Jones Optimistic about Finalizing START Follow-on Treaty

Stories we're following today:

NSC Adviser Jones Upbeat on New START Deal - Fox News Row 2 Seat 4 Blog [link]

• Expressing far more optimism than the White House conveyed in mid-November, President Obama's National Security Adviser told Fox Wednesday a new nuclear arms control deal with Russia is within reach as both sides are "down to the last few paragraphs and sentences."
• "All of the dialogue is encouraging, they're positive," Jones said of talks in Geneva with Russian negotiators on an arms control deal to replace the existing START agreement that expires Saturday. "I think the Russians want to do this. It's a very complex issue. We're down to the last few paragraphs and sentences. And if we can get it done by (December) 5th, fine, maybe it'll be one or two days later."

A New START - Daryl Kimball in Arms Control Today [link]

• Given the limited time frame for the talks, the new treaty will mandate a streamlined framework for strategic reductions that track the planned nuclear force downsizing on each side. The new agreement will carry forward the most essential of START’s verification and monitoring provisions, which are still needed for predictability and to provide each side with high confidence that the other is complying with the terms of the treaty.
• The New START will also open the way for more comprehensive U.S.-Russian arms reduction talks beginning next year, which the Obama administration says should address all types of nuclear warheads: deployed and nondeployed; strategic and nonstrategic. It would also help Washington win broader international support for measures to strengthen the beleaguered nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at the May 2010 review conference.
• Delaying action on the follow-on to START and rekindling U.S.-Russian nuclear competition is unwise and dangerous. Rather than dither over extraneous issues, the Senate should focus on the merits of the treaty and seize the chance to enhance U.S. and global security by approving deeper, verifiable reductions in the world’s largest and deadliest arsenals.

Atomic-Blast Detection Station Established Near Iran - Bloomberg [link]

• The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization built seismic station PS44 near Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, a “few kilometers” from the Central Asian country’s southern border with Iran, the Vienna-based group said yesterday in a statement on its Web site.
• The site adds to the group’s 337 stations worldwide designed to detect seismic activity and atmospheric radiation caused by nuclear explosions.
• The UN can detect a blast as small as 2.75 on the Richter scale, the treaty organization’s director, Tibor Toth, said in a report issued last month. A 1-kiloton blast, equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT, registers 4 on the Richter scale.

Toward a Nuclear-Free World - America.gov [link]

• Experts including Rose Gottemoeller, James Goodby, Harold Smith, Sharon Squassoni, Cristina Hansell and Elena Sokova present the three steps they think would bring the the world closer to global zero.

Nations that Dismantled Nuclear Arms Point the Way Forward - e-Haber Ajansi [link]

• It lacks the drama of the Cuban missile crisis, but a generation ago Brazil and Argentina stepped back from a path that could have triggered a nuclear arms race in South America. Other countries - Libya, South Africa, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - also offer examples of how to bank the fires that fuel nuclear ambitions.
• Can such nonproliferation success stories be replicated in the Middle East, Korean Peninsula and Indian subcontinent?
• ''The proliferation problem is not just one of rogue regimes; we're not just worried about hostile states acquiring nuclear weapons. We're worried about anybody acquiring nuclear weapons,'' he said. ''It's a mistake to try to pick and choose good guys and bad guys, to say that it's OK for India to get nuclear weapons, but not OK for Iran. You cannot sustain that double standard.''