The Real “Problem” With a Ban Treaty? It Challenges the Status Quo
Nick Ritchie and Matthew Harries
U.S. extended nuclear deterrence commitments would be challenged by a ban treaty, as would the national deterrence commitments of all nuclear-armed states. In fact, that is the point of the proposed treaty: to comprehensively delegitimize and stigmatize nuclear weapons because, as long as those weapons exist, there is a risk they will be used—resulting in foreseeable and unacceptable humanitarian effects. To be sure, some states would be more susceptible than others to the type of legal-normative pressure that a ban treaty would generate. The DPRK, for example, seems most impervious of all to social stigmatization. In contrast, countries with democratic polities based on broadly liberal principles are likely to be more susceptible to transnational advocacy movements that are rooted in those same principles, namely the equal moral standing of people and a shared interest in the rule of law, including the criminalization of egregious violence.
Tillerson to Chair U.N. Meeting on North Korea Nuclear Program
Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on April 28 to discuss how the body can combat Pyongyang's banned nuclear and missile programs, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Monday. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions aimed at impeding the development of its nuclear and missile programs since 2006. The 15-member council has strengthened sanctions following each of North Korea's five nuclear tests.
Analyst: North Korea Could Conduct Simultaneous Nuclear Bomb Tests
Elizabeth Shim | UPI
Multiple or simultaneous tests of plutonium and uranium bombs could be North Korea's next provocation. A South Korean military source told local news service News 1 on Thursday that the "possibility of a different kind of test cannot be ruled out," while adding the army is "prepared for various possibilities."
State Dept.: Sanctions Alone Not Enough to Stop Iran’s Missile Program
Adam Kredo | Washington Free Beacon
Sanctions on Iran are not enough to stop the country's illicit ballistic missile program, according to senior State Department officials, who said on Thursday that a new package of sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic would not halt the country's missile development. The Trump administration announced earlier this month a large package of sanctions targeting Iran, Syria, and North Korea for their efforts to transfer illicit materials and technology.
Westinghouse: Origins and Effects of the Downfall of a Nuclear Giant
World Nuclear Industry Status Report
On 29 March 2017, Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of Japanese company Toshiba and the largest historic builder of nuclear power plants in the world, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The insolvency has resulted from a number of factors, most importantly, the massive cost increases and time delays at the two projects in Georgia and South Carolina. As Westinghouse’s website puts it somewhat more discreetly, the “company is seeking to undertake a strategic restructuring as a result of certain financial and construction challenges in its U.S. AP1000 power plant
China is Using the Balkans as a Testing Ground to Expand its Nuclear Industry
Raluca Besliu | Balkanist
Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment’s Nuclear Policy Program, expanded on that point: apart from obvious gains, such as financial profits and influence, China’s reason for exporting nuclear power equipment is to gain influence over technology products sold in various foreign countries. Hibbs added that foreign projects, including in Romania, the UK, South Africa and Argentina, will “boost China’s credibility, because exports will imply that their technology is in demand, affordable and deemed safe to operate.”