Nuclear

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Russian foreign minister said after talks here that they awaited word soon from negotiators in Geneva who have been working 18-hour days to wrap up the agreement.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is a top priority of President Obama, who initially had pledged to finish it by last year. Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last weekend to iron out remaining obstacles, giving new momentum to the talks, officials said.

But the optimism over the arms control talks contrasted with a fresh sign that Russia is not necessarily going to fall in line with U.S. priorities in other areas — such as Iran’s nuclear program.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Russia would fire up the reactor it is building at an Iranian nuclear power plant at midyear. Asked about the move, Clinton told reporters it was "premature," because "we want to send an unequivocal message to the Iranians" that they have to desist from developing a nuclear bomb.

"If it [Iran] reassures the world [about its program], or if its behavior has changed because of international sanctions," then the country can go ahead with nuclear power plants, she told a news conference. Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Source/Full Story: washingtonpost.com

India aims to test a new nuclear-capable missile with a 5000-km (3,100-mile) range, a top military scientist said on Wednesday, a move that could complicate security in a volatile region.

The missile would effectively bring most of China within India’s range, as well as more potential targets to the west and east than its existing weaponry.

“Agni-V is out of the drawing board. We are aiming for a flight trial within a year,” V.K. Saraswat, India’s chief military scientist told reporters.

India successfully tested the Agni-III missile, which has a 3000-km range, at the weekend and is ready to bring it into the military.

Any addition to India’s military capability is viewed with suspicion by rival Pakistan and usually touches off tit-for-tat efforts by Islamabad.

India’s announcement comes at a time when it is trying to improve relations with Pakistan and has sought to restart a dialogue it broke off blaming the 2008 Mumbai attack on Pakistani-based militants.

Source/Full Story: Reuters

The nuclear industry funds the special armed police force which guards its installations across the UK, and secret documents, seen by the Guardian, show the 750-strong force is authorised to carry out covert intelligence operations against anti-nuclear protesters, one of its main targets.

The nuclear industry will pay £57m this year to finance the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC). The funding comes from the companies which run 17 nuclear plants, including Dounreay in Caithness, Sellafield in Cumbria and Dungeness in Kent.

Around a third is paid by the private consortium managing Sellafield, which is largely owned by American and French firms. Nearly a fifth of the funding is provided by British Energy, the privatised company owned by French firm EDF.

Private correspondence shows that in June, the EDF’s head of security complained that the force had overspent its budget “without timely and satisfactory explanations to us”. The industry acknowledges it is in regular contact with the CNC and the security services.

Most of the nuclear force’s officers are armed with high-powered guns and Tasers. The CNC has spent £1.4m on weapons and ammunition in the past three years.

They patrol outside nuclear plants, with their jurisdiction stretching to three miles beyond the perimeter of the installations. They have the same powers as any other British police officer and can, for instance, arrest and stop and search people.

The body that regulates the CNC is also funded by the nuclear industry. Four of the eight members of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority are nominated by the nuclear industry as its representatives. Those four are employed in the industry. The others – mainly former police officers – are deemed to be independent.

The force is expected to expand as the government presses ahead with plans for a new generation of nuclear plants, which are likely to attract protests.

Source/Full Story: The Guardian
Technorati Tags: Civil Nuclear Constabulary, British Energy

In a key meeting that may determine the future of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the U.S. and five other world powers went to the table with Tehran on Thursday to demand a freeze of its nuclear activities.

As officials arrived in Geneva for talks expected to last eight hours or more, U.S. officials said there probably will be additional meetings but they won’t go on indefinitely.

“There’s a specific agenda and specific problems that needed to be dealt with and if they’re not dealt with responsibly by the Iranians that stronger measures will be developed and implemented to ensure that they do,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

But even as they prepared for Thursday’s talks, the U.S. and its allies were contemplating new and tighter sanctions on Tehran, in a clear signal of expectations that the negotiations may again end in failure.

Iranian officials have indicated they don’t want to talk about their two nuclear enrichment facilities.

Asked about Iran’s view of the talks, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who has repeatedly said uranium enrichment is not up for negotiation — said he saw them as a “test” of the six powers’ respect of Iran’s rights.

“A test to measure the extent of sincerity and commitment of some countries to the law and justice,” he said.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com
Technorati Tags: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

INTELLIGENCE chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site.

The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.

The site is seen as a major threat by Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Details of the talks emerged after John Bolton, America’s former UN ambassador, told a meeting of intelligence analysts that “Riyadh certainly approves” of Israel’s use of Saudi airspace.

Source/Full Story: Daily Express

President Obama said Friday that “Iran is on notice” regarding its nuclear efforts, and that the international community is united in its opposition to Tehran’s nuclear program.

