Russia Deploys Missile, Violating Treaty and Challenging Trump
Michael R. Gordon | New York Times
Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile that American officials say violates a landmark arms control treaty, posing a major test for President Trump as his administration is facing a crisis over its ties to Moscow. The new Russian missile deployment also comes as the Trump administration is struggling to fill key policy positions at the State Department and the Pentagon — and to settle on a permanent replacement for Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser who resigned late Monday. Mr. Flynn stepped down after it was revealed that he had misled the vice president and other officials over conversations with Moscow’s ambassador to Washington.
Nuclear Modernization Costs: $400B Over 10 Years
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The current plan to modernize U.S. nuclear weapons will cost $400 billion from 2017 to 2026, according to a new government estimate. That figure, released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, is 15 percent higher than CBO’s most recent estimate, which pegged the cost for the 2015-2024 period at $348 billion. Both estimates factor inflation into their figures.
S. Korea Mulls Over Test-Firing Ballistic Missile After N.K. Launch
Yonhap News
South Korea is considering test-firing a ballistic missile in response to the North's intermediate-range missile launch, military officials said Monday. "In response to North Korea's missile launch Sunday, we are reviewing measures to discard security concerns and show our determination to retaliate against any aggression by the North," a defense ministry official told Yonhap News Agency.
Downfall of Toshiba, a Nuclear Industry Titan
Kana Inagaki, Leo Lewis, and Ed Crooks | Financial Times
Toshiba experienced a dramatic stock sell-off and a huge writedown ($6.3 billion), leaving only China, Russia, and South Korea as major players in the global nuclear power plant market.
Fifty Years of Success of Landmark Treaty of Tlatelolco
Sergio Duarte and Jenifer Mackby | InDepthNews
As the first of its kind in a populated area, the Treaty made a fundamental contribution to both global and regional disarmament, peace and security. It includes a number of innovative provisions, such as indefinite duration, prohibition of reservations, a definition of nuclear weapon, a commitment by nuclear-weapon States to respect the militarily denuclearized status of the Zone through negative security assurances and the engagement of its Parties to utilize nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes.
Trump vs the Iran Nuclear Deal
The New Arab
Hardly a day goes by without another controversy surrounding President Trump’s actions. From pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, railing against China, or signing executive order banning Muslim refugees from entering the US. So could the Iranian nuclear deal or more precisely Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), be the next victim in the line of Trump’s new measures?