Nuclear Policy News – March 15, 2010

FISSILE MATERIAL
US cautious on removing nuclear arms from Europe
AP by Robert Burns

Debate Grows on Nuclear Containment of Iran
NYT by David E. Sanger

Pakistani scientist Khan describes Iranian efforts to buy nuclear bombs
WP by R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick

Miliband says Security Council on same page on Iran
AFP by Susan Stumme

EAST ASIA
1. Report: NKorea to rejoin nuclear talks in April
AP by Kwang-Tae Kim
North Korea plans to head back to the bargaining table early next month for talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program, a news report said Saturday.

MIDDLE EAST
2. Miliband says Security Council on same page on Iran
AFP by Susan Stumme
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on a visit to China Monday that the veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council were on the same page on how to tackle Iran.

3. U.N. Iran sanctions may take until June: Kouchner
WP by Luke Baker
A U.N. resolution on new sanctions against Iran may not be ready until June and if a vote on it fails, European states could take unilateral measures instead, French and Finnish ministers said on Sunday.

4. Britain looks to China to pressure Iran
Reuters by Farah Master
China and Britain agree on pressing Iran about its nuclear activities while also seeking engagement, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said at the start of a visit likely to focus on the nuclear dispute.

5. EU could impose sanctions on Iran: Finland's Stubb
Reuters
There is consensus within the European Union for unilateral sanctions on Iran if a U.N. Security Council resolution fails, Finland's foreign minister said Saturday.

6. Pakistani scientist Khan describes Iranian efforts to buy nuclear bombs
WP by R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick
The father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program has written an official account that details an Iranian attempt to buy atomic bombs from Pakistan at the end of the 1980s.

7. Joining the Nuclear Club
WSJ by Oliver Klaus
It may seem odd for a country sitting on one of the world's largest oil and gas reserves, but the United Arab Emirates has an energy problem—one that it hopes to solve by building nuclear power plants.

SOUTH ASIA
8. Nuclear cooperation will cover all areas: Putin 
The Hindu
India-Russia cooperation in civil nuclear energy will be wide ranging and cover areas such as nuclear waste and safety of reactors as well, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, during a video conference with businessmen from the country's main metros here.

9. India Defers Introduction of Civil Nuclear Liability Bill
VoA News by Anjana Pasricha
The Indian government has deferred the introduction of a bill considered crucial for American companies to tap into India's nuclear power market. The legislation seeks to limit the liabilities of companies establishing nuclear power plants in India, but has been slammed by opposition parties.

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE
10. US cautious on removing nuclear arms from Europe
AP by Robert Burns
The U.S. is taking a go-slow approach on one of the touchiest and least discussed national security issues: whether to remove the last remaining Cold War-era U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe.

11. Clinton Moscow talks to cover START, Iran, Mideast
Reuters
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Moscow next week for a meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators and talks with Russian officials about arms control and Iran's nuclear program.

MULTILATERAL ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY AND POLICY

OPINIONS
12. Debate Grows on Nuclear Containment of Iran
NYT by David E. Sanger
For a few months in the mid-1960s President Johnson and his aides secretly weighed bombing China’s nuclear sites — perhaps seeking Soviet help — rather than let Mao get the bomb. Then the costs of starting another war in Asia sank in and they decided to try containment — living with a threatening regime while deterring its most dangerous moves.

13. The NPT: Still ‘Knotty’ at Forty
Khaleej Times by Michael Krepon
As the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty approaches middle age, treaty supporters confront two paradoxes: while the utility of nuclear weapons for major powers is declining, it is growing for outlier states. Likewise, while the contributions to the treaty by four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have never been greater, the weaknesses of the NPT appear to be growing.

14. The deadly current toward nuclear arms
Boston Globe by James Carroll
But now the image has entered the lexicon of strategic experts who warn of a coming “cascade of proliferation,’’ one nation following another into the deadly chasm of nuclear weapons unless present nuclear powers find a way to reverse the current. The main burden is on Russia and the United States, which together possess the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons, but President Obama deliberately made himself central to the challenge when he said in Prague, “I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.’’

15. Obama's new nuclear age doesn't bode well for Israel
Haaretz by Reuven Pedatzur
The custom is for every American president to put together a working paper that re-examines the government's stance on nuclear weapons. The document is in effect a summary of the main principles of the incoming administration's nuclear policy and a statement of the new president's intentions on the future of America's nuclear stockpile. Two presidents have produced such documents since the end of the Cold War: Bill Clinton in 1994 and George W. Bush in 2002. Now it's Barack Obama's turn to publish a statement that will set out his nuclear policy.