TOP NEWS Former Sen. Richard Lugar, Advocate for Arms Control, Dies at 87 Wall Street Journal As tensions with Washington rise, Iran says its considering leaving nuclear weapons treaty The Week Why Russia, Iran seek deeper ties with North Korea Deutsche Welle US Nuclear News Former Sen. Richard Lugar, Advocate for Arms Control, Dies at 87 Wall Street Journal4/28/2019 Richard Lugar, a leading Republican voice on arms control in his 36 years as a senator representing Indiana, died Sunday in a Virginia hospital. He was 87. Richard Lugar, Longtime Indiana Senator And Foreign Policy Leader, Dies At 87 NPR4/28/2019 It was in the Senate where Lugar would turn his focus to the issue of nuclear non-proliferation. The work was fueled by his concerns that even as the Cold War was ending, the weapons of mass destruction created as a result of the conflict would continue to pose a threat. Working with former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., Lugar created the Soviet Threat Reduction Act in 1991, “to address the large nuclear arsenals inherited by former Soviet states Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan after the Soviet Union’s collapse,” according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Trump on arms control; Russia’s startling AI stance; DoD’s power vacuum; Biden runs for POTUS; And a bit more DefenseOne4/26/2019 President Trump now says a new arms race with Russia and China would be too expensive, the Washington Post reported Thursday. So the president has declared his intention to reach new arms control agreements with those two countries to regulate Moscow’s growing nuclear weapon arsenal and limit Beijing’s diversifying military capabilities — like carrier-killing missiles featured in this yuuuuge interactive published Thursday by Reuters. National Security Adviser: President Trump Doesn’t Want Multi-Nation North Korea Talks TIME4/28/2019 The U.S. has little interest in joining other countries in a multi-nation effort to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday. East Asia Why Russia, Iran seek deeper ties with North Korea Deutsche Welle4/28/2019 Moscow and Tehran are both cozying up to North Korea as the White House’s make-or-break policy flounders. While their motivations are different, they’re both trying to seize a strategic international chance. Russia/FSU/Europe US rolls ‘100K tons of international diplomacy’ into the Med. Will Russia get the message? DefenseNews4/26/2019 Defense News experienced a carrier landing firsthand on April 23, hitting the deck of the Abraham Lincoln aboard a U.S. Navy C-2A Greyhound aircraft with U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman and Adm. James Foggo, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe. The purpose of the visit was twofold — to kick off a dual-carrier exercise with sister ship John C. Stennis on April 24, and to deliver a sternly worded message to Russia: Stand down. Takeaways From the Long-Awaited Russia-North Korea Summit The Diplomat4/26/2019 The Putin-Kim summit may well prove to be an important milestone not only for bilateral relations but also for the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization agenda. Although there were no specific agreements or joint declarations issued, the importance of the high-level meeting, with a two-hours tete-a-tete, should not be underestimated, especially for North Korea, with its concentration of power in the hands of one leader. Middle East As tensions with Washington rise, Iran says its considering leaving nuclear weapons treaty The Week4/28/2019 In response to tightening United States-engineered sanctions, Iran said on Sunday it could leave a treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons. “The Islamic Republic’s choices are numerous, and the country’s authorities are considering them,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, Reuters reports. He listed leaving the Non-Proliferation Treaty, an international agreement meant to halt the the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, as one of those options. However, Iran has threatened to leave the treaty in the past. Iran mulls withdrawing from nuclear weapons treaty TASS Russian News Agency4/28/2019 Iran is considering plans of leaving the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as one of the options of responding to tightening US sanctions against the Islamic republic, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state television, according to the Mehr news agency. “The Islamic Republic’s choices are numerous, and the officials are studying them…leaving NPT is one of them,” Zarif said on Sunday.