U.S. Missile Shield Plan Seen Stoking China Fears Brian Spegele, James Hookway, and Yuka Hayashi | Wall Street Journal The U.S. decision to expand its missile-defense shield in the Asia-Pacific region, ostensibly to defend against North Korea, could feed Chinese fears about containment by the U.S. and encourage Beijing to accelerate its own missile program, analysts say.
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Simon Henderson and Olli Heinonen | Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The challenge of discovering what may be going on in Iran is difficult not only because of Tehran's obstructionism, but also because the same technologies, particularly uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, can be used for both civilian and military purposes. Full Article
Banyan | Economist
As Iskander Rehman of the Carnegie Endowment, a think-tank, observes in a recent paper, Indo-Pakistani nuclear rivalry is drifting "from the dusty plains of the Punjab and Rajasthan into the world's most congested shipping lanes." "It is only a matter of time," he argues, "before Pakistan formally brings nuclear weapons into its own fleet." Full Article
The Moscow Times
President Vladimir Putin said he was open to the idea of new nuclear arms cuts on a reciprocal basis if the United States addresses his concerns about a U.S.-led missile defense system in Europe. Putin said that preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is "a key issue on the world agenda." Full Article
Asahi Shimbun
The industry ministry plans to amend legislation to allow for "direct disposal" of spent nuclear fuel, a move away from the nation's problem-plagued goal of creating a full nuclear fuel cycle, sources said. No decision has been made on the location of a final disposal site. Full Article
Bruno Waterfield | Telegraph
Posters advertising Aeroflot's twice-a-day flights from Brussels to Moscow have appeared under the heading "Discover Russia" on the walls of the Belgian capital's Metro underground service. The photograph also shows a convoy of military trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs, including nuclear warheads. Full Article
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