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Top Secret U.S. Nuke War Plans Thwarted

IN THIS ISSUE: Top Secret U.S. Nuke War Plans Thwarted, U.S. Had Cyberattack Plan if Iran Nuclear Dispute Led to Conflict, What the Nuclear Deal Means for Moderates in Iranian Politics, PM Rules Out Possibility of Nuclear Armament, South Korea, U.S. to Expand Joint Drill in Wake of North's Nuclear, Missile Tests: Defence Minister, Pending Iranian Space Launch Contrary to U.N. Nuclear Resolution

Published on February 18, 2016

Top Secret U.S. Nuke War Plans Thwarted

Elaine M. Grossman | Daily Beast

They’re the ultimate weapons of war. And they’re being directed by Cold War-era guidance systems—throwing off the Pentagon’s top-secret doomsday plans. It was Sept. 19, 2005, and the last MX Peacekeeper ballistic missile was being hoisted out of its underground vault in southeast Wyoming. Two hundred forty-two days into President George W. Bush's second term, one of the most formidable nuclear weapons in the nation's history was trucked off into retirement, following nearly two decades on 24/7 alert.

U.S. Had Cyberattack Plan if Iran Nuclear Dispute Led to Conflict

David E. Sanger and Mark Mazzetti | New York Times

In the early years of the Obama administration, the United States developed an elaborate plan for a cyberattack on Iran in case the diplomatic effort to limit its nuclear program failed and led to a military conflict, according to a coming documentary film and interviews with military and intelligence officials involved in the effort.

What the Nuclear Deal Means for Moderates in Iranian Politics

Richard Nephew | Brookings

Iran’s parliamentary elections are two weeks away and the question surrounding them in the West is whether Iranian president Rouhani’s reform-leaning compatriots will be able to take advantage of the nuclear deal to strengthen its political positioning in Tehran. After all, some suggest, isn’t this what the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between the United States, its P5+1 negotiating partners, and Iran was all about?

PM Rules Out Possibility of Nuclear Armament

Yonhap News

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Thursday that the government maintains a denuclearization policy despite some debates on the possibility of the country's own nuclear armament. "It is the government's basic position that the nuclear armament is not permitted," Hwang said during a National Assembly interpellation session.

South Korea, U.S. to Expand Joint Drill in Wake of North's Nuclear, Missile Tests: Defence Minister

Straits Times

A joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States next month has been ramped up in the wake of North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, the South's defence minister said on Thursday (Feb 18). The annual computer-simulated "Key Resolve" exercise will involve almost triple the number of US troops previously deployed, the Yonhap news agency quoted Mr Han Min Goo as saying.

Pending Iranian Space Launch Contrary to U.N. Nuclear Resolution

Bill Gertz | Washington Free Beacon

Iran is expected to conduct a rocket test this month in violation of the recent UN resolution on the Iranian nuclear deal that bans long-range missile tests, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Intelligence agencies are closely watching preparations in Iran to test a Simorgh space launch vehicle that U.S. officials say is the base for Tehran’s covert program to develop long-range nuclear missiles.
 


 

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