Nuclear Policy News - February 12, 2010

FISSILE MATERIAL

Top N. Korean nuclear negotiator set to visit U.S. in March: source
Yonhap News

Iran hails nuclear advance on Revolution Day
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi and Ross Colvin

Obama Takes Several Gambles in Bid to Defuse Nuclear Standoff With Iran
NYT News Analysis by David E. Sanger

India Set to Launch Agni 5 Missile Within Year
GSN

U.N. vents frustration at stalled arms control forum
Reuters by Stephanie Nebehay

EAST ASIA
1. Top N. Korean nuclear negotiator set to visit U.S. in March: source
Yonhap News
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's top nuclear negotiator is expected to visit the United States next month on a trip that could signal the resumption of stalled six-way talks on the communist state's denuclearization, a diplomatic source here said Friday.

2. S. Korean mission chief says U.N. not ready to remove N. Korea sanctions
Yonhap News by Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- The chief of South Korea's mission to the United Nations on Friday said the U.N. Security Council was not ready to discuss a possible removal of sanctions on North Korea, adding such discussions will only take place after the communist nation makes significant progress toward denuclearization.

3. North Korea Not Eager to Return to Six - Party Talks
NYT by Reuters
BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is not eager to return to six-party talks but has not rejected the idea, the U.N.'s top political official said on Friday following a trip to the reclusive country.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran hails nuclear advance on Revolution Day
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi and Ross Colvin
TEHRAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday Iran was close to enriching uranium nearly pure enough for atomic bombs but the United States was dismissive, saying he spoke to rally government supporters on the Islamic revolution's 31st anniversary.

5. Atomic Agency Views Iran’s Stepped-Up Enrichment of Uranium as a Violation
NYT by William J. Broad
Iran’s surprise move this week to begin enriching its uranium to a level closer to weapons-grade violated an agreement with atomic inspectors in Vienna, diplomats said, very likely providing the United States with another piece of evidence that Iran is not living up to its international commitments on its nuclear program.

6. Iran Standoff Heats Up With Ahmadinejad Nuclear Claim
Bloomberg News by Ladane Nasseri and Ali Sheikholeslami
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s standoff with the U.S. and other Western nations escalated as he touted advances in Iran’s nuclear program and security forces clashed with opponents in Tehran.

7. U.S. distrusts Iran nuclear breakthrough bragging
Washington Times by Eli Lake
The White House on Thursday dismissed Iran's boasts of a nuclear breakthrough, as pro- and anti-regime demonstrators massed on the streets of Tehran during the 31st anniversary of Iran's revolution.

8. France does not believe Iran's nuclear claim
Yahoo! News by AP
PARIS – France does not believe Iran's claim that it is capable of enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels, the country's foreign minister said Friday. Bernard Kouchner told Europe 1 radio that the "Americans don't believe, not any more than us, that Iran is currently capable of enriching uranium to 80 percent."

9. US imposes new sanctions on Iran 
Al Jazeera
The US government has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran as Tehran informed nuclear inspectors that it would begin higher-grade uranium enrichment "within a few days". The US treasury department said on Wednesday that it was freezing the assets in US jurisdictions of Rostam Qasemi, a Revolutionary Guard general, and four subsidiaries of a previously penalised construction company that he runs.

SOUTH ASIA
10. Australian minister rules out uranium export to India
Dawn by Afshan Subohi
CANBERRA: The Australian government does not intend to export uranium to India, according to Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism Martin Ferguson. Explaining his government’s policy on what he described as a sensitive issue, Ferguson told a group of Pakistani journalists on Wednesday that nuclear material could be supplied only to countries which met a set of pre-determined criteria.

11. Britain, India sign civil nuclear pact: official
AFP
NEW DELHI — Britain and India signed a deal on civil nuclear cooperation on Thursday, an official said, as New Delhi continues to build its atomic energy programme following the end of a nuclear trade embargo.

12. India Set to Launch Agni 5 Missile Within Year
GSN
India on Wednesday announced plans to conduct a test launch of a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead more than 3,000 miles, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 9). The new Agni 5 missile could increase concern over Indian relations with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan and with nuclear power China.

