Nuclear Policy News – Febraury 25, 2010

FISSILE MATERIAL
China, Russia could back symbolic Iran sanctions
Reuters by Louis Charbonneau

No "New START" in 2010, Hill sources predict
The Cable by Josh Rogin

The Administration's Nuclear Games
Weekly Standard by Michael Anton

Obama's Nuclear Moment
Foreign Policy by David E. Hoffman

EAST ASIA
1. China said to push the North on nuke talks
JoongAng Daily by Yoo Jee-ho and Chang Se-jeong
China has “strongly urged” North Korea to stop demands for the lifting of international sanctions as a precondition to the resumption of the six-party talks, sources in Beijing said yesterday.

2. Envoys in China for North Korea nuclear talks
AFP
Top US, Chinese and South Korean diplomats met Wednesday to renew efforts to nudge North Korea back to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, but there were no signs of any progress.

3. NKorea threatens attack if US, SKorea hold drills
AP by Kwang-Tae Kim
North Korea threatened a "powerful" attack if the U.S. and South Korea proceed with joint military drills next month, warning Thursday that it could even resort to nuclear means.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran says new IAEA head's report misleading, biased
Reuters by Sylvia Westall
Iran accused the new head of the U.N. nuclear agency on Wednesday of issuing a misleading and unbalanced report on Iran's atomic activities, saying he omitted important information.

5. Iran wants to discuss Japan offer to enrich uranium: report
AFP
Iran will study a Japanese offer to enrich uranium for Tehran to allow it access to nuclear power for peaceful purposes, an Iranian politician was quoted as saying in Tokyo Thursday.

6. Iran parliament head defends nuclear policy
AP by Eric Talmadge
Iran was within its international obligations when it enriched some of its uranium stockpile earlier this month and should not be subjected to U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, its parliament speaker said Thursday.

7. China, Russia could back symbolic Iran sanctions
Reuters by Louis Charbonneau
Western powers pushing for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program face a battle with Russia and China, which may only be persuaded to support steps that are more symbolic than painful.

8. Clinton cites progress in Iran sanctions effort
AP by Robert Burns
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that U.S. diplomacy has moved China closer to the American view that Iran's continuing refusal to come clean on its nuclear program demands tough new U.N. sanctions.

9. Choose your own Iran sanctions adventure at the U.N.?
The Cable by Josh Rogin
The discussions over Iran sanctions at the U.N. Security Council are taking shape, as member countries converge around a plan to put forth a resolution that may not have the teeth some advocates want, but could be used as a vehicle for other entities to pursue more biting sanctions.

10. Beijing: No harsher sanctions against Iran necessary
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
China on Thursday rejected issuing new, harsher sanctions against Iran for its refusal to compromise on its controversial nuclear programme.

11. Medvedev calls on Iran for responsible behaviour
Itar-Tass
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed concern over the situation in Iran and called on Tehran for responsible behavior.

12. Russia's Lavrov says no proof Iran working on nuclear weapons
RIA Novosti
There is no hard proof that Iran is working on nuclear weapons, but Tehran has to clarify several key issues on its nuclear program to avoid fresh international action, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

13. Syria, Iran defend strong ties and say US should not dictate to Middle East
AP by Albert Aji
Syria and Iran defended their strong ties Thursday and dismissed U.S. efforts to break up the 30-year-alliance, saying America should not dictate relationships in the Middle East.

14. Syria turns down U.N. nuclear watchdog inspection
Reuters
Syria has turned down a planned visit to a research reactor in Damascus by U.N. nuclear inspectors trying to shed light on possible covert atomic activity in the country, diplomats said on Wednesday.

SOUTH ASIA
15. India Calls for Global "No First Use" Nuke Policy
GSN
India has joined its voice to calls for a global policy on "no first use" of nuclear weapons as part of its support for a worldwide program of nuclear disarmament, the Press Trust of India reported Monday (see GSN, Feb. 12).

16. Rivals India, Pakistan agree to "keep in touch"
Reuters by Bappa Majumdar
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, whose relationship is key to efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, held their first official talks since the 2008 attacks on Mumbai on Thursday and agreed to stay in touch.

17. Balancing Act for India as Talks With Pakistan Resume
NYT by Jim Yardley
The resumption of diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan on Thursday comes at a critical moment, with the United States hoping that even a modest improvement in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors could help the broader American military effort in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

18. Pakistan Rules Out Joining Nonproliferation Treaty
GSN
Pakistan indicated this weekend that India's increasing military strength would prevent Islamabad from signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear power, even if New Delhi agreed to do just that, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, Feb. 12).

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE
19. No "New START" in 2010, Hill sources predict
The Cable by Josh Rogin
There's a growing realization both inside the administration and on Capitol Hill that Senate ratification of the START follow-on treaty with Russia will probably not happen this year.

20. AP source: Obama urges Russia to help gain treaty
AP by Barry Schweid
President Barack Obama weighed in Wednesday to try to hasten the conclusion of a new nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, urging President Dmitry Medvedev to help accelerate its completion.

21. Lavrov: Nuke treaty may have missile link
UPI
The new Russian-U.S. nuclear arms reduction agreement likely will be tied to U.S. plans for missile shields in Europe, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

MULTILATERAL ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION
22. State moves to restore arms control bureau
Politico by Laura Rozen
Following a GAO report blasting a 2005 reorganization of the State Arms Control and International Security bureau, the State Department’s "T" bureau is circulating plans and soliciting feedback on a proposed reorganization of the bureau to beef up its arms control focus and staffing.

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY AND POLICY

OPINIONS
23. The Administration's Nuclear Games
Weekly Standard by Michael Anton
Laura Rozen of Politico has written an assessment of Vice President Biden’s nuclear policy speech from last week that the White House is sure to love.  But that’s because she appears to have bought their line of argument a little too uncritically and has mistaken symbolism for substance.  No doubt this is exactly the response that administration salesmanship has been calibrated to create, but it misses the deeper problems— problems which, the White House knows all too well, still loom.

24. Obama's Nuclear Moment
Foreign Policy by David E. Hoffman
In researching The Dead Hand, my book about the end of the Cold War arms race, I came across a memo that was drawn up to illustrate a global nuclear disarmament plan announced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Jan. 15, 1986. Gorbachev's three-phase plan called for liquidation of all nuclear weapons in the world by the year 2000.

25. The Obama disarmament paradox: A rebuttal
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by John Isaacs and Robert G. Gard, Jr.
Greg Mello's recent Bulletin article "The Obama Disarmament Paradox" distorts the Obama administration's nuclear agenda by making unjustified assumptions that discredit President Barack Obama's historic commitment to seek a nuclear-weapon-free world. Obama has committed to such a goal several times--both before and after his election in November 2008. But Mello calls that a "vague aspiration" rather than a commitment. Yet the evidence he provides to support his assertion isn't persuasive.

26. Is China warming up to more Iran sanctions?
CSM by Howard LaFranchi
Is China warming to the idea of a new round of international sanctions against Iran?

27. Talking the Talk
Foreign Policy by Mayank Chhaya
On Thursday, the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold their first meeting since the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. And if you believe in omens, the chances of a calm, productive discussion don't seem good. On Monday, the body of a Sikh man was found, beheaded, in the lawless Khyber Pass, a juncture between Pakistan and Afghanistan once known to conquerors as the "gateway to India." Sikhs in Pakistan are trying to flee for India, afraid of more attacks. The beheading was almost certainly not timed to coincide with New Delhi's decision to revive the stalled talks, but it has added further tension to a meeting already fraught with diplomatic spats.