On the Radar: Iran warms to Russian proposal on nuclear talks, checking Washington’s sanctions strategy, $8 trillion in military spending, advice for overhauling NATO’s nuclear posture, and a nuclear treehouse.
August 17, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Rizwan Ladha
Editors’ note: Morning Joe is evolving to a new format to better get you the day’s top nuclear news with timely analysis from the brightest nuclear experts. This new feature, called Early Warning, will be published every morning and can be delivered to your inbox. Tell us what you think by emailing earlywarning@ploughshares.org [1].
Iran moving back towards the P5+1 table - AP reports that “Iran is ready to resume negotiations on its nuclear program and a Russian proposal will aid the process.”
--Details of the Russian proposal are scarce, but it calls for a “step-by-step” approach where Iran provides confidence on past nuclear weapons work in exchange for easing of international pressure. http://ow.ly/65lGj [2]
--For the latest analysis of this proposal, read the following report by the Institute for Science and International Security - http://ow.ly/1vQTD7 [3]
Analysis in 140 characters or less from @TalkingWarheads [4] - “Jalili, Salehi, Ahmadinejad all support Russian ‘step by step’ plan for nuke talks. Waiting for any indication from DC.”
Iran sanctions without long-term, strategic purpose - Ben Loehrke writes, “After 30 years of adapting to sanctions, even more sanctions are unlikely cause the Iranian regime to suddenly collapse or comply with U.S. demands … What are U.S. objectives with Iran and how do sanctions work to achieve them?”
--Loehrke stresses that “sanctions must be part of a comprehensive engagement strategy designed to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons while avoiding war … [this] requires clarifying the goal of U.S. sanctions.” http://ow.ly/1vP5ta [5]
$8 trillion in military spending over past 10 years, including nuclear weapons - “Total Pentagon spending post-9/11 is actually two-thirds greater than in the previous decade. That's quite a jump,” Chris Hellman explains.
--“Are we safer? … Are we spending money on the right types of security?” he asks. http://ow.ly/1vP2n9 [6]
Early Quote - “Every day, more and more people are viewing both nuclear tests and nuclear weapons as dangerous relics of the cold war, long-overdue for permanent retirement.” - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon http://ow.ly/65mge [7]
NATO’s nuclear posture needs an overhaul - NATO’s Defense and Deterrence Posture Review “should entail a fundamental review of NATO’s nuclear policies, rather than a mere technical review on the details,” says NATO expert Oliver Meier of the Arms Control Association.
--Among the recommendations, Meier argues the Allies should acknowledge that U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe “do not serve a deterrence or retaliatory function that cannot be provided by the strategic nuclear forces or conventional military assets of Alliance members.” Also, “allies should not call for the [$5 billion] modernization of the B61 nuclear warheads.”
--There is now an opportunity for NATO to make sustainable changes in its nuclear posture review, leading up to the May 2012 NATO summit in Chicago. http://ow.ly/65lmM [8]
This playhouse is a blast - Dietrich Wegner made a 20-foot tall children’s playhouse shaped like a mushroom cloud. It’s entitled Homeland and is a convincing imitation of a nuclear detonation.
--Remember: your kids are never too young to start learning post-nuclear apocalypse survival skills. http://ow.ly/1vQPom [9]
Priorities, priorities, priorities - “While Gates was brought to the Pentagon in 2006 to ‘fix Iraq,’ Panetta’s top priority will be ‘fixing’ the military budget — by managing reductions in spending so they don’t weaken U.S. security. That’s a tall order, and it will test Panetta’s ability to say no.” David Ignatius analyzes Pentagon leadership after Gates. http://ow.ly/65n9d [10]
Topic
- Early Warning [11]