White House: U.S. Coordinating with South Korea on Responses to the North, Including Nuclear Scenarios
Olivia Olander | Politico
The United States is coordinating with South Korea to respond to a number of scenarios from North Korea, including the possibility of North Korea’s using nuclear weapons, the White House said on Tuesday. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told their governments to plan an “effective, coordinated response to a range of scenarios, including nuclear use by North Korea,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her briefing. But, she added: “We’re not discussing joint nuclear exercises,” noting that South Korea is a state without nuclear weapons.Jean-Pierre’s remarks followed apparently contradicting accounts from Biden and his South Korean counterpart this week.
Japan’s Nuclear Restart Hit by Engineer and Manufacturing Capacity Shortages
Eri Sugiura and Kana Inagaki | Financial Times
Japan’s ambitions to reboot its nuclear industry risk being set back by a shortage of engineers and manufacturing capacity that has atrophied in the decade following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s new policy calls for the construction of new nuclear power plants, raising hopes for Japanese manufacturers that are working on smaller reactors and other upgraded nuclear technologies. But the industry’s nuclear supply chain is under strain, warned industry executives and experts. The 2011 accident triggered a massive exit of more than 20 manufacturers, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Sumitomo Electric Industries
Russia’s Hypersonic Missile-Armed Ship to Patrol Global Seas
Associated Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine. Russia touts that the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 km/h). Putin has hailed Zircon as a potent weapon capable of penetrating any existing anti-missile defenses by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles). Putin has emphasized that Zircon gives the Russian military a long-range conventional strike capability, allowing it to strike any enemy targets with precision.
In Addressing Russia’s Attacks on Zaporizhzhia, Look to Africa
Ryan A Musto | Lawfare
In the collective search for multilateral precedents, both sides of the debate overlook a salient success: Africa’s Treaty of Pelindaba. It’s a regional accomplishment that helps illustrate the promise and pitfalls of any global pact.In April 1996, 45 African nations signed Pelindaba to make the continent a nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ)...Under Article 11 of the treaty, parties agree “not to take, or assist, or encourage any action aimed at an armed attack by conventional or other means against nuclear installations in the African nuclear-weapon-free zone.” Any violation could be dealt with by the African Commission on Nuclear Energy, the IAEA, the Organization of African Unity, or the U.N. Security Council.
The Nuclear Dump That Created a Generation of Indigenous Activists
Amy Qin and Amy Chang Chien | The New York Times
No one bothered to inform the residents why the southern tip of their island home was suddenly no longer accessible. All they knew was that the place where women for generations had scoured the craggy tide pools for crabs and where farmers had long tended fields of taro and millet had suddenly been turned into a large construction site. Rumors began to fly. It was a pineapple cannery. No, it was a cannery for fish. Whatever it was, the locals decided, it would mean more jobs for the islanders. It was not until years later, in 1980, when a local pastor saw an article buried in the back of a newspaper, that the islanders found out what the site actually was: a massive nuclear waste dump.
The Treaties that Make the World Safer are Struggling
Jen Kirby | Vox
Arms control agreements, both bilateral and multilateral, are supposed to be the guardrails in times of global crisis, not unlike the one we’re in now…A lot of what makes up our arms control regime, particularly around weapons of mass destruction, was shaped during the Cold War period, with two nuclear-armed superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, anchoring the global order. That is one of the obvious challenges the current arms control apparatus faces.