Managing the Next Moves
George Perkovich
Whatever verified facts eventually emerge about the September 29 surgical strikes across the LoC, it appears that the operation was as carefully calibrated as any use of force could be. One danger now is that media triumphalism in India could increase pressure on various actors in Pakistan to “teach India a lesson” and demonstrate their own manly resolve. If the result were a high-casualty attack in the heartland, Indian leaders would feel the need to do something more dramatic than the well-practised tit-for-tat violence across the LoC. This could fuel a harder-to-manage dynamic of actions and reactions whose end point would be difficult for anyone to predict or control with confidence.
Uncertain Future For Nuclear Fuel-Cycle Policy in Japan
Masakatsu Ota | Kyodo News
Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle policy is becoming increasingly uncertain due to ongoing arrangements to scrap the trouble-prone Monju fast-breeder reactor and the accumulation of nuclear materials whose consumption has no concrete time schedule. According to a U.S. government source, there have been policy discussions within the administration of President Barack Obama regarding the "comprehensive advance consent" which the U.S.-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement provided for 28 years ago.
Russia Suspends Nuclear Agreement, Ends Uranium Research Pact with United States
Lidia Kelly | Reuters
Russia further curtailed its cooperation with the United States in nuclear energy on Wednesday, suspending a research agreement and terminating one on uranium conversion, two days after the Kremlin shelved a plutonium pact with Washington. The Russian government said that as counter-measures to the U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine, it was putting aside a nuclear and energy-related research pact with the United States.
Marshall Islands Can’t Sue the World’s Nuclear Powers, U.N. Court Rules
Marlise Simons | New York Times
The United Nations’ highest court on Wednesday rejected a bid by the Marshall Islands to sue the world’s nuclear powers, saying the court did not have jurisdiction because there was no evidence of a legal dispute that it could adjudicate. The Marshall Islands, a nation of islands and atolls in the Pacific Ocean that has endured 67 nuclear tests by the United States and still suffers the consequences, had filed a suit saying the nuclear powers were violating international law by failing to respect their disarmament obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and customary international law.
India and the NSG Membership: What Lies Ahead
G. Balachandran | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
In the pre-2005 period, the Indian government as well as most Indian analysts had approached the four export control regimes – the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and the Australia group (AG) – with suspicion. Such an approach was not unnatural considering the fact that the first two, namely the NSG and the MTCR, had actively worked against Indian interests. The NSG denied fuel for the Tarapur Atomic Power station (TAPS) while the United States used MTCR provisions to prevent the transfer of cryogenic engine technology – a purely civilian space technology – by Russia to India thereby setting back the Indian space programme by more than a decade.
Brazil and Argentina: 25 Years of Nuclear Cooperation
José Serra, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Brazil
Susana Malcorra, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Argentina
Through the creation of ABACC and the Common System for Control of Nuclear Materials, our negotiators conceived an arrangement that had previously been unthinkable in such a sensitive area. Through that arrangement, the inspections of the Argentine nuclear installations are carried out by Brazilian inspectors, and the inspections of Brazilian nuclear facilities are conducted by Argentine inspectors. Since its creation, ABACC, in close cooperation with the IAEA, has conducted more than 2,500 inspections in both countries, the results of which are published in annual reports on its website. ABACC also participates as an observer in meetings of the IAEA Board of Governors.