13. Pakistan, India to hold talks on February 25
WP by Zeeshan Hider (Reuters)
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The top diplomats of nuclear-armed old rivals Pakistan and India will meet for talks in New Delhi on February 25, the Pakistani prime minister's office said on Friday.

14. Pakistan is my biggest worry: Biden
Yahoo! News by AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that his greatest concern was not Afghanistan, not Iraq, nor the Iranian nuclear crisis, but Pakistan. "I think it's a big country. It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population," Biden said in an interview with CNN.

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE
15. Arms Control Pact Would Not Restrict Missile Defenses, U.S. Says
GSN
The Obama administration yesterday refuted reports that a pending U.S.-Russian arms control treaty could place limitations on missile defense deployments in addition to mandating strategic arsenal reductions by each country, the Washington Times reported (see GSN, Feb. 9).

16. U.S. to discuss Bulgarian missile shield role: PM
Reuters by Tsvetelia Tsolova and Anna Mudeva
SOFIA (Reuters) - Washington will hold preliminary talks with the Bulgarian government on hosting parts of a U.S. missile shield, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Friday.

MULTILATERAL ARMS CONTROL AND NONPROLIFERATION
17. U.N. vents frustration at stalled arms control forum
Reuters by Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations vented frustration on Thursday at the lack of progress at the world's only multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, calling on its members to show more flexibility and get down to work.

U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS STRATEGY AND POLICY
18. U.S. Airborne Laser Eliminates Target Missile
GSN
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency used its Airborne Laser to eliminate a mock ballistic missile during a test yesterday, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 20, 2009).

19. Official: Nuclear problems were administrative
WP by Tim Korte and Robert Burns (AP)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Air Force on Thursday blamed administrative problems for the decision to remove an Air Force squadron overseeing an underground nuclear weapons cache, detailing another instance of questionable oversight even after the military took steps to correct similar issues.

20. Los Angeles Launches WMD Screening Ship
GSN
A ship carrying equipment and personnel to screen the cargo of vessels entering the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports for materials that could be used in a weapon of mass destruction was launched earlier this week, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said (see GSN, Jan. 29).

OPINIONS
21. What Would Make China Budge on Iran
Newsweek by Melinda Liu
Has Iran finally gone too far, pushing China into changing its mind about sanctions? Maybe not just yet. Tuesday, after Iran ratcheted up its uranium-enrichment program—elevating the purity of its enriched product to 20 percent—Beijing looked increasingly isolated in its calls to continue negotiations. "To talk about sanctions at the moment will complicate the situation and might stand in the way of finding a diplomatic solution," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a conference in Europe.

22. Obama Takes Several Gambles in Bid to Defuse Nuclear Standoff With Iran
NYT News Analysis by David E. Sanger
WASHINGTON — As President Obama adds economic pressure and military containment to force Iran’s leadership to negotiate on its nuclear program, he is taking three big bets on his ability to defuse an increasingly tense confrontation.

23. Iranian regime change: An Obama achievement we could believe in
WP Op-ed by William Kristol
Perhaps embracing the concept of "regime change" spooks the Obama administration. It's awfully reminiscent of George W. Bush. But one great failure of the Bush administration was its second-term fecklessness with respect to Iran. Bush kicked the Iran can down the road. Does Obama want an achievement that eluded Bush?

24. Should We Stop Worrying and Love the Iranian Bomb?
Slate by Fred Kaplan
Iran's announcement of an advance in its uranium-enrichment program—and thus a potential step closer to an A-bomb—has sparked four responses in various opinion pages:
1.    It's time to attack Iran now, before it's too late.
2.    It's time to rally the world to impose sanctions on Iran now, before it's too late.
3.    It's time to engage Iran in diplomacy now, before it's too late.
4.    Relax: An Iranian A-bomb is not a big danger, and, in fact, it might help stabilize the Middle East.
There are problems with all four arguments, but let's deal with the last one first, since, if it's true that we can stop worrying and love the Iranian bomb (to paraphrase Kubrick and Southern), the rest is moot.

25. The Case For Striking Iran Grows
WSJ Opinion by John Bolton
Iran's Islamic Revolution had a busy week preceding its 31st birthday yesterday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Sunday that Iran would enrich uranium to 19.75% purity for Tehran's research reactor. Yesterday he claimed to have done just that, making Iran "a nuclear state."