The Specter of an Anti-American Eurasia
Mark Hibbs | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Six decades before the Russian revolution, Karl Marx wrote prophetically that the ghost of communism haunted Europe. In decades to come, the United States and the world might be haunted by a different specter: an anti-American Eurasia reaching from western Europe to the Pacific coast, encompassing China, Russia, and the Shiite Middle East. The powers along this geostrategic trajectory will have very different singular interests, but they will find common ground in their aspiration to reduce America’s influence. This vision is perhaps extreme, but it came a step closer to reality when President Donald Trump announced that the United States would walk away from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). With one oversized signature Trump dramatically isolated the United States, pitting it against most of the countries on the map from the Atlantic to the Pacific and then some.
U.S.-North Korea Summit Set for June 12 in Singapore, Trump Says
Eileen Sullivan | New York Times
President Trump announced on Thursday that his meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will be held on June 12 in Singapore. Mr. Trump made his announcement in a Twitter post on Thursday morning, just hours after he met the three recently-freed American hostages at Joint Base Andrews, where they arrived in the middle of the night after their release by North Korea.
Saudi Arabia Set to Pursue Nuclear Weapons If Iran Restarts Program
Nicole Gaouette | CNN
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister told CNN on Wednesday that his country stands ready to build nuclear weapons if Iran restarts its atomic weapons program. Asked to clarify whether that means the kingdom will work to acquire its own nuclear capability, al-Jubeir said, “That’s what we mean.” He also praised President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the United States was quitting the Iran nuclear deal.
EU Rushes to Arrange Crisis Meeting with Iran Over Nuclear Deal
Patrick Wintour, Julian Borger | Guardian
U.S. lawmakers want an independent assessment of a proposal to arm Predator unmanned aircraft with guided missiles to shoot down North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles, leveraging proven technologies in the American arsenal to rapidly field a system that uses kinetic interceptors to kill Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles during the boost phase of flight.
Democrats Target Low-yield Nukes, Warn of Slippery Slope to ‘Nuclear War’
Joe Gould | Military Times
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday rejected a series of Democratic amendments aimed at limiting the Trump administration’s pursuit of low-yield nuclear weapons to match Russia. The amendments were sharply debated and then voted down largely along party lines during the panel’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act. Republicans held a 33-28 majority on the panel, with one of their members, Rep. Walter Jones, absent.
House Votes to Advance Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Project
Timothy Cama | Hill
The House passed a bill Thursday that seeks to move forward a process toward building the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada that would store the nation’s radioactive nuclear waste.The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, sponsored by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin of 340 to 72.