Rescuing a Fraying Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime
Jamie Kwong | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has been delayed—again. ... The RevCon delay gives member states an opportunity to redress their competing priorities. To be clear, it is unrealistic to expect a resolution in the next eight years, much less eight months. But treaty members can take tangible actions to reduce the divides, prepare for a productive RevCon, and chart a successful way ahead for the NPT. In no area will this be more important than disarmament. Focusing on addressing disarmament divides and, relatedly, advancing risk reduction can inspire a forward-looking approach that could revive the NPT regime.
North Korea Is Test-Firing Missiles Again. Here’s What to Make of the Launches.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee | Washington Post
North Korea has begun the new year a lot like the last: with a series of missile launches that reveal progress in diversifying and expanding its arsenal with missiles that may be harder to detect and defend against. These tests also underscore how Kim Jong Un’s regime has been retreating inward — making apparent advances in its nuclear capabilities and ballistic weapons — while refusing to engage with U.S. and South Korean negotiators seeking to restart denuclearization talks. Since September, North Korea has conducted a number of tests of ballistic missiles despite the multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions that forbid them.
Iran Demands Legal Pledge That U.S. Won’t Quit Nuclear Deal Again
Laurence Norman | Wall Street Journal
As the Biden administration tries to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, one of the biggest obstacles is Tehran’s demand that the U.S. provides a guarantee that it won’t again quit the pact and reimpose sanctions, diplomats involved in talks in Austria say. The demand, a reaction to former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, appears to be a paramount political objective for the government of Iran’s new hard-line president, U.S. and European diplomats here say. The diplomats said they don’t believe the demand is designed by Iran to simply drag out the talks.
U.S. Looking for Ways to Reduce Nuclear Risk With China
Masakatsu Ota | Kyodo News
The United States continues to try to find ways to reduce nuclear and security risks with China through bilateral dialogue as well as under the so-called “P5 Process,” the U.S. State Department’s top arms control official Bonnie Jenkins said during a recent telephone interview with Kyodo News. The remarks by the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security came several days after the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain issued a joint statement affirming that a war involving nuclear weapons must be avoided and that such armaments should serve defensive purposes and deter aggression.
Russia Issues Subtle Threats More Far-Reaching Than a Ukraine Invasion
Anton Troianovski and David E. Sanger | New York Times
No one expected much progress from this past week’s diplomatic marathon to defuse the security crisis Russia has ignited in Eastern Europe by surrounding Ukraine on three sides with 100,000 troops and then, by the White House’s accounting, sending in saboteurs to create a pretext for invasion. But as the Biden administration and NATO conduct tabletop simulations about how the next few months could unfold, they are increasingly wary of another set of options for President Vladimir V. Putin, steps that are more far-reaching than simply rolling his troops and armor over Ukraine’s border.
Nuclear Weapons and the Legacy of Dr. King
Vincent Intondi | Outrider Foundation
On February 6, 1968, Dr. King, stepped up to the pulpit to warn against the use of nuclear weapons. Addressing the second mobilization of the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, King urged an end to the war and warned that if the United States used nuclear weapons in Vietnam the earth would be transformed into an inferno that “even the mind of Dante could not envision.” Then, as he had done so many times before, King made clear the connection between the black freedom struggle in America and the need for nuclear disarmament: “These two issues are tied together in many, many ways. It is a wonderful thing to work to integrate lunch counters, public accommodations, and schools. But it would be rather absurd to work to get schools and lunch counters integrated and not be concerned with the survival of a world in which to integrate.