Nuclear Policy News – February 2, 2010

FISSILE MATERIAL
Iran criticizes U.S. missile deployments in Gulf
Reuters by Hossein Jaseb and Hashem Kalantari

Next, the Tactical Nukes
NYT by Carl Bildt and Radek SIkorski

U.S., Russian negotiators in final push for START pact
Reuters

Halt START negotiations
Washington Times by Adm. James A. Lyons

EAST ASIA
1. South Korea says North is stalling on nuclear talks
AFP by Lim Chang-Won
North Korea Tuesday repeated calls for a peace pact on the Korean peninsula, days after it fired its artillery near the tense border, but Seoul said Pyongyang wanted a pretext to shun nuclear negotiations.

2. South Korea rules out "payoff" for summit with North
Reuters by Jack Kim
North and South Korea have been secretly trying to set up a summit by mid-year, news reports said on Tuesday, but the South insisted the destitute North would not be offered any payment as an enticement.

MIDDLE EAST
3. Iran criticizes U.S. missile deployments in Gulf
Reuters by Hossein Jaseb and Hashem Kalantari
Iran accused the United States on Tuesday of seeking to stoke "Iran phobia" in the Middle East by deploying missile defense systems in the Gulf, and said Tehran enjoyed friendly ties with neighboring states.

4. China calls for efforts to push dialogue, negotiation on Iran nuclear issue
Xinhua
China said Tuesday there was still room for diplomatic efforts in resolving the Iran nuclear issue and called on parties concerned to push the advancement of dialogue and negotiation on the issue.

SOUTH ASIA

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE
5. U.S., Russian negotiators in final push for START pact
Reuters
American and Russian nuclear arms control negotiators resumed talks on Monday in a final push to conclude an overdue treaty on cutting strategic weapons, a U.S. spokesman said.

6. Russia sees U.S. arms pact in March-April: report
Reuters
The presidents of Russia and the United States could sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty in March or April, the Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Security Council chief as saying on Tuesday.

MULTILATERAL ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY AND POLICY
7. Obama Seeks Money for Nuclear Weapons Work
NYT by AP
President Barack Obama is seeking increased funding for nuclear weapons research and security programs next year, even as his administration promotes nonproliferation and has pledged to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear arms.

OPINIONS
8. Next, the Tactical Nukes
NYT by Carl Bildt and Radek SIkorski
We call for early progress on steep reductions in sub-strategic nuclear weapons — in Europe often referred to as tactical weapons. While the strategic nuclear weapons are seen as a mutual threat by the United States and Russia, nations like ours — Sweden and Poland — could have stronger reason to be concerned with the large number of these tactical nuclear weapons.

9. Halt START negotiations
Washington Times by Adm. James A. Lyons
The Obama administration is involved in negotiating a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to replace the 1991 START Treaty, which expired on Dec. 5. Fortunately, a number of unresolved issues remain between the United States and Russia that must be solved before the conclusion of a new treaty. Not the least of these is Russia's demand that missile defenses be included in the treaty as well as the sharing of telemetry data and Russia's demand to monitor U.S. missile-defense interceptors.

10. Seven Myths About Iran
WSJ by Bret Stephens
'We have been trying to negotiate [with the Iranians] for five, six years. We've tried everything. We have met every Iranian. We have tried to open every possible channel. We've had new ideas and the result is this: nothing." Thus did a senior Western diplomat recently describe to me his country's efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Tehran over its nuclear programs. In doing so, he also finally disposed of the myth, nearly a decade in the making, that Iran was ready to abandon those programs in exchange for a "grand bargain" with the West.

11. Three-dimensional chess with Iran
Guardian by Heather Hurlburt
Iran presents a complex problem for the White House, which requires a multi-faceted response. That apparently obvious observation is the single most important difference between the Obama and Bush administrations' approaches.

12. The Iran sanctions dilemma
Guardian by James Denselow
The stakes were dramatically raised in the Middle East at the weekend by news that the US is deploying defensive missile systems throughout the Gulf. Writing in the Guardian, Robert Tait warned that the deployment "may strengthen radical elements in the revolutionary guards". It is for this reason that President Obama should realise the importance of balancing bigger sticks with bigger carrots, including the reduction of sanctions against Iranian civilian airlines.

13. Proposed Inter-Korean Summit Faces Hurdles
Dong-A Ilbo
President Lee Myung-bak has hinted at holding an inter-Korean summit this year, with his recent comments also interpreted as open messages to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.