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At the Brink: A Series about the Threat of Nuclear Weapons in an Unstable World

IN THIS ISSUE: At the Brink: A Series about the Threat of Nuclear Weapons in an Unstable World, West Avoids Seriously Confronting Iran as IAEA Meet Begins, North Korea Threatens to Take Military Moves in Response to US-South Korean Drills, Russia Says it is Considering Putting a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon with China, Drones, Robotic Tech Pose Threat to US Nuclear Security, General Says, Germa

Published on March 5, 2024

At the Brink: A Series about the Threat of Nuclear Weapons in an Unstable World

The New York Times 

The threat of nuclear war has dangled over humankind for much too long. We have survived so far through luck and brinkmanship. But the old, limited safeguards that kept the Cold War cold are long gone. Nuclear powers are getting more numerous and less cautious. We’ve condemned another generation to live on a planet that is one grave act of hubris or human error away from destruction without demanding any action from our leaders. That must change. In New York Times Opinion’s latest series, At the Brink, we’re looking at the reality of nuclear weapons today. It’s the culmination of nearly a year of reporting and research. We plan to explore where the present dangers lie in the next arms race and what can be done to make the world safer again.

West Avoids Seriously Confronting Iran as IAEA Meet Begins

Francois Murphy and John Irish | Reuters 

A quarterly meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's main policy-making body began on Monday with Western powers again choosing not to seriously confront Iran over its failure to cooperate with the agency on a range of issues, diplomats said. It is more than a year since the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution ordering Iran to cooperate with a years-long IAEA investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites, saying it was "essential and urgent" for Iran to explain the traces…Since then the number of undeclared sites being investigated has shrunk to two from three but the list of problems between the IAEA and Iran has only grown. Iran failed to fully honour an agreement to re-install IAEA cameras at some sites and in September barred some of the agency's most valued inspectors.

North Korea Threatens to Take Military Moves in Response to US-South Korean Drills

HYUNG-JIN KIM | Associated Press

North Korea called the ongoing South Korean-U.S. military drills a plot to invade the country, as it threatened Tuesday to take unspecified “responsible” military steps in response. The North’s warning came a day after the South Korean and U.S. forces kicked off their annual computer-simulated command post training and a variety of field exercises for an 11-day run. This year’s drills were to involve 48 field exercises, twice the number conducted last year. In a statement carried by state media, the North’s Defense Ministry said it “strongly denounces the reckless military drills of the U.S. and (South Korea) for getting more undisguised in their military threat to a sovereign state and attempt for invading it.”

Russia Says it is Considering Putting a Nuclear Power Plant on the Moon with China

Reuters

Russia and China are considering putting a nuclear power plant on the moon from 2033-35, Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday, something he said could one day allow lunar settlements to be built. Borisov, a former deputy defence minister, said that Russia and China had been jointly working on a lunar programme and that Moscow was able to contribute with its expertise on "nuclear space energy".

Drones, Robotic Tech Pose Threat to US Nuclear Security, General Says

Colin Demarest | DefenseNews

The proliferation of sophisticated uncrewed systems “poses a challenge to the department and our nation’s nuclear enterprise,” Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton said in his 2024 Strategic Posture Statement, which was sent to Congress on Feb. 29. The matter is further complicated by an “accelerating technological race with our adversaries,” namely Russia and China, he said.

Germany and Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century

Edited by Ulrich Kühn 

This book is the first scholarly book to take a comprehensive look at Germany’s nuclear weapons policies in the 21st century. German foreign and security policy is facing a profound reorientation. Great power competition between the United States and both a revanchist Russia and a rising China, the return of war and nuclear threats to Europe, and the emergence of new technologies all force Germany to adapt. German policymakers and scholars increasingly speak of a pivotal Zeitenwende, an epochal turning point in history. How does Germany adapt its nuclear policies to these changing conditions?

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.