Gadhafi Going, WMD Gone

On the radar: Obama’s Libya success today; Bush & Blair’s Libya success in 2003; How Gadhafi still had Scuds; the U.S. and Russia botch some missile tests; “Trustpolitik” on the Korean Peninsula; Transparency and security with Russia; and Biden vs. a Mongolian wrestler.

August 23, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Rizwan Ladha

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As Gadhafi falls - “The dust is not yet settled on this drama. But it is clear that the rebels are in charge, that we are not stuck in a quagmire, and that the Arab revolutions will continue – all with the U.S. as an ally. This is true leadership, Obama style...” Ploughshares Fund’s Joel Rubin explains in Politico. http://ow.ly/6ani8

Flashback: How We dodged Libya’s Nuclear Bullet - On March 1, Joe Cirincione noted, “thanks to wise choices” made by the U.S. and U.K. in 2003, “Libya agreed to disclose and dismantle all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.” http://ow.ly/6aoef

”How did Gadhafi’s Scud missiles outlast Gadhafi himself?” - Largely through reneged promises and the hedging of bets, it would seem. Libya agreed in 2004 to eliminate its missiles, but right away sought a replacement for the Scud from the Russians.

-- But even when that replacement deal fell through, writes Jeffrey Lewis in Wired, no external force put additional pressure on Gadhafi to destroy his missiles, until earlier this year. http://ow.ly/6aooz

Guidance to blame for ICBM test failure? - A test of the Minuteman 3 ICBM in late July failed five minutes into the flight, and though the precise cause has not been determined, some experts believe it may have been a malfunctioning guidance system that forced controllers to abort the test flight.

-- Each such test costs over $10 million. Elaine Grossman of Global Security Newswire has the details. http://ow.ly/1w6IJK

Russian missile test glitch - Russia postponed a test flight of its Bulava missile after a malfunction in submarine energy systems. Russia is 8 for 15 with tests of the new missile. From Global Security Newswire. http://ow.ly/6apUA

”A New Kind of Korea” - Park Geun-hye, a front runner for the South Korea presidency, argues in the latest Foreign Affairs that greater confidence building measures between South Korea and North Korea are needed to “bolster the odds that economic and political cooperation can overcome military and security competition.”

-- Ms. Park calls for “an alignment policy” that would assume “a tough line against North korea sometimes and a flexible policy open to negotiations other times.” Read the full article. http://ow.ly/1w6RBA

Greater transparency, greater security - The U.S. is working with Russia to increase transparency over nuclear stockpiles, potentially covering nuclear weapons types, numbers, and locations.

-- Ploughshares’ Kelly Bronk puts it in context: “[These] types of transparency measures ... would reduce uncertainties in strategic planning for both countries. These measures could also pave the way for a new round of U.S.-Russia nuclear negotiations.” This would enhance the national security of both the U.S. and Russia. http://ow.ly/1w6OUY

Biden’s tough negotiating stance - @nukes_of_hazard tweets: “Trying to confirm report that DoE encouraged Biden to wrestle a Mongolian for rights to build nuke waste facility there bit.ly/mTEc84”