought out.

27. Missile Defense and the Geopolitics of Proliferation
Washington Post by Thomas Graham, Jr.

Obama’s decision on missile defense better prepares the US for realistic threats and might reset relations with Russia.

28. Why It's So Hard to Make Nuclear Weapons
Live Science by Tuan C. Nguyen

It took only a matter of hours last week for the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency to shoot down a news report that its experts had drafted a secret document warning that Iran has the expertise to build a nuclear bomb. Amid all the fear and confusion, one fact remains: It is notoriously difficult to build an advanced nuclear weapon.

29. India must turn away from the bomb
Guardian by Randeep Ramesh

Retired atomic scientist K Santhanam, One of the driving forces behind the country's weapons nuclear program, wants India to resume testing to enhance their deterrent.  However, India should avoid testing to prevent the international community from turning against them.