Obama Reaffirms Nuclear Policy at United Nations

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Thursday, September 23, 2010.

Obama’s Remarks at the United Nations – U.S. President Barack Obama [link]

• We know this is no ordinary time for our people. Each of us comes here with our own problems and priorities. But there are also challenges that we share in common as leaders and as nations.
• As we pursue the world's most dangerous extremists, we are also denying them the world's most dangerous weapons, and pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Earlier this year, 47 nations embraced a work-plan to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years. We have joined with Russia to sign the most comprehensive arms control agreement in decades. We have reduced the role of nuclear weapons in our security strategy. And here, at the U.N., we came together to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• As part of our efforts on non-proliferation, I offered the Islamic Republic of Iran an extended hand last year, and underscored that it has both rights and responsibilities as a member of the international community. I also said – in this hall – that Iran must be held accountable if it failed to meet those responsibilities.
• Now let me be clear once more: the United States and the international community seek a resolution to our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it. But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment, and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear program.

SCOWCROFT & GARN: Ratify New START Now – Brent Scowcroft and Jake Garn in The Washington Times [link]

• Why is New START important? …The START treaty, which was signed in 1991 and entered into force in 1994, expired last December. When it did, so too did its verification and compliance regime, which was the culmination of more than 30 years of U.S.-Soviet andU.S.-Russian arms-control negotiations.
• What, then, do opponents say against the treaty? First, it is said to restrict U.S. ballistic-missile defense options…The Defense Department has examined these options and concluded that there are more effective (and less costly) ways to defend against ballistic-missile attack. The treaty permits all of them.
• Second, it is claimed that the treaty does not provide for adequate verification and monitoring, particularly in contrast to the verification provisions of the original START treaty…We think the Departments of State and Defense and the intelligence community were correct in assessing that the 18 inspections a year, in combination with our intelligence assets, will permit the United States to have confidence that Russia is abiding by the treaty - or will provide the evidence we need that it is not.
• Third, treaty critics complain that New START does not limit Russian short-range nuclear forces…Again, it wasn't designed to do that. New START only addresses long-range Russian nuclear forces, the ones that directly threaten the United States. The United States has never engaged either the Soviet Union or Russia to negotiate a treaty on short-range nuclear arms.
• No single treaty provides a "silver bullet" to mitigate all of the threats we face, and New START is no exception. To condemn it because it fails to accomplish tasks it was not meant to address is to misunderstand the history of arms control and of international relations. And, if we fail to have New START enter into force, we will have significantly reduced our chances of obtaining in the future a treaty that regulates short-range systems.
• Treaties, like marriages, should not be entered into lightly or without good reason. The New START treaty enhances American security and improves international stability. That is a very good reason. The Senate should ratify it promptly.

Iran Signals Interest in Talks on Nuclear Program, Diplomats Says - Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post [link]

• Iran increasingly appears willing to enter into negotiations in the near future over its nuclear program, diplomats close to the talks said Wednesday, a move that would restart a process that ended abruptly last fall.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this week expressed public interest in renewing talks with the United States and other major powers.
• Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met Wednesday to discuss the prospects for negotiations and to review the implementation of sanctions imposed on Iran in June by the U.N. Security Council.
• Iran has tried to make the need to refuel the research reactor the center of the talks, notably in a deal with Brazil and Turkey that was ignored by major powers - but diplomats said Iran's inability to fuel the Tehran Research Reactor provides an opening for confidence-building steps that would lead to a broader agreement on Iran's larger nuclear program.
• Officials are also brainstorming for other ways to ensure the success of this set of talks - the latest in a series of stop-and-start negotiations with Tehran since 2003. The United States has ruled out any grand gesture, such as Clinton joining the other foreign ministers in a meeting with Ahmadinejad, but there is an intense desire to finally break out of an unproductive cycle.

Egypt accuses Israel of gall in nuclear row - AFP [link]

• Egypt accused Israel of gall Wednesday in a bitter exchange over nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the Middle East at a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog.
• Israel's nuclear chief Shaul Chorev had questioned Egypt's own commitment to a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, and reiterated the Jewish state's stance that acceding to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would run against its national interests.
• Egypt's delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency conference said Israel's attitude to disarmament, as expressed by its representative Tuesday, showed its "chutzpah" -- a Hebrew word for "nerve" or "temerity".
• Israel "values the non-proliferation regime, recognises its importance and has always demonstrated a responsible policy of restraint in the nuclear domain," Chorev insisted. In his riposte, Sirry said: "The question that begs for an answer is: what exactly ... is Israel restraining itself from doing."
• As every year for the past few years, Arab states have tabled a resolution at this year's IAEA general conference calling on Israel to foreswear nuclear weapons and sign up to the NPT…The resolution is expected to come up for debate on Thursday.

View From The Dark Side

HACKETT: Time to stop START – James Hackett in The Washington Times [link]

• In addition to the technical points, there is an important policy reason why senators should not vote to ratify this agreement. It would turn back the clock to the Cold War era of mutual-assured destruction and give Russia an appearance of equality with the United States that no longer exists.
• When he ran for president, Barack Obama said he would rebuild relations with Russia. He meant he would make concessions. He canceled the Bush administration's plan to put missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic, a gift the Russians quickly pocketed while asking for more.
• Then, after months of arduous negotiations, a draft arms-control treaty emerged, and guess what? It suggests in the preamble a link between missile offenses and defenses. The administration says there is no link, but Russian generals insist there is.
• New START returns us to Cold War thinking, gives the Russians an opening to restrict U.S. missile defenses, limits nonnuclear missiles for the first time and gives Moscow the legally binding treaty it demanded. In addition, there are many other problems with New START not mentioned here.
• Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation has produced a detailed summary of 12 major flaws in the treaty (Heritage Backgrounder No. 2466, Sept. 16). He does not recommend trying to fix them by amendment, which is difficult and risky. The wisest course for senators is just to vote no on the treaty.
• Note:  Please see "Twelve Reasons to Support New START" published by The Arms Control Association