Chinese Military Paper Urges Increase in Nuclear Deterrence Capabilities
Reuters
China must strengthen its nuclear deterrence and counter-strike capabilities to keep pace with the developing nuclear strategies of the United States and Russia, the official paper of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration may be pursuing the development of new nuclear weaponry and could explicitly leave open the possibility of nuclear retaliation for major non-nuclear attacks, according to a draft of a pending Nuclear Posture Review leaked by the Huffington Post.
Mattis Has a Crucial Task--Stopping Trump From Going to War With North Korea
Barbara Starr | CNN
Defense Secretary James Mattis begins his second year in the Trump Administration with perhaps just one absolutely crucial task -- stopping President Donald Trump from going to war against North Korea. Along with Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mattis will spend the next few weeks walking a fine line. The two must assure the President that there are credible US military options to stop North Korea if it comes to war and they launch a missile at the US or an ally, while at the same time continuing to make clear what a disaster a war would be.
Tillerson Says Washington, Europe Start Work on Iran Nuclear Deal
Lidia Kelly, Marcin Goettig | Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday that working groups on fixing what the U.S. sees as flaws in the Iranian nuclear deal have already begun to meet, trying to determine the scope of what is needed and how much Iran needs to be engaged in it. Tillerson, ending a week-long European trip in Warsaw, said that he had secured support from Britain, France and Germany - all parties to the 2015 agreement - to work on the deal that President Donald Trump has warned he will walk away from unless changes are made.
Haley Suggests Action on Iran Missiles Could Save Nuke Deal
Josh Lederman | Washington Post
The United States is encouraging other U.N. Security Council countries to set aside the nuclear deal loathed by President Donald Trump and focus on cracking down on Iran’s missile and other non-nuclear transgressions, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Monday. Haley, who brought fellow Security Council ambassadors on a field trip to Washington, suggested that a concerted global effort to punish Iran for violating Security Council resolutions on ballistic missiles could persuade Trump it was worthwhile to remain in the nuclear deal. She noted that France, a key member of the group that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, had recently “started hitting” Iran rhetorically for violating ballistic missile resolutions.
Putin Hails New Bomber as a Boost to Russia's Nuclear Forces
Vladimir Soldatkin | Reuters
President Vladimir Putin praised a newly-built supersonic strategic bomber on Thursday after watching it in flight, saying it would beef up Russia’s nuclear weapons capability. Under a contract signed on Thursday, 10 of the modernized TU-160M nuclear bombers, codenamed Blackjacks by NATO, will be delivered to the Russian Air Force at a cost of 15 billion rubles ($269 million) each between now and 2027.
'Doomsday Clock' Ticked Forward 30 Seconds to 2 Minutes to Midnight
Julian Borger | Guardian
“During the height of the cold war there was a nontrivial risk of global nuclear annihilation,” Vipin Narang, a North Korea and nuclear expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a tweet. “Today, the risk of single use may be higher but it’s unlikely to threaten global destruction.” The bulletin scientists said that climate change also weighed heavily in their deliberations. After flattening out for some years, global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise and the levels of the polar ice caps are at new lows.