Arms Control Today articles from April 2008

Arms Control Today archives from April 2008

Editor's note.
April 1, 2008... The Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist Hannes Alven remarked some years ago, "The military atom and the civil atom are Siamese twins." Nuclear energy and nuclear weapons remain intimately and dangerously linked. In our cover story this...

Getting real about nuclear disarmament.(FOCUS)(Viewpoint essay)
April 1, 2008... For nearly 40 years, American presidents have expressed their intention to fulfill the U.S. obligation under the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) to pursue "effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early...

Notable quotable.(InBRIEF)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... "We are at a tipping point. The danger is all too real. The simple continuation of present practice with regard to nuclear weapons is leading in the wrong direction." --Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, in a speech to the...

Dismantling the concept of 'weapons of mass destruction'.(Ten Years Ago in ACT)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... In view of the technical character and limited military utility of biological and chemical weapons, the United States, as the world's pre-eminent power in conventional arms, does not have a military requirement for a nuclear response to counter...

By the numbers.(InBRIEF)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Number of Months Awaiting Senate Advice and Consent* 4 and 7 Defense Trade Cooperation treaties with Australia (4) and the United Kingdom (7). 7 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material ...

United Nations arms embargoes: their impact on arms flows and target behaviour.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... Damien Fruchart et al., Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, November 2007. In this report, experts from the arms transfers project at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and the Department of Peace and...

Reykjavik revisited: steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons.(Reports of Note)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... By George Shultz, Sidney Drell, and James Goodby (eds.), Hoover Institution and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, October 2007. This report summarizes the papers presented at an October 2007 conference at Stanford University that examined the...

IAEA nuclear fuel reserve.(Treaty Update)(International Atomic Energy Agency)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... In late February, Norway announced a contribution of $5 million to a proposed international nuclear fuel bank to be administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The fuel bank proposal was originally made by the nonprofit...

On the calendar.(What's Ahead)(Calendar)
April 1, 2008... April 7-11 Second session of the group of governmental experts (cluster munitions) on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Geneva. April 7-18 Second Review Conference of the...

Reprocessing revisited: the international dimensions of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
April 1, 2008... In a February 2004 speech at the National Defense University, President George W. Bush proposed that the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group adopt a policy to "refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies to any...

Reshaping the U.S.-Indian nuclear deal to lessen the nonproliferation losses.
April 1, 2008... For decades, India's nuclear programs have been defined by two contradictory forces: the country's vast ambitions and its limited uranium reserves. Its ambitions have led New Delhi to establish a significant civilian nuclear enterprise, to...

Elections and enduring realities: Australia's nuclear debate.
April 1, 2008... In November 2007, voters in the Commonwealth of Australia went to the polls in a hotly contested national election. Their choice was between the two major-party candidates, incumbent Prime Minister John Howard of the conservative Liberal Party,...

U.S. edges closer to Europe anti-missile deals.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
April 1, 2008... The Bush administration is making progress in negotiating with the Czech Republic and Poland to host controversial U.S. strategic anti-ballistic missile systems. A final deal, however, seems much closer with the Czech Republic than Poland,...

U.S., Russia at odds on key arms issues.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
April 1, 2008... Top U.S. and Russian officials accentuated the positive after a recent high-level meeting, but the two sides remain deeply divided on developing anti-missile systems and managing their future nuclear weapons relationship. Secretary of...

Courts threaten Russian weapons uranium cuts.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
April 1, 2008... Several recent U.S. court decisions are threatening an effort to dramatically reduce Russia's stockpiles of weapons-grade uranium, two senior Bush administration officials told a Senate committee March 5. The court decisions would...

France upgrades, trims nuclear arsenal.(EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION)
April 1, 2008... Showcasing France's newest nuclear-armed submarine March 21, French President Nicolas Sarkozy extolled the enduring value of nuclear weapons to his country's security while he also vowed to reduce their numbers. The French president further...

Security council adopts more Iran sanctions.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)
April 1, 2008... The UN Security Council March 3 adopted a third sanctions resolution responding to Iran's refusal to comply with the council's demands to suspend its nuclear fuel-cycle activities. Resolution 1803 calls on states to undertake additional efforts...

Bush says Iraq oil may fuel al Qaeda WMD.(THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA)(George W. Bush, weapons of mass destruction)
April 1, 2008... During a March 19 speech marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush warned of consequences for the early removal of U.S. forces from that country. These, he said, could include the possibility that...

Indian politics stymie U.S.-Indian nuclear deal.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2008... With U.S. officials warning that time is running out on an initiative to rollback restrictions on global nuclear trade with India, that country's coalition government failed March 17 to persuade its leftist allies to drop their opposition to...

India test-launches submarine missile.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2008... India took a recent step toward its longtime goal of deploying nuclear weapons at sea by test-firing a missile from beneath the ocean's surface. The submarine that this missile type is supposed to arm is scheduled to be put to sea for the first...

Declaration snags U.S.-North Korean talks.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2008... A March 13-14 bilateral meeting between U.S. and North Korean officials initiated by Pyongyang was unable to resolve differences over what Pyongyang needs to do to meet a commitment to declare all of its nuclear activities. The key differences...

Hotline to link U.S.-Chinese militaries.(ASIA AND AUSTRALIA)
April 1, 2008... The Department of Defense has negotiated a landmark new communications hotline between the U.S. military and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, while it continues to keep a watchful eye on China's growing military capabilities. ...

Nuke commander unhappy with status quo.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... The top U.S. military commander in charge of deployed nuclear forces is speaking out against the current state of the nuclear weapons enterprise and advocating for new warheads and the infrastructure and people to produce them. Meanwhile,...

Brazil, Argentina pursue nuclear cooperation.(THE UNITED STATES AND THE AMERICAS)
April 1, 2008... In February, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez released a joint communique establishing a binational commission to explore further areas of nuclear cooperation between the two nations. ...

Alleged top arms dealer arrested.(THE WORLD)(Victor Bout)
April 1, 2008... In early March, Thai authorities working in close cooperation with the United States apprehended Victor Bout, arguably the world's best known suspected international dealer of conventional arms. The United States plans to extradite and...

Book review: using Murphy's law against nuclear terrorists.(On Nuclear Terrorism)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... On Nuclear Terrorism By Michael Levi, Harvard University Press, November 2007, 224 pp. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Michael Levi's slender volume On Nuclear Terrorism is a valuable addition to the burgeoning literature on catastrophic...

The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets ... And How We Could Have Stopped Him.(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets... And How We Could Have Stopped Him By Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, Twelve Books, 2007, 413 pp. Frantz and Collins explore the...

Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons: Promise or Peril?(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... Incapacitating Biochemical Weapons: Promise or Peril? By Eds. Alan M. Pearson, Marie Isabelle Chevrier, and Mark Wheelis, Lexington Books, 2007, 306 pp. This book examines a variety of issues surrounding the development and use of...

Reluctant Restraint: The Evolution of China's Nonproliferation Policies and Practices, 1980-2004.(Books OF NOTE)(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2008... Reluctant Restraint: The Evolution of China's Nonproliferation Policies and Practices, 1980-2004 By Evan S. Medeiros, Stanford University Press, 2007, 357 pp. Evan S. Medeiros, a senior political scientist at RAND, probes the reasons...