Bosworth Heading to North Korea with Potential Road Map to De-nuclearization

Stories we're following today:

Envoy May Take Disarmament Plan to Pyongyang - Reuters [link]

• The United States, Japan and South Korea are working on a road map for ending North Korea's nuclear arms plans that could be on the agenda for a U.S. envoy's visit to Pyongyang this week, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported.
• The course set for the next several years in the road map includes the removal of North Korea's nuclear facilities, the disposal of its nuclear weapons and material, and the verification of its nuclear program, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Ambassador Bosworth, Korean Americans want Peace - National Campaign to End the Korean War [link]

Russia, U.S. Agree to Maintain Expiring Nuclear Arms Pact - Los Angeles Times [link]

• The Obama administration and the Kremlin agreed Friday to continue the provisions of their keystone nuclear arms control treaty after its expiration today while they try to negotiate a follow-on agreement.

Despite Conservative Claims, Administration Had Plan for START's Expiration - Max Bergmann in the Wonk Room [link]

• In the run-up to the expiration of the START treaty on December 5th, conservatives were hitting the fear mongering button as hard as they could, claiming that we have “no real idea what the world will look like on December 6th.”
• It was clear at the time that in attacking the Administration for not hitting the deadline, conservatives like Kyl were completely contradicting themselves. But we now also know that the assertions that the Administration put no thought into dealing with the day after December 5th were flatly untrue.
• This proves what we have really known all along – at the same time the Obama administration was finalizing a new START agreement, they were also working on a bridging agreement that would ensure the continuation of most of START’s provisions.

Iran's Belligerence Masks Instability - The Washington Times [link]

• Even for a country that prides itself on its revolutionary credentials, Iran has been unusually bellicose in recent weeks, rejecting a nuclear deal it had earlier appeared to embrace and threatening to build new uranium-enrichment plants in defiance of international restrictions.
• One reason, Iran specialists say, is that the embattled regime fears showing weakness in the face of persistent domestic political opposition and rising foreign pressure. Some even question whether supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Shi'ite Muslim cleric chosen to lead the country 20 years ago, is still in charge.
• "They are not all reading from the same script anymore," said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iran specialist at Syracuse University. While the Islamic republic is notoriously fractious, Mr. Boroujerdi said he had not seen "this level of chaos in the higher levels of power in Iran in quite some time."

The Legacy of the Cold War Arms Race: An Interview with David E. Hoffman - Daily Kos [link]

• Back in September of this year, Washington Post Contributing Editor David E. Hoffman published an extraordinary book.
• It's called The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy. Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll called it "... a tour de force of investigative history," and that's not an overstatement. It is one of those rare books that presents a vast amount of information, but is written in an engaging and interesting narrative.
• Mr. Hoffman was kind enough to grant me a very thorough interview this week