* Under the NPT, which came into force in March 1970, signatory states renounce the option of ever acquiring such weapons and agree to an international safeguard regime. In return, nuclear weapons powers have agreed to pursue negotiations on nuclear disarmament and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control. [Source: John Zarocostas (Geneva), "Iran seen ready to develop nuclear arms; Middle East, Korea are danger zones", The Washington Times, May 12, 2003, p. A16]

March 21, 2008

* France to Cut Nuclear Arsenal to Less Than 300 Warheads

March 15, 2008

* Navy - nuclear shipbuilding boom soon for cruisers and subs

* Obama's top military adviser sez blame Bush for Iran's behavior

* North Korea - Hill sez meeting was very good, and we have some ambition to get through this in 2008

March 14, 2008

* Iran threat - should we go ahead and let Israel buy F22 stealth jets?

March 13, 2008

* Nuclear warheads aging - its time to consider new and improved arsenal

* Pakistan sez no worry about its nuclear weapons becoming tool of jihadists

* Zirconium trafficking - prosecution in Dubai, U.A.E.

March 11, 2008

* Pakistan - risk of nuclear proliferation to terrorists

* Iran - U.N. Alleges alleges nuclear work by Iran's Civilian Scientists

* France's Sarkozy promises to fight against Iran's nuclearization

* Los Alamos - plutonium project - Chemical and Metallurgy Research Replacement

* USS Georgia honored | Flag destined for state's namesake ship visits Lowndes

March 5, 2008

* New n-warhead arsenal needed for deterrance, sez General

* Australia - veterans prepare for compensation fight over 1950s nuclear exposure

* China's public version of defense budget swells by more than 17%

February 25, 2008

This is from the front page of today's The Daily Times, of Farmington, New Mexico.

February 23, 2008

This is from the front page of today's The Olympian, of Olympia, Washington.

February 22, 2008

This is top story on front page of today's Lincoln Journal Star, of Nebraska.

-----

February 22, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Ottawa Citizen, of Canada.

See full text of this story via the web version of this article.

February 11, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Highlands Today, of Sebring, Florida.

See full text of Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman's Feb 7 commentary titled "Terrorists can't make the Big 1".

February 7, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, of Cheyenne.

I didn't see this posted at the newspaper's site, but an AP article based on this story is available here.

February 6, 2008

This is from the front page of today's The Daily Telegraph, of London, England.

See full text of the p. 15 story, titled Russia 'ditching Cold War pacts'.

February 6, 2008

Iran - long-range missile test prompts Russian official to note n-weapons concern

Russia has raised rare public doubts about Iran's nuclear programme when Moscow questioned the test launch of a rocket earlier this week. The Russian deputy foreign minister, Alexander Losyukov, was quoted today by Russian news agencies saying the research rocket fired on Monday was as a cause for concern. "It adds to general suspicions of Iran regarding its potential desire to build nuclear weapons," Losyukov said. "Long-range missiles are one of the components of such weapons. That causes concern." Iran said on Monday that the test rocket was intended to launch research satellites into space, but the US state department said the launch was a "troubling" display of a technology that could be used to fire long-range ballistic missiles.

[Source: Fred Attewill, "Russian alarm over Iranian missile test", Guardian Unlimited, Feb 6, 2008 12.15pm GMT]

February 6, 2008

N-weapons - description of today's proliferation risk

Excerpt from External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's speech at the 10th Asian Security Conference organised by Institute of Defence Studies and Analyis in New Delhi on February 5:

A principal cause of concern in recent years has been the threat of nuclear proliferation. This is not limited only to new states acquiring nuclear weapons capability. It also extends to the very real threat of terrorist groups laying their hands on nuclear material and even fully assembled nuclear weapons.

These two security challenges are interlinked. And they are products of the demand-supply dynamic. On the supply side, the proliferation problem is a product of two factors. One is the inability of states to sufficiently safeguard their nuclear material, technology and facilities against attempts to procure WMD relevant items. The second factor is deliberate and callous proliferation by states including state failure to exercise adequate control over personnel engaged in nuclear programmes. It is well known how transfer of uranium enrichment technology, equipment and even weapon design has taken place clandestinely and flagrantly in our region.

Even more alarming is the interest shown by radical terrorist groups in acquiring nuclear material and technology and the linkages that they had forged with a few nuclear scientists.

The challenge before us is to make sure that national laws and international commitments are better implemented by states to prevent leakage of material and technology from established nuclear programmes. The challenge also is to do this consistently and without short-term considerations of political expediency.

On the demand side, the best way to address the dilemmas in the nuclear domain is to focus our efforts on the goal of global nuclear disarmament.

