Back when the U.S.-India nuke deal was being sussed out, a lot was made of the impact the deal would have on India’s sparse stock of uranium. Specifically, that the U.S.-India 123 agreement would help India – in “Hill Approps-speak” – plus-up their reserve by enabling them to 1) get LEU from the U.S. to […]
While perusing the blogosphere and news updates for items to highlight, I came across an interesting little nugget at The Atlantic entitled “Weapons-Grade Confusion: The Danger of Misreading Our Nuclear Adversaries”. The title intrigued me, so I dug further. Patrick Disney (no relation, I don’t think), an M.A. candidate at Yale, authored the piece which […]
Those attending to Russian politics this week will have noticed that among the stated reasons for Finance Minister Kudrin’s rebellion and dismissal was his unhappiness with high Russian military spending. It’s important, indeed, to keep an eye on Russia’s military buildup and on the increased emphasis the Putin regime has put on nuclear deterrence, as […]
Anybody concerned about the possible spread of drone warfare outside the core theaters of Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan, or about drones generally, will want to consult the review article by Christian Caryl in the Sept. 29 issue of the New York Review of Books. Two noteworthy points: on the positive side of the ledger, because […]
As the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty continues to languish in Senate purgatory, the rest of the world keeps reminding us – along with the other slackers – to get with the program. Its been fifteen years and its starting to get embarrassing. For reals. So, the Comprehensive Test Ban Organization (CTBTO), the group charged with […]
My boss over at APS, Dr. Francis Slakey, continues the battle with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over efforts to get them to take proliferation risks into account in their licensing decisionmaking. The latest salvo comes in the form of a report by Aussie news channel ABC, which profiled efforts by Silex Systems Inc. to get […]
The Arms Control Association has made available the transcript of a discussion it sponsored last Monday on Iran’s nuclear program. Moderated by ACA Executive Director Daryl Kimball, the discussants were Admiral Joe Sestak, a former congressman; Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the nonproliferation and disarmament program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London; and […]
The Federation of American Scientists has just issued a report, Upsetting the Reset: The Technical Basic of Russian Concern over NATO Missile Defense, by the FAS scientific consultant Yousaf Butt and MIT’s Theodore Postol. To judge from the FAS summary, the report is actually not very technical and largely states the obvious: The Obama Administration’s […]
Its that time of year again, when the top nuclear dogs convene in Vienna for the annual IAEA General Conference. Not too much pomp, lots of circumstance. “Side” meetings galore. And, as always, the U.S. and its allies “mean girl” Iran and other evil-doers by not inviting their delegations to the good stuff. The list […]
UN types are in Washington this week to examine the Administration’s efforts to prevent proliferation of those unpleasant “NBC” weapons – nuclear, biological and chemical, natch. It is the first on-site review of the resolution, during which time the U.S. “is opening its doors to the 1540 Committee by taking them on facility visits”. The […]
No need to be naive: we all know that in quasi-military operations against drug lords, their not-necessarily-so-innocent significant others and their completely innocent children are bound to get killed sometimes. The same goes for operations against terrorists operating, say, out of Pakistan’s Northwest Territories: However precise the weaponry, it’s hard to kill a significant leader […]
In yet more news of the reach of the “non-existent” A.Q. Khan network, the IAEA has confirmed in a recent report that North Korea used the black market network to acquire “material needed to establish a uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.” In preparation for the upcoming meetings of the IAEA Board of […]
With revolts against the al-Assad government raging on, the U.S. and Israeli governments are focused on what might happen to Syria’s suspected cache of mustard gas, VX, Sarin, and long-range missiles. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that both countries are keeping a close eye on the status of the nasty stuff for fear […]
On the occasion of yesterday’s “International Day Against Nuclear Tests”, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon reiterated the need for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to enter into force. The UN established an International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2009 on the 20th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. […]
The ever-unhelpful Senator Inhofe has been repeating his silly mantra that Iran will be in a position to deliver weapons of mass destruction against the United States by 2015. My friend Greg Thielman takes him to task in a recent blog, pointing out that the emphasis of Iranian missile development has been on medium-range rockets […]