Tasucher Holds Firm Against RRW

Tauscher: Sorry, Republicans: No Return of the Reliable Replacement Warhead – The Cable [link]

• I think there are a lot of people that still hope for the return of RRW and they are going to be sadly disappointed," Ellen O. Tauscher, the newly minted under secretary of state for arms control and international secretary told The Cable in her first interview after taking up her post.
• Regardless, Senate Republicans are sure to push for RRW when the new treaty comes before them, but Tauscher said the administration would hold firm, and is instead offering them a stockpile management plan that increases the confidence in existing warheads.

Iran Talks Must Answer Nuclear Concerns: Clinton – AFP [link]

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Iran must answer "head on" concerns about its nuclear program at talks in two weeks even though Tehran has so far ignored such appeals.
• "We are on the one hand working to see whether anything positive can come from this meeting on October 1," she said.  "But we are also working with the international community on consequences that would flow if Iran fails to fulfill their international obligations on their nuclear program," the secretary added.

How to Talk to Iran – Roger Cohen of the New York Times [link]

• President Obama was right to accept the platform as an entrée to talks that will begin Oct. 1.
• The president is right because only creative diplomacy can head off the onrushing Iranian uranium enrichment; because closer relations with the West represent the best long-term hope for reform in Iran; because Iran is negotiating from the relative weakness of post-June-12 revolutionary disunity; and because the strong U.S. interest lies in preventing an Israeli attack on Muslim Persia.
• The time is approaching for the United States and its allies to abandon “zero enrichment” as a goal — it’s no longer feasible — and concentrate on how to exclude weaponization, cap enrichment and ensure Iran believes the price for breaking any accord will be heavy.

Getting back to basics on missile defense - Joshua Pollack in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• The Pentagon's missile defense review, which is expected to conclude shortly... But what sort of options are there, and which should the administration favor? And what constitutes a sound missile defense policy today?
• Basing a new missile defense architecture on grounds more political than military may simply make current security problems worse.

A View from the Dark Side

President Obama’s Big UN Adventure – John Bolton in the New York Daily News [link]

• Even if their paths don't cross then, Khadafy will be only a few seats away from Obama at the Security Council table on Sept. 24, when the President chairs a meeting on nonproliferation and disarmament. Khadafy can easily walk over to Obama and present him, a la Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, with a copy of the "Green Book," Khadafy's 1975 best seller (in Libya at least). They will certainly have a chance at the Security Council to muse about eliminating the U.S. and Israeli nuclear stockpiles, always popular subjects at the UN.
• With so many opportunities for a handshake and a big hug with authoritarian leaders, so many compromises and concessions to make and so much adulation to receive, it will be a busy time for the President.