[Source: Pranab Mukherjee (India's External Affairs Minister), "Security in the Asian Century", Rediff News, February 6, 2008]

January 30, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Daily Press, of Hampton Roads, Virginia.

January 25, 2008

This is from the front page of today's Daily Press, of Hampton Roads, Virginia.

January 23, 2008

This is from front page of today'sDNA - Daily News & Analysis of Mumbai, India. The full text of the Press Trust of India article is here.

January 22, 2008

There is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world"

The lead story on front page of today's The Guardian is about what it calls "a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists." The former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a "first strike" nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world".

The manifesto has been written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, many of whom are unable or unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to the Pentagon in Washington and to Nato's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The proposals are likely to be discussed at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April. "The risk of further [nuclear] proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible," the authors argued in the 150-page blueprint for urgent reform of western military strategy and structures. "The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

The five commanders argue that the west's values and way of life are under threat, but the west is struggling to summon the will to defend them. The key threats are:

* Political fanaticism and religious fundamentalism.

* The "dark side" of globalisation, meaning international terrorism, organised crime and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

* Climate change and energy security, entailing a contest for resources and potential "environmental" migration on a mass scale.

* The weakening of the nation state as well as of organisations such as the UN, Nato and the EU.

The authors are General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff and Nato's ex-supreme commander in Europe, General Klaus Naumann, Germany's former top soldier and ex-chairman of Nato's military committee, General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff, Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff, and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK

Source: Ian Traynor, "Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told", The Guardian (U.K.), January 22, 2008, p. 1]

January 21, 2008

Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman ran this at bottom of today's front page. The Moscow Reuters article it points to is "General: Russia could use nuclear arms pre-emptively". In Soviet times, military doctrine stated Moscow would not use nuclear arms first in any confrontation with the West. With the decline of its conventional forces in the 1990s, Moscow dropped this element of its policy. President Putin signed new doctrine into force in 2000

January 21, 2008

An AP story about plutonium triggers received a lot of attention today. For example, this front page above-the-fold clipping from Santa Barbara News-Press:

January 18, 2008

If the democracies divest themselves of nuclear weapons, the totalitarian regimes will retain hidden stockpiles with which to force the West's future surrender

History teaches that totalitarian regimes cheat when it comes to arms control. They always have and they always will. Anyone who does not know this, politically speaking, is a child. A nuclear-free planet merely signifies a nuclear-free West.

[Source: J. R. Nyquist, "Alien Minds", Financial Sense Online (CA), January 18, 2008]

* Kansas City Plant - new $400-million NNSA facility gets final Congressional OK

US and UK officials seem to be in thick of black market nuclear smuggling

In the 'feint within feint within feint' world of political espionage, it's not surprising that there's much room for speculation about dark deeds and motives. There's a blogger named Luke Ryland who presents a lot of details and links in presenting a case alleging criminality in US and UK complicity in the AQ Khan network. This article, which I saw reprinted by OpEdNews.com today, describes evidence of "the extraordinary legal steps the US and UK governments have used to hide their guilt" and the role of Turkish front groups as suppliers of nuclear hardware. It seems fair to characterize the blogger as a "Bush-basher". It's up to you, dear reader, to decide if that perspective is more a cause or a result of this fellow's conclusions.

[Source: Luke Ryland (blogger), "Sibel Edmonds Case: Nukes for sale (Pt 2)", [blog] Let Sibel Edmonds Speak, January 12, 2008]

January 11, 2008

nucleomituphobia - the fear of nuclear weapons

"Defined as 'a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of nuclear weapons', each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress... Known by a number of names - Nucleomituphobia and Fear of Nuclear Weapons being the most common - the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences nuclear weapons phobia in their own way and may have different symptoms... Like all fears and phobias, nuclear weapons phobia is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism. At some point in your past, there was likely an event linking nuclear weapons and emotional trauma. Whilst the original catalyst may have been a real-life scare of some kind, the condition can also be triggered by myriad, benign events like movies, TV, or perhaps seeing someone else experience trauma. But so long as the negative association is powerful enough, the unconscious mind thinks: "Ahh, this whole thing is very dangerous. How do I keep myself from getting in this kind of situation again? I know, I'll attach terrible feelings to nuclear weapons, that way I'll steer clear in future and so be safe." Just like that nuclear weapons phobia is born. Attaching emotions to situations is one of the primary ways that humans learn. Sometimes we just get the wiring wrong." So says CTRN, whose "board-certified team specializes in helping individuals overcome fears, phobias & anxiety of all kinds, and is particularly focused on problems such as nuclear weapons phobia. With a success rate close to 100% we offer a lifetime guarantee to our clients."