The Moral Hazard of Biden’s Support for Israel
James M. Acton | Foreign Policy
Israel is a sovereign state, of course; it can choose to attack Iran whether or not Washington blesses its actions. But the United States is a sovereign state, too. And if Netanyahu takes actions that Biden views as needlessly reckless, and hence damaging to U.S. interests, the United States can—and, indeed, should—choose to let Israel deal with the consequences.
North Korea Conducts First "Nuclear Trigger" Simulation Drills, State Media Says
Reuters
North Korea carried out its first nuclear counterattack drills to simulate its "nuclear trigger" management system, guided by leader Kim Jong Un, as a clear warning to its enemies, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday. North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles on Monday toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said. As part of testing the nationwide nuclear management system, called "nuclear trigger", its artillery forces joined the country's first such drills on Monday in a show of diversified nuclear capabilities and protest against U.S. and South Korean "provocative and invasive" military exercises, KCNA reported
Poland: We’re Ready to Host Nuclear Weapons
POLITICO
Polish President Andrzej Duda said Poland is “ready” to host nuclear weapons on its territory if NATO decides to reinforce its eastern flank. “Russia is increasingly militarizing the Königsberg oblast (Kaliningrad). Recently, it has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” Duda said in an interview published Monday by Polish outlet Fakt. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear sharing on our territory as well, in order to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready for it,” he added.
Iran's Nuclear Activities 'Raises Eyebrows' at IAEA
Biresh Banerjee and Zachary Crellin | DW
Iran is "weeks rather than months" away from having enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told DW. "But that does not mean that Iran has or would have a nuclear weapon in that space of time," he added. He said that although uranium enrichment at near weapons-grade levels is a cause for alarm, one cannot draw the direct conclusion that Iran now has a nuclear weapon. "A functional nuclear warhead requires many other things independently from the production of the fissile material," Grossi said.
Russia Warns of Direct Clash with West Over Ukraine
Guy Faulconbridge | Reuters
Russia said on Monday that U.S., British and French military support for Ukraine has pushed the world to the brink of a direct clash between the world's biggest nuclear powers that could end in catastrophe…Just two days after U.S. lawmakers approved billions of dollars in additional military aid to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States and NATO were obsessed with the idea of inflicting "strategic defeat" on Russia. Lavrov said Western support for Ukraine was putting the United States and its allies on the verge of a direct military clash with Russia.
How India’s Restructured Rocket Force Makes Conflict With China More Likely
Debak Das | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
On March 11, 2024, the Indian government announced that it had successfully tested an Agni-V ballistic missile with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology. According to India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, multiple reentry vehicles were tracked during the test. Discussions are now taking place as to what this new development means for India’s nuclear strategy and how it will impact India’s relations with China—the country against which this technology is most probably aimed at.