TOP NEWS Is China About To Abandon Its ‘No First Use’ Nuclear Weapons Policy? South China Morning Post Russia ready for dialogue with US if it revises its stance on INF Treaty — diplomat TASS Russian News Agency AP Explains: Trump-Kim Summit in Vietnam May Be Win For All AP East Asia Is China About To Abandon Its ‘No First Use’ Nuclear Weapons Policy? South China Morning Post2/7/2019 China might come under pressure to reconsider its long-standing “no first use” nuclear policy as it engages in a maritime arms race with the United States, analysts have warned. AP Explains: Trump-Kim Summit in Vietnam May Be Win For All AP2/6/2019 Vietnam’s selection as the venue for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is largely a matter of convenience and security, but not without bigger stakes. Seoul Welcomes 2nd Summit Between U.S., N. Korea Yonhap News Agency2/6/2019 The U.S. envoy for North Korea arrived in Pyongyang Wednesday for talks with his North Korean counterpart on the upcoming bilateral summit. China Races to Equal US Military Might With 4 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers By 2035 – Experts Russia Today2/6/2019 New nuclear aircraft carriers and state-of-the-art carrier-borne fighter jets will join China’s revamped navy by 2035, local military experts say. It’s part of an ambitious push to modernize and overtake the US in the Pacific. Russia/FSU/Europe Russia ready for dialogue with US if it revises its stance on INF Treaty — diplomat TASS Russian News Agency2/7/2019 Russia is open for a constructive dialogue with the United States if Washington revisits its destructive position on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a news conference on Thursday. Putin: Russia Has Completed ‘Key Stage of Trials’ of Nuclear-Capable Poseidon Underwater Drone The Diplomat2/6/2019 Russia’s new underwater weapon system has cleared an important milestone, according to the Russian President. Russian Official: Another Nuclear Pact with US in Trouble ABC News2/6/2019 Another U.S.-Russian nuclear pact is in danger following the U.S. move to withdraw from a Cold War-era arms control treaty, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov charged that the U.S. refusal to negotiate an extension to the New Start treaty signals Washington’s intention to let it expire in 2021. Russia Bids Farewell to INF Treaty With Fresh Nuclear Development Plans Defense News2/6/2019 In a meeting of Russian military leaders in Moscow on Tuesday, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu passed down the word from the Kremlin: Develop, by 2020, “a ground-based version of the sea-based Kalibr system with a long-range cruise missile,” Shoigu said, “and in the same period, we will create a ground-based missile system with a long-range hypersonic rocket.” South Asia Threat for India As China ‘Mulls’ Dropping Age-Old Nuclear No First Use Policy? International Business Times2/7/2019 Is China about to abandon its long-held policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons? Geopolitical experts and think tanks have come around to believing that the possibility of China junking that age old commitment is quite high. Special Interest An Enthralling and Terrifying History of the Nuclear Meltdown at Chernobyl New York Times2/6/2019 In his chilling new book, “Midnight in Chernobyl,” the journalist Adam Higginbotham shows how an almost fanatical compulsion for secrecy among the Soviet Union’s governing elite was part of what made the accident not just cataclysmic but so likely in the first place. How Vietnam Went from Cold War Foe to Trump-Kim Summit Host Bloomberg2/7/2019 President Donald Trump’s decision to hold his next summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Vietnam carries a rich historical irony: The site of the U.S.’s biggest Cold War quagmire may be where America moves to finally end that era’s most enduring conflict.