U.S. Says North Korea Policy Unchanged After Nuclear Remark Raises Eyebrows
David Brunnstrom and Simon Lewis | Reuters
The United States said on Friday its policy towards North Korea had not changed after a senior U.S. official responsible for nuclear policy raised some eyebrows by saying Washington would be willing to engage in arms-control talks with Pyongyang. Some experts argue that recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, something Pyongyang seeks, is a prerequisite for such talks. But Washington has long argued that the North Korean nuclear program is illegal and subject to United Nations sanctions.Is it Time to Accept North Korea is a Nuclear Power?
Is it Time to Accept North Korea is a Nuclear Power?
Paula Hancocks | CNN
As a statement of intent, it was about as blunt as they get. North Korea has developed nuclear weapons and will never give them up, its leader, Kim Jong Un, told the world last month. The move was “irreversible,” he said; the weapons represent the “dignity, body, and absolute power of the state” and Pyongyang will continue to develop them “as long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth.”
Putin Is Inventing a Whole New Kind of Nuclear Blackmail
Susan B. Glasser
It’s been quite a week for the Armageddon watch. Over the weekend, Russia’s defense minister made a round of threatening phone calls to leaders in the U.S. and other Western nations alleging that Ukraine was preparing a radioactive “dirty bomb” for use on the battlefield. The allies quickly and publicly dismissed the fact-free claim as a Russian false-flag operation that might presage Russia itself preparing such an attack. By Wednesday, Vladimir Putin himself was promoting the story of the dirty bomb, which he called a “provocation” by Ukraine. He mentioned it again in a ranty speech, on Thursday, along with the caveat that there was no “need” for Russia to hit Ukraine with nukes and the ominous warning that this is “the most dangerous, unpredictable, and, at the same time, important decade since the end of the Second World War.” Whatever one makes of Putin’s words, Russia’s recent reverses on the battlefield have increased fears that he will respond with nuclear escalation.
IAEA Continues to Press for Zaporizhzhia Security Zone and Plans to Investigate “Dirty Bomb” Allegations
Nuclear Engineering Magazine
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi was in the United States from 26-28 October to attend the IAEA’s International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century in Washington DC. During his visit, he also briefed the United Nations Security Council in New York on what he described as the “extremely fragile and dangerous” nuclear safety and security situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
Iran is an Ever More 'Relevant' Problem, Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says
Reuters
Iran is a problem that is ever more "relevant", the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Friday, in an apparent reference to the growing number of advanced centrifuges the Islamic Republic is using to enrich uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said in recent confidential reports to member states seen by Reuters that Iran has been installing and enriching with more cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges at its underground enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow.
The Nuclear Question America Never Answers
Tom Nichols
What is the purpose of the American nuclear arsenal? Every American president since the end of the Cold War has tried to answer this question in a formal report called the Nuclear Posture Review. And every American president has fudged their answer—now including President Joe Biden, who released his NPR last week even as Russia wages war in Europe and the Russian president makes barely veiled nuclear threats against Ukraine, NATO, and the United States itself.