Can Trump Stop Kim Jong Un?
Toby Dalton and John B. Wolfsthal | Politico
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in Asia this week on his first major trip abroad—and he’s walking into the most acute nuclear threat America and its allies face: North Korea. As ExxonMobil, CEO, Tillerson was used to difficult negotiations with authoritarian leaders, but Kim Jong Un presents an entirely different sort of challenge—a dangerous leader now armed with nuclear weapons who threatens his neighbors and regional and even global stability.
The Real Problem With a Nuclear Ban Treaty
Matthew Harries | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The nuclear-ban-treaty movement has a problem. It is not so much that a ban will be useless, or that it will undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty—although those things might well be true. The problem is that, when one moves past abstract principles to what the ban will actually do in practice, the target of the treaty is clear: intentionally or not, it is an attack on the nuclear-armed democracies—the United States, in particular—and their allies to the near-exclusive benefit of Russia and China.
Texas Sues its Former Governor, Now Energy Secretary Over Nuclear Waste Storage
Tom Benning | Dallas News
If newly minted Energy Secretary Rick Perry thinks nuclear waste storage is a "political football," then Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going to make him catch it. Paxton on Tuesday sued several federal agencies, including the one run by the former Texas governor, to force a decision on a long-term plan for storing the nation's radioactive waste.
Russia's Violation of a Nuclear Treaty is a Direct Threat to Europe's Security
Senator Ben Cardin | The Guardian
Russia is once again placing Europe in the shadow of a potential nuclear conflict. Last week in testimony before Congress, US military officials confirmed that Russia has taken another step in shredding Europe’s security defenses by covertly deploying a land-based cruise missile capable of targeting the continent with nuclear weapons. Russia’s deployment of this system is in direct violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty – and endangers America’s closest allies.
N.K. Embassy in China Voices Opposition to Military Drills, THAAD
Yonhap News
North Korea’s Embassy in China on Thursday expressed strong opposition to Seoul and Washington’s ongoing joint military drills, saying that they are raising tension on the divided peninsula, diplomatic sources said. The North’s embassy told a group of invited foreign correspondents that the planned deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system on South Korean soil will hurt strategic balance in Asia, they added.
Off-site Environmental Remediation in Fukushima Continuing
Akira Izumo | International Atomic Energy Agency
Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MOE) updated the status of on-going environmental remediation activities in the areas affected by the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011. The update was the result of the 2nd IAEA-MOE Consultancy Meeting (Experts’ Visit) on Environmental Remediation of Off-Site Areas after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident, hosted by the MOE in Tokyo and Fukushima from 14 to 18 November 2016.