Trump Administration Weighs Extending New START Nuclear Treaty
Michael R. Gordon | Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration is keeping open the possibility of extending the New START arms control treaty, but the decision will be influenced by three factors, including whether China agrees to join the arms control process, a U.S. official said Tuesday. A day after a round of Russia-U.S. arms control talks in Vienna, the official said President Trump could agree to extend the 2011 accord, which is due to expire in February, if the parties make progress toward a new agreement that has tough verification measures, covers all nuclear warheads and includes China. The two sides agreed to establish three working groups on nuclear warheads and doctrine, verification and space systems. They will meet in the coming weeks in Vienna to lay the groundwork for another meeting between Mr. Billingslea and Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, which could take place as early as late July or early August.
North Korea's Kim Backtracks on Military Threat, But More Surprises Likely in Store
Jesse Johnson | Japan Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has offered an apparent off-ramp for defusing rising tensions with the South, just one day ahead of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War — a stunning reversal after weeks of his regime spewing vitriol at Seoul. On Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim “took stock of the prevailing situation and suspended the military action plans against the south” during a “preliminary meeting” a day earlier of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission (CMC). The report did not elaborate, but the decision came a week after the regime blew up an inter-Korean liaison office.
US Warns Russia, China of UN Isolation if Iran Arms Extension Blocked
Michelle Nicols and Humeyra Pamuk | Reuters
Russia and China will be isolated at the United Nations if they continue down the “road to dystopia” by blocking a U.S. bid to extend a weapons ban on Iran, U.S. Iran envoy Brian Hook told Reuters ahead of his formal pitch of the embargo to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. The 13-year-old arms restrictions on Iran are due to expire in October under the terms of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Russia and China have signaled they oppose extending the embargo. While Washington has long argued that the embargo should not be lifted, the international community has been waiting for it to formally push the measure. “Russia and China were isolated at the (International Atomic Energy Agency) last week and they will be isolated in the Security Council if they continue down this road to dystopia,” Hook said.
Trump Administration Says It Won't Carry Out a Nuclear Weapons Test ‘At This Time’
Kylie Atwood | CNN
The US told Russia that that there is no reason for the Trump administration to carry out a nuclear weapons test “at this time,” during nuclear negotiations in Vienna this week, but reserved the right to conduct one if they see a need to do so. “We made very clear, as we have from the moment we adopted a testing moratorium in 1992, that we maintain and will maintain the ability to conduct nuclear tests if we see any reason to do so, whatever that reason may be,” said Marshall Billingslea, the top US envoy for nuclear negotiations, as he spoke to reporters on Wednesday. “But that said, I am unaware of any particular reason to test at this stage.” The top nuclear negotiator said the Russians had asked him about the possibility of a US nuclear test during their meetings, based on a media report about a test being discussed by US officials last month.
Japan Effectively Abandons Aegis Ashore Plan
Yomiuri Shimbun
The plan to deploy Aegis Ashore has effectively been abandoned after Defense Minister Taro Kono said Thursday it is difficult to select other candidate sites for the ground-based missile interceptor system. Last week, the government decided to halt the deployment of Aegis Ashore in Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures. The government and the ruling coalition will now start full-fledged discussions on a new security strategy. “At the meeting, it was decided to withdraw the plan to deploy the Aegis Ashore in Yamaguchi and Akita prefectures,” Kono told LDP officials. “I offer my deepest apologies for this outcome.” When it comes to Japan’s future missile defense system, Kono said the government will have thorough discussions “while protecting the nation with Aegis-equipped destroyers and PAC-3 [Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air guided missiles] for the time being.”
Lithuania Spurns Baltic Presidents' Meeting Amid Nuclear Power Rift
Reuters
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda refused to attend a planned meeting with his Estonian and Latvian counterparts on Thursday, saying he did so after the countries failed to agree to ban electricity purchases from a new nuclear power plant in Belarus. Lithuania sees the nuclear power plant, built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport near its capital and financed by Moscow with a $10 billion loan, as threat to its safety and national security, something Belarus disagrees with. Lithuania wants all the three countries to sign up to banning sales of Belarusian electricity after the nuclear plant comes online, binning an earlier draft agreement that only pledged to help keep the energy from being sold in Lithuania.