Shallow Nations, Deep Waters

Both Israel and Pakistan have decided to field tactical nuclear weapons aboard their small flotillas of diesel-electric submarines. While Pakistan is a declared nuclear power and Israel has opted to pursue a policy of nuclear ambiguity for the past four decades, both nations’ military thinkers echo each other in their frequent referrals to the sea as a source of strategic depth. 

New commercial satellite imagery confirms that North Korea is making important progress in activating key nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, including the 5 MWe gas-graphite reactor and the 20-30 MW(th) Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR).

The IAEA and Iran are “going around in circles” after 10 failed meetings on Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons research, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday. “To be frank, for some time now we have been going around in circles,” Yukiya Amano told a closed-door quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors.

President Obama approved tighter sanctions Monday on Iran's currency and economy to compel the government's leaders to abandon their efforts to be able to build a nuclear weapon.

South Korea and the United States failed Tuesday to narrow differences on whether Washington would allow Seoul to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for the South's civil nuclear energy program, a senior Seoul official said.

Russia plans to resume nuclear submarine patrols in the southern seas after a hiatus of more than 20 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday, in another example of efforts to revive Moscow's military.