What We’re Reading Now
Jun 22, 2011
IRAN
Saudi suggests 'squeezing' Iran over nuclear ambitions
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 22, 2011
A leading member of Saudi Arabia's royal family warned that Riyadh could seek to supplant Iran's oil exports if the country doesn't constrain its nuclear program, a move that could hobble Tehran's finances.
U.S. syas Iran firm bypassed sanctions
Chad Bray and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal- June 21, 2011
Iran's largest shipping company used a vast network of shell companies to move $60 million through New York bank accounts over the past three years in violation of U.S. trade sanctions, prosecutors said on Monday.
NORTH KOREA
China: North Korea mulling initiatives for economic reform
Ben Blanchard, Reuters UK- June 22, 2011
North Korea is considering whether they need initiatives for economic reform and opening up, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said on Wednesday.
South Korea to develop islands near western border with North Korea
Bomi Lim, Bloomberg- June 22, 2011
South Korea plans to spend 910.9 billion won ($848 million) to develop five islands near the western sea border with North Korea, including the one shelled by Kim Jong Il’s military last year.
The 10-year project is aimed boosting security and improving living conditions on the islands, Prime Minister Kim Hwang Sik’s office said today in a statement on its website.
What We’re Reading Now
Jun 16, 2011
IRAN
Ahmadinejad's Fall, America's Loss
Suzanne Maloney and Ray Takeyh, New York Times- June 15, 2011
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is being sidelined by religious fundamentalists, and it’s bad news for American officials seeking to halt Iran’s nuclear program. The same Iranian leader who dabbled in Holocaust denial and messianic fantasies was, paradoxically, also the theocracy’s most ardent advocate of direct nuclear negotiations with Washington. As Mr. Ahmadinejad falls out of favor with Iran’s hard-line religious leaders, the prospect of a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington is diminishing.
Iran To Step Up Uranium Enrichment
Voice of America- June 15, 2011
Despite multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions calling on Iran to stop enriching uranium, the Iranian government has announced plans to triple its capacity to enrich uranium to 20 percent.
Iran Postulates First Nuclear Test
Jamsheed K. Choksy, Forbes- June 14, 2011
Media outlets and blogs in Israel, England, and the U.S. have responded with considerable incredulity to claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of sanguine reactions if Iran tests an atom bomb. The IRGC's scenario underscores an unfortunate reality, however.
What We're Reading Now
Jun 15, 2011
IRAN
Iran's president calls for post-Soviet security alliance to unite in alliance against West
Washington Post – June 15, 2011
ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations and China to form a united front against the West. Ahmadinejad’s address to fellow heads of state at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to the United States across the region. In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the organization also attacked missile defense programs in another apparent dig at the United States.
Clinton accuses Iran of role in Syrian crackdown
Associated Press – June 14, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is accusing Iran of supporting its ally Syria in a brutal military crackdown on political opponents. Clinton said Tuesday in a statement issued in Washington that Iran's complicity in abuses is coinciding with the two-year anniversary of its crackdown on citizens who protested after the contested election that handed another term to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran: Timetable Set for Americans’ Trial
Associated Press – June 14, 2011
Iran expects to make a final decision by late August in the case of three Americans charged with espionage, the official news agency IRNA said on Tuesday. The three Americans — Shane M. Bauer, Josh F. Fattal and Sarah E. Shourd — were detained in July 2009 along the Iran-Iraq border.
NORTH KOREA
Myanmar nukes? Defector's tale stokes suspicions
Matthew Pennington, Associated Press – June 15, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — Among the hundreds of thousands who have fled Myanmar and its tyrannical rulers over the years is a military insider who claims he carried a big secret with him: evidence of a hidden nuclear weapons program. Defector Sai Thein Win's account of his three years working in two clandestine factories, even with the trove of photos he brought with him, is no smoking gun. It has deepened suspicions, however, that Myanmar's xenophobic military leaders hanker for an atomic deterrent.
Official: 9 North Koreans defected by boat to South _ likely to complicate nations' relations
Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press – June 15, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Nine North Koreans defected by sea to South Korea over the weekend, an official said Wednesday, in a development expected to complicate already-tense relations between the nations. The North Koreans on a small boat crossed into South Korean waters off the peninsula's disputed western sea border on Saturday, the South Korean official said, requesting anonymity because Seoul wasn't officially confirming the defections. The North Koreans - three men, two women and four children - said they want to resettle in South Korea, the official said.
S. Korea vows strong response if N. Korea attacks
AFP – June 15, 2011
SEOUL — South Korea's military must retaliate "strongly and thoroughly" if North Korea attacks again, President Lee Myung-Bak said on Wednesday. He made the remarks in a speech read out on his behalf at the inauguration of a new military command, created to bolster defences on islands near the disputed Yellow Sea border.
U.S. 'Wants to Avoid Mistakes with N.Korea'
Chosunilbo – June 15, 2011
A top U.S. diplomat says the United States is prepared to resume talks with North Korea, but it wants to avoid the mistakes made in previous negotiations with the communist nation. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told Foreign Policy magazine in an interview published Tuesday that no policy is the right policy forever. On North Korea, he said that the U.S. government's basic conviction has been a preparedness to engage in negotiations, but also a desire to avoid the mistakes of the past.
MISSILE DEFENSE
Czech Republic pulls out of US missile shield plan
Karel Janicek, Associated Press – June 15, 2011
PRAGUE (AP) -- The Czech Republic is withdrawing from U.S. missile defense plans out of frustration at its diminished role in a new U.S. plan, the Czech defense minister told The Associated Press Wednesday. The Bush administration first proposed stationing 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and an advanced radar in the Czech Republic, saying the system was aimed at blunting future missile threats from Iran. But Russia angrily objected and warned that it would station its own missiles close to Poland if the plan went through. In September 2009, the Obama administration shelved that plan and offered a new, reconfigured phased program with a smaller role for the Czechs . . .
PAKISTAN
Pakistan Arrests C.I.A. Informants in Bin Laden Raid
Kuni Takahashi, New York Times – June 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to American officials. A casualty of the recent tension between the countries is an ambitious Pentagon program to train Pakistani paramilitary troops to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the northwestern tribal areas.
NATO
Gates says US, European allies are ‘slowly growing apart,’ but final NATO split not imminent
Associated Press – June 15, 2011
Gates made a splash with a scathing speech last week in Brussels, home of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in which he said the 62-year-old alliance faces a “dim, if not dismal” future. He was not disowning NATO but warning that a years-long fraying of trans-Atlantic ties could eventually break the bond.
The Sanchez Missile Defense Amendment in Perspective
May 26, 2011
(from the inestimable Kingston Reif)
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (C-CA) Missile Defense Amendment Result
FY 2012 Defense National Defense Authorization Act – To reduce funding for the ground-based mid-course system by $100 million
Amendment failed 184-234 (15 GOP Ayes; 16 DEM Nays), May 26, 2011
(GOP in Majority)
Obama Administration request for missile defense in FY 2012
Feb 15, 2011
Missile Defense – The Administration is requesting $10.7 billion for missile defense in FY 2012, up roughly $450 million from the current $10.2 billion. This total does not include $995.2 million for the SBIRS-High satellite.
Ballistic Missile Defense -- Selected Functions
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
$1,346.2 million -- FY’11 Total
$1,161.0 million -- FY’12 Request
AEGIS BMD
$1,561.4 million -- FY’11 Total
$1,525.7 million -- FY’12 Request
European Missile Defenses: Following in the Inept Shoes of National Missile Defense?
Feb 02, 2011
The knock on United States National Missile Defense based in Alaska and California is that it never has been proved to work in real-world situations. Billions of dollars have been spent on that system, now called “ground-based mid-course,” but there is no sure evidence that the defense would work should North Korea launch nuclear-tipped missiles against us.
Because of the powerful political backing for the program, missile defense has avoided the commonsense “Fly Before You Buy” mantra that prevents billions from being wasted on weapons that may eventually prove ineffective.
According to a recent report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), the government auditing agency, the Obama Administration is risking repeating history with its proposed missile defense systems in Europe.
NATO summit ahead: Nov. 19-20
Oct 29, 2010
United States Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder made a presentation today about the upcoming NATO summit on November 19-20 at Lisbon, Portugal.
He pointed to three separate meetings in less than 24 hours:
- A NATO summit of the 28 member countries
- A meeting to focus on Afghanistan
- A meeting of NATO with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev
The first meeting will adopt a new strategic concept that will call for collective defense and cooperative security.
Defense Cuts Could Save Nearly $1 Trillion Over 10 Years
Jun 14, 2010
I’m proud to be a part of a new report that identifies options for nearly $1 trillion in savings over the next 10 years within the Department of Defense. Debt, Deficits, & Defense: A Way Forward was produced by the Sustainable Defense Task Force, a group of defense policy wonks put together by Representative Barney Frank to propose possible cuts to the military budget.
“I do not believe after this [proposed plan] is circulated that people will be able to dismiss the argument that you can responsibly, and at no cost to America’s genuine security, make reductions of over a trillion dollars for what has been proposed for the military budget,” Frank said at the release on Friday.
Cuts include further reductions to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and limits on the planned modernization of the nuclear weapons complex, which could save approximately $140 billion over 10 years. When missile defense and space spending are also selectively curtailed, that number is increased to $194.5 billion.
Over 100 congressional staffers, NGOs, and members of the press were at the briefing on Friday. When asked what his top three priorities might be for realistic savings within the defense budget, Frank included both nuclear weapons and missile defense.
See the briefing on C-SPAN here.
Testimony by Former Secretary Henry Kissinger
May 25, 2010
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing: The Role of Strategic Arms Control in a Post-Cold War World (The New START Treaty)
May 25, 2010
On Tuesday May 25, Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the New START Treaty, unequivocally recommending the treaty’s ratification.
Secretary Kissinger is experienced in the field of arms control and nuclear security—he is author of Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy, he negotiated the first agreement to limit U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons through the SALT I accord, and in 2007 he became one of the most well known figures to endorse the goal of creating a world free of nuclear weapons.
START Hearing with Former Secretary of State James Baker
May 19, 2010
Today, Former Secretary of State James Baker— a key figure when the original START treaty was negotiated- testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the history of arms control and on the New START treaty.
He called New START a modest and appropriate continuation of START I, although questions on missile defense, verification and our nuclear umbrella need to be addressed.
Baker’s testimony emphasized the importance of arms control, arguing it is a “critical component of our security” as well as that of our allies. He further suggested that our security increases when diplomatic relations between two nations are characterized by openness rather than secrecy.
He said that the New START takes us in a direction that can enhance our security, improve our relationship with Russia, allow for a reduction in the number of warheads, and increase our ability to work to stem proliferation of nuclear weapons.
