Morning Joe: June 3, 2009

McCain Supports World Without Nuclear Weapons

Stories we're following today:

A World Without Nuclear Weapons - Floor Statement by Senator John McCain [link]

• This is a distant and difficult goal. And we must proceed toward it prudently and pragmatically, and with a focused concern for our security and the security of allies who depend on us.
• Yet we should also consider the more hopeful alternative – a world in which there are far fewer such weapons than there are today, and in which proliferation, instability, and nuclear terrorism are far less likely. In achieving this world, Ronald Reagan’s dream will be more important than ever before.

U.S. Accidentally Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites - The New York Times [link]

• The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.

Another nuclear anniversary - Pervez Hoodbhoy in Dawn.com [link]

• It was a lie that the bomb could protect Pakistan, its people or its armed forces. Rather, it has helped bring us to this grievously troubled situation and offers no way out. The threat to Pakistan is internal. The bomb cannot help us recover the territory seized by the Baitullahs and Fazlullahs, nor bring Waziristan back to Pakistan. More nuclear warheads, test-launching more missiles, or buying yet more American F-16s and French submarines, will not help.

The North Korean nuclear test: The Chinese reaction - Hui Zhang in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• This time, Beijing is more upset because Pyongyang has blatantly disregarded China's demand to denuclearize.
• And while two-thirds of the Chinese people think the nuclear test will strain Chinese-North Korean relations, many Chinese analysts don't think Beijing's position toward Pyongyang will change significantly in the near future. Simply put, Beijing is unwilling to take sides between Pyongyang and Washington. Plus, China may wish to retain its close ties with North Korea to gain more leverage over it.

Obama in Mideast: A Focus on Arab Peace Plan and Reform - Steven Cook interview on CFR.org [link]

• CFR Middle East expert Steven A. Cook says President Barack Obama's trip to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week will attempt to bring new energy to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and has an opportunity to deliver a message on democracy in the Muslim world.

A View from the Other Side

123 Agreement for Nuclear Energy in the UAE: An Unprecedented and Responsible Step - Thomas Graham in the Huffington Post [link]

• By means of this agreement the UAE policy of foreswearing uranium enrichment and reprocessing for plutonium has been converted into an international legal obligation in the most binding possible form in a bi-lateral nuclear agreement.
• Thus, contrary to assertions by certain commentators, when this 123 Agreement enters into force, the UAE could change its policy on enrichment and reprocessing only by violating international law.