Top News: House passes $18B NNSA budget as part of appropriations package Exchange Monitor ANALYSIS: Negotiating with great powers on nuclear arms Real Clear Defense As mountain stand-off with India continues, China stages bombers and cruise missiles Forbes United States House passes $18B NNSA budget as part of appropriations package Exchange Monitor7/31/20 The House of Representatives on Friday passed a $1.3 trillion “minibus” appropriations package that would give the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) $2 billion less than it requested for fiscal 2021, even as the Senate has yet to release any spending bills and remains tangled up in controversy over a new COVID-19 relief bill. ANALYSIS: Negotiating with great powers on nuclear arms Real Clear DefenseFrank Klotz, John Lauder, William Courtney 8/3/20 The Trump Administration has yet to decide the fate of the sole remaining U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty, New START, which expires in February. OPINION: President Trump is committed to defending the U.S., and Russia knows it Washington PostRobert O’Brien 8/3/20 The United States is cautiously optimistic that we can reach an agreement with Moscow and China on a framework for arms control that seeks to limit all nuclear weapons in a verifiable manner. East Asia As mountain stand-off with India continues, China stages bombers and cruise missiles Forbes8/2/20 The Chinese air force apparently has deployed bombers to an air base in the country’s far west, placing the warplanes within striking distance of Indian forces along the disputed Chinese-Indian border in the Himalayas. OPINION: Peace in Korea can happen without denuclearization The DiplomatDaniel DePetris 7/31/20 Pyongyang is going to remain a nuclear weapons state for the foreseeable future. Middle East Iran will expand nuclear program and won’t talk to U.S., Ayatollah says New York Times8/1/20 In a televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said that negotiating with Washington over his country’s nuclear program would only help President Trump get re-elected. Iran hits hawkish US expert with symbolic sanctions Associated Press8/2/20 President Donald Trump reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran after he unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear accord between Iran and Western powers in May 2018. Russia and Europe ANALYSIS: “The end of arms control as we know it” VoxAlex Ward 8/3/20 The last agreement limiting America’s and Russia’s nuclear arsenals is months away from expiring. Multilateral Arms Control REPORT: Overcoming disunity: Reinvigorating the P5 Process a decade on European Leadership NetworkMaximilian Hoell, Andreas Persbo 7/30/20 As the P5 Process enters its eleventh year and as a prelude to the tenth review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), this new report from the ELN offers practical recommendations for the P5 to reduce nuclear risks.