Rattling the Nuclear Saber: What Russia’s Nuclear Threats Really Mean
Lauren Sukin | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
It is important to remember that Russia is not alone in brandishing its nuclear saber—and that there are lessons to be learned from how nuclear threats are used elsewhere. In particular, North Korea, a frequent issuer of nuclear threats, bears key similarities to Russia today. Both countries are isolated, with few allies and an ocean of sanctions through which to wade. In turn, both rely heavily on nuclear weapons. Both North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin are highly personalistic leaders and surrounded by ideological “yes men.” Neither has many checks against their power. Both men are deeply anxious about their legacies and beholden to unlawful and, increasingly, unrealistic foreign policy ambitions. With these similarities in mind, it is precisely because of and not in spite of the fact that Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly held their nuclear arsenals over Western heads that leaders should take these threats seriously.
Disaster Fears After Explosives Found Inside Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
BRENDAN COLE | Newsweek
Observers from the United Nations nuclear energy watchdog have found explosives inside Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ukrainian media has reported. A small team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is at the nuclear plant, which is Europe's biggest and was seized by Moscow early in its invasion of Ukraine. Operated by Ukrainian staff working under Russian forces and the Russian nuclear company Rosatom, the hostilities at the site, in which both sides accused the other of shelling, have sparked international alarm at what might happen if the reactors were impacted.
The Risks of US and South Korea’s Divergent Messaging About a ‘Nuclear’ Alliance
Jeongmin Kim | NK Pro
The U.S. and South Korea pulled out all the stops for Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to Washington last week, celebrating 70 years of the alliance with pageantry, economic agreements and security pledges. The two sides’ Washington Declaration notably laid out plans to establish a Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) for joint planning on the use of U.S. nuclear assets. But while the allies strove to project unity against North Korean threats, observers have argued that the Yoon administration has overstated parts of the summit result over the past week, particularly as it relates to the agreements on U.S. nuclear weapons.
China’s Support for North Korea Forces Seoul to Enhance Nuclear Deterrence: Yoon
Jeongmin Kim | NK News
China’s unwillingness to enforce sanctions against North Korea and its “hostile activities” toward South Korea are pushing Seoul and Washington closer together, President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday…“If China wishes to raise objections against and criticize South Korea and the U.S. [announcing] the Washington Declaration, as well as upgrading the security cooperation into a nuclear-based one, it has to help lessen [DPRK] nuclear threat, or at the very least abide by the U.N. Security Council resolutions and international law against such nuclear threats,” Yoon said at luncheon with journalists.
Russia 'Very Unlikely' to Use Nuclear Weapons, US Intel Chief
Phil Stewart | Reuters
Russia is very unlikely to use its nuclear weapons, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday, despite past saber-rattling from the Kremlin and the heavy casualties that eMoscow is enduring in its invasion of Ukraine. "It's very unlikely, is our current assessment," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Nuclear tensions between Russia and the United States have increased since the start of the conflict with Ukraine with Putin repeatedly warning that Russia is ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary to defend its "territorial integrity."
How Space Force, NRO are Sharing the Ground-Tracking Mission, For Now
THERESA HITCHENS | Breaking Defense
Frank Calvelli, the senior space acquisition authority at the Department of the Air Force, confirmed the plan — first revealed, although with little detail, by NRO Director Chris Scolese on April 18 — for new ground moving target indication, known as GMTI or MTI, satellites during a Senate Armed Services Committee strategic forces subcommittee hearing Tuesday…GMTI radars use a pulsing technique to discriminate moving targets, such as enemy tanks and mobile missile launchers, from stationary objects and then clock their velocities based on their Doppler shift.