Putin Threatens U.S. Arms Race With New Missiles Declaration
Andrew Roth | Guardian
Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia has developed and is testing a new line of strategic nuclear-capable weapons that would be able to outmanoeuvre US defences, in a possible signal of a new arms race between Moscow and the west. Speaking in a nationally televised address to the country’s political elite weeks before the presidential election, Putin showed video and animations of ICBMs, nuclear-powered cruise missiles, underwater drones and other weapons that he said Russia had developed as a result of the US pulling out of the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty signed with the Soviet Union.
U.S. Banks on Diplomacy With North Korea, but Moves Ahead on Military Plans
Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt | New York Times
A classified military exercise last week examined how American troops would mobilize and strike if ordered into a potential war on the Korean Peninsula, even as diplomatic overtures between the North and the Trump administration continue. The war planning, known as a “tabletop exercise,” was held over several days in Hawaii. It included Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Army’s chief of staff, and Gen. Tony Thomas, the head of Special Operations Command.
U.S. Diplomat’s Retirement Points to Administration’s Divide on North Korea
Felicia Schwartz, Michael Gordon, and Andrew Jeong | Wall Street Journal
The sudden departure of the top U.S. diplomat on North Korea issues underscores persistent divisions in the Trump administration over the value of diplomacy with North Korea. Joseph Yun, the State Department’s special representative on North Korea policy, confirmed in an email that he is leaving the post but didn’t elaborate on his reasons. Current and former officials suggested the longtime diplomat would retire in part because he feels he has taken his efforts as far as they can go and lacks the high-profile support from the Trump administration needed to further his diplomacy.
Will the US Navy's High-Tech Destroyer Be Armed With Nuke Cruise Missiles?
Franz-Stefan Gady | Diplomat
U.S. Strategic Command may seek to deploy low-yield nuclear weapons aboard Zumwalt-class warships, the U.S. Navy’s largest and technologically most advanced class of guided-missile destroyers, according to the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, General John Hyten. As outlined in the recently released Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration seeks to expand the role and size of the U.S. low-yield nuclear weapons arsenal by adding two new missiles: a low-yield sea-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and a new sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM), which could be based on surface warships or submarines.
U.S. Strategic Command Chief: It’s Taking Way Too Long to Get Space-Based Missile Defense
Jen Judson | Defense News
While the past year has been filled with talk of doing more to develop missile defense sensors for space, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal 2019 budget showed no signs of a plan to ramp up the effort as threats grow more complex. But despite the absence of funding in the FY19 budget request, there are military leaders pushing back on the feet-dragging when it comes to getting after space-based sensors.
Nuclear Worries
Sadia Tasleem | Dawn
On Jan 13, 2018, people in Hawaii were shocked to receive text messages warning of an imminent missile attack. After what many said were the most horrifying 38 minutes of their lives, they received a second message that it was a false alert, the result of human error at the emergency operations centre. But in the context of a simmering crisis between the US and North Korea, the possibility of a missile attack seemed real, and with it the potential for nuclear war.