‘Nuclear Weapons for Everyone’ who Joins Belarus and Russia, Putin Ally Promises
Yuliya Talmazan | NBC News
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, promised nuclear weapons to any nation that joined Russia and Belarus…“It’s very simple. You have to join the union between Belarus and Russia, and that’s it: There will be nuclear weapons for everyone,” Lukashenko said in a comment aired Sunday night on Russian state TV. “I think it’s possible,” Lukashenko added, saying that he was expressing his own view. “We need to strategically understand that we have a unique chance to unite.”
Russia Moves Ahead with Deployment of Tactical Nukes in Belarus
Guy Faulconbridge | Reuters
Russia moved ahead on Thursday with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, whose leader said the warheads were already on the move, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such bombs outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. The U.S. State Department denounced the deployment plan, but said Washington had no intention of altering its position on strategic nuclear weapons or seen any signs Russia was preparing to use a nuclear weapon.
North Korea Notifies Neighboring Japan it Plans to Launch Satellite in Coming Days
MARI YAMAGUCHI and HYUNG-JIN KIM | Associated Press
North Korea on Monday notified neighboring Japan that it plans to launch a satellite in coming days, which may be an attempt to put its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he ordered Japan’s Self Defense Force to shoot down the satellite or debris, if any entered Japanese territory. Japan’s coast guard said the notice it received from North Korean waterway authorities said the launch window was from May 31 to June 11, and that the launch may affect waters in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island.
America’s Nuclear Secrets are Vulnerable to Fraudsters and Spies, Watchdog Report Says
Ken Dilanian | NBC News
A new watchdog report says the federal agency that keeps the nation’s nuclear secrets has failed to establish an “insider threat” program to guard against fraudsters, leakers and spies in its midst, a decade after a presidential order to do so. The bluntly-worded report by the Government Accountability Office says the Energy Department has for years failed to act on recommendations from four independent reviewers pointing to gaping holes in its efforts to create an insider threat program.
Iran’s State Media Claims UN Watchdog Closes Two Lines of Inquiry on Nuclear Program
AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL | Associated Press
Iran’s state-run news agency claimed Tuesday that international inspectors had closed off two lines of inquiry they had over Tehran’s nuclear program ahead of a scheduled quarterly report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, however, did not respond to questions over the report published by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. Citing “knowledgeable sources,” IRNA said that the IAEA had closed off its inquiry over the recent discovery of traces of uranium enriched up to 83.7% purity. A quarterly IAEA report in March said inspectors found the particles in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site, further raising nonproliferation concerns as weapons-grade material is enriched to 90%.
Putin and the Psychology of Nuclear Brinksmanship
Rose McDermott, Reid Pauly, and Paul Slovic | Foreign Affairs
Nuclear escalation might, in his mind, hasten victory in a grueling war, but he must weigh any potential short-term benefits against the assured harms, both immediate and long term. These include destruction, loss of life, and punishing retaliatory strikes beyond Ukraine’s borders, as the Biden administration and its allies have threatened, as well as irreversible damage—to survivors, to the environment, to the norms of domestic and international politics, to the very integrity of human civilization. This equation, if given due thought and effort, would not encourage nuclear escalation. The trouble, according to both psychological research and historical evidence, is that people generally struggle to weigh conflicting risks and benefits—including those involving nuclear weapons.