“Iran is on notice that, when we meet with them on October 1, they are going to have to come clean and they are going to have to make a choice: Are they willing to go down the path to greater prosperity and security for Iran — giving up the acquisition of nuclear weapons and deciding that they are willing to abide by international rules and standards in their pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy, or will they continue down a path that is going to lead to confrontation,” he said in a news conference at the G-20 meeting here.

Obama’s comments came hours after Iran acknowledged the existence of a second uranium enrichment facility and ahead of next week’s planned meeting between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany. The October 1 meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland.

Obama said he would not speculate on any course of action absent a satisfactory response from Iran.

Source/Full Story:  CNN.com

Source/Full Story @: Reuters

Iran’s president snubbed on Monday U.S. President Barack Obama’s end-September deadline to talk to world powers on its disputed nuclear program, saying in his opinion discussion on the issue is “finished.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic Republic was ready for dialogue on “challenges” facing the world but made clear Tehran would not back down in a dispute over atomic activities which the West fears are aimed at making bombs.

“From our view point (discussion of) our nuclear issue is finished … we will never negotiate on the Iranian nation’s obvious rights,” he told his first news conference since he was sworn into office following a disputed re-election in June.

In Vienna, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said his agency was stuck in “stalemate” with Iran over issues that had stirred international mistrust in its nuclear designs.

Elbaradei’s renewed highlighting of the deadlock may be timely for Western powers striving to persuade Russia and China of the need for much harsher sanctions against Iran that could target its gasoline imports.

The West suspects Iran is pursuing the means to produce atomic bombs behind the facade of a civilian nuclear program. Iran says its purpose is only to make electricity.

Technorati Tags: Ahmadinejad, Elbaradei

The top U.S. military officer warned on Tuesday that time is running out for dialogue with Tehran to avoid either a nuclear-armed Iran or a possible military strike against the Islamic Republic.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it is critical for diplomatic efforts to reach a solution before Iran develops a nuclear weapon or faces an Israeli or U.S. strike to turn back its nuclear program.

"That window is a very narrow window," Mullen told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

"There’s a great deal that certainly depends on the dialogue and the engagement," he said. "I’m hopeful that that dialogue is productive. I worry about it a great deal if it’s not."

Mullen noted that some forecasters believe Iran could be as little as a year away from developing a nuclear bomb, adding: "The clock has continued to tick."

Source/Full Story: Reuters

If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired Sunday.

Pakistan has been battling al Qaeda’s Taliban allies in the Swat Valley since April after their thrust into a district 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the capital raised fears the nuclear-armed country could slowly slip into militant hands.

"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda’s in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.

Abu al-Yazid was responding to a question about U.S. safeguards to seize control over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in case Islamist fighters came close to doing so.

"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated (in Swat) … and that would be its end everywhere, God willing."

Asked about the group’s plans, the Egyptian militant leader said: "The strategy of the (al Qaeda) organization in the coming period is the same as in the previous period: to hit the head of the snake, the head of tyranny — the United States.

Source/Full Story: Reuters

The world’s great powers slapped North Korea with more sanctions Friday, to punish the regime for defiantly setting off atomic blasts despite previous promises and international pleas.

In a unanimous vote, the world’s five, veto-wielding great powers – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – were backed by the 10 other members of the Security Council, but the new sanctions have largely symbolic value.

Most importantly, China and Russia backed the measures, a clear indication that Beijing and Moscow have run out of patience with the unpredictable and unstable regime in Pyongyang.

North Korea, the planet’s last neo-Stalinist state, was nurturing its next-generation personality cult Friday. Hours before the Security Council imposed a full arms embargo and ordered North Korean cargoes stopped and checked for contraband on the high seas, Pyongyang bestowed the moniker Brilliant Comrade on the 26-year-old, third son of the ailing Kim Jong-il.

Tough-sounding, but largely toothless, the new sanctions include no enforcement provisions.

For instance, while warships of all UN members states are authorized to stop and search any ships bound to or from North Korea, theoretically a potent deterrence to Pyongyang’s widespread and lucrative weapons proliferation exports, the use of force is explicitly prohibited. If a ship declines to stop, the country where it is flagged, or registered, can be reported to the Security Council.

“Countries have to act prudently, with sufficient grounds,” said China’s UN envoy Ambassador Zhang Yesui, adding “under no circumstances should there be use or threat of force.”

The unfolding North Korean crisis poses grave risks for U.S. President Barack Obama, whose much-touted change in approach, with an offer of an outstretched hand, was met with bellicose derision, missile testing, and finally an underground atomic blast from Pyongyang.

It took three weeks after North Korea’s latest salvo of missile firings and its second underground nuclear test, firmly establishing Pyongyang as the latest outlaw member of the nuclear weapons club, to cobble together the latest sanctions.

Source/Full Story: The Globe and Mail

A senior U.S. defense official has dubbed "wildly hypothetical and speculative" some recent reports about Washington’s contingency plans for a potential military intervention to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons from extremists (see GSN, May 15).

(Jun. 10) – Pakistani troops patrol the country’s disputed Swat Valley last month. Discussion in key Obama administration policy circles has not centered on any potential U.S. plans to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons from regional militants, a senior Pentagon official said (Tariq Mahmood/Getty Images).

To the Defense Department official’s knowledge, "there is no active discussion" in key Obama administration policy circles regarding the possibility of U.S. forces entering Pakistan uninvited and taking control of nuclear warheads or related materials.

"Intervention in any sovereign territory, especially a country that’s allied with us in this war against extremism, is wildly hypothetical and speculative," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Global Security Newswire on May 27. "We … are fully confident of [Pakistan's] ability to control their assets, to include their weapons."

At the same time, the official would not rule out the possibility that plans for an emergency operation might at some point be drawn up in the Pentagon or at Central Command, which is responsible for any U.S. military activities in Pakistan. However, policy planning is not focused today on exercising such an approach, said the senior official.

Concern has been on the rise lately that violent extremists in Pakistan might seize control of nuclear materials or weapons, a scenario that U.S. and allied leaders have long cited as a worst-case possibility. Worries were magnified recently when armed Taliban opponents of Pakistan’s central government took over a town just 60 miles from the capital city of Islamabad (see GSN, May 4).

Source/Full Story: NTI: Global Security Newswire

Hillary Clinton refused yesterday to rule out a pre-emptive Israeli military strike on Iran. It was the first time that a senior member of the Obama Administration had openly discussed such a possibility.

The US Secretary Of State, speaking a few days before elections in Iran that will determine the fate of President Ahmadinejad, also warned that the country would face retaliation if it launched a nuclear attack on Israel.

…

“I don’t think there is any doubt in anyone’s mind that were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation,” she said, though she did not spell out who would retaliate. She was responding to a question about her statement as a presidential candidate last year, when she said Iran would “incur massive retaliation from the United States” if it attacked Israel.

Yesterday she said: “Part of what we have to make clear to the Iranians is that their pursuit of nuclear weapons will actually trigger greater insecurity.” She noted that Israel and Arab states were “deeply concerned about Iran having nuclear weapons”.

Source/Full Story: Times Online

Grab it at:  Wikileaks

States that are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are required to confidentially provide the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with a description of the location and purpose of each of their nuclear sites.

The document presents a sensitive 5 May, 2009 draft of all US nuclear sites for Congressional review together with a covering note from President Barack Obama giving more detail on the restrictions.

It seems that by mistake, the entire document, including the sensitive portions–labeled as such on every page–was printed by the US Government Printing Office.

A day after its publication here, and on Secrecy News[1], the GPO removed the document from its website, according a story published in the New York Times[2] two days later.

The document is likely to be of substantial interest to environmental activists.

Source/Full Story:   Wikileaks

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday he had confidence the Pentagon’s Alaska-based missile defense system could knock down an incoming North Korean rocket attack if Pyongyang fired on the U.S. mainland.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks during a joint press conference with his Philippine counterpart Gilbert Teodoro (not pictured) at the Armed Forces headquarters in Quezon City, suburban Manila, on June 1, 2009.

North Korea is believed by U.S. defense officials to be preparing one of its long-range ballistic missiles, known as the Taepodong-2, possibly for another test launch. In April, Pyongyang shot off a Taepodong-2 that flew over Japan before crashing into the Pacific.

Speaking after touring a silo holding one of the U.S. military’s 16 interceptors here at a base northeast of Anchorage, Mr. Gates said his visit had taken on "an additional importance given the developments in North Korea," even though the trip had been planned well before Pyongyang’s May 25 nuclear test.

The 16 interceptor missiles, and 4 similar rockets at Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California, are one of the U.S.’s primary defenses against a North Korean missile attack. The U.S. Navy also has a fleet of cruisers and destroyers that can be deployed to the North Korean coast capable of a missile shoot-down.

Source/Full Story:   WSJ.com

U.S. satellite imagery has spotted "vehicle activity" at a North Korean ballistic missile site, two Defense Department officials said Friday.

South Korean soldiers ride in armored vehicles during a drill Friday in the border city of Paju.

This activity is similar to that before a long-range missile launch by North Korea earlier this year.

North Korea test-fired a short-range missile Friday off the country’s east coast, a South Korean military source said. It would be the sixth such missile test since the country conducted a nuclear test Monday.

Also Friday, North Korea upbraided the U.N. Security Council for slamming its nuclear test, calling the members of the body "hypocrites" and warning of "stronger self-defense countermeasures" as the world body considers more sanctions against the country.

"There is a limit to our patience," the Foreign Ministry said in a combative statement.

Source/Full Story:   CNN.com