U.S. to Impose Tighter Sanctions on North Korea

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

Stories we're following today, Thursday, July 22, 2010:

US to hit NKorea with more sanctions in August - The Associated Press [link]

• Tightening the screws on North Korea, the Obama administration said Wednesday it would expand and strengthen sanctions against the isolated regime and its nuclear weapons program.
• In Seoul, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. moves will target arms deals and other clandestine trade used to finance the communist regime's nuclear activities, and imports of luxury items for the ruling elite in Pyongyang.
• The U.S. penalties are intended to further isolate the hermit nation and persuade its leaders to return to talks aimed at getting it to abandon atomic weapons. The U.S. is also trying to forestall future provocative acts like the March torpedoing of the Cheonan, a South Korean naval vessel.
• Bruce Bennett, a North Korea expert at the RAND Corp., a federally-financed think tank, said the new U.S. actions are a reflection of North Korea's ability to skirt aspects of earlier sanctions, including two rounds of extensive penalties passed by the U.N. Security Council.

"Consensus for American Security" Support New START - Nukes of Hazard [link]

• The already strong bipartisan support for New START just got a little stronger. On Monday, the American Security Project launched the "Consensus for American Security," a group of more than 30 senior former military and national security leaders who support the New START treaty and other common sense measures to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism and proliferation.
• The bipartisan initiative includes former Senators Gary Hart (D-CO) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), former STRATCOM Deputy Commander in Chief and Chief of Staff Gen. Arlen “Dirk” Jameson (USAF, ret.), former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral WIlliam Owens (USN, ret.), and the Center's very own Lt. Gen. Robert Gard (USA, ret.).
• Said Admiral William Owens on the call, "So I am totally convinced that the provisions of the New START Treaty are in the best interests of our country."
• He went on to say, "I think that many thoughtful military leaders who have, like General Jameson and I, spent a lot of our time in nuclear positions along the way, are of a similar mind, and I just strongly encourage our Senate to take a bipartisan approach, pass this important legislation, and show the world that we truly are the leaders that they expect us to be."

Further U.S.-Russian Nuclear Talks Might Hinge on Armor Cuts, Analyst Says - Global Security Newswire [link]

• A new phase of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control negotiations might hinge in part on whether the former Cold War rivals can agree on conventional force reductions in Europe.
• Washington is eager to follow up ratification of the "New START" agreement with a new pact under which Moscow would reduce or eliminate its estimated stockpile of roughly 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons.
• Obama administration officials have indicated interest in addressing the idea of tactical nuclear limits during the next phase of talks, but Russian concerns about Washington's conventional military prowess could pose a daunting challenge to making progress, experts say.

The Heritage Foundation's Rhetorical Arms Race - William Hartung in TPMCafe [link]

• The closer the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia moves towards a ratification vote in the Senate, the wilder are the claims made by anti-arms control ideologues at the Heritage Foundation.
• The New START treaty will make the world a safer place, as noted by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) in a recent piece in The Hill newspaper. But don't tell that to James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, who argues that "the START treaty will only lead to a new arms race." What basis does Carafano have for making this claim?
• Well, writes Carafano, the U.S. will "continue to reduce its nuclear weapons stockpile" while Russia "will modernize its nuclear arsenal and further develop its tactical nuclear weapons program, both of which are permitted under the New START treaty."
• In fact, New START will make it easier for the U.S. to keep tabs on any Russian efforts to modernize its nuclear arsenal. If Carafano is really worried about possible Russian modernization efforts, he should support New START.
• There is currently no arms race between the U.S. and Russia. New START will help make sure there never is one again. To suggest otherwise, as Carafano does, is absurd.

Review: "Countdown" Offers Chilling Nuke Update - ABC News [link]

• Folks-on-the-street interviews at the outset of the documentary "Countdown to Zero" kind of sum up the attitude of many people about nuclear weapons nowadays.
• Even amid the war on terror, people admit they don't worry or even think much about nukes in a world where Cold War scenarios have been supplanted by the economic meltdown, global warming and other doomsday fears.
• Then director Lucy Walker proceeds to scare the stuffing out of viewers with a thoughtful exploration into lingering dangers of nuclear disaster, whether by a rogue nation such as Iran or North Korea, a terrorist attack or some terrible accident.
• What's truly scary about the here and now of nuclear weapons is Walker's examination of the terrorist and rogue nation threat. "Countdown to Zero" opens with a segment on the prospects of terrorists acquiring fissile nuclear material, noting how easy it would be to smuggle a bomb into the United States and that Osama bin Laden's goal is to kill 4 million Americans as payback for the number of Islamic deaths he blames on U.S. policy.