TOP NEWS Exclusive: Here Is A Draft Of Trump’s Nuclear Review. He Wants A Lot More Nukes. Huffington Post Trump expected to stay the course on Iran deal but add new penalties Washington Post INS Arihant Accident Raises Questions About the Sustainability of India’s SSBN Force The Diplomat Want to Strike North Korea? It’s Not Going to Go the Way You Think. Politico Van Jackson EAST ASIA Putin Says North Korea’s Kim ‘Won This Match’ on Nuclear Weapons Bloomberg 1/11/2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has “won this match” in the contest to acquire nuclear weapons. Moon’s approval rating rises further after inter-Korean talks Yonhap News Agency 1/12/18 President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating rose for the second consecutive week, a poll showed Friday, possibly boosted by talks with North Korea that the president said could signal a resumption of negotiations to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. Trump Won’t Say Whether He Spoke With North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Bloomberg 1/11/18 President Donald Trump refused to say whether he has spoken directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in an interview on Thursday, but said he “probably” has “a very good relationship” with the dictator. US deploys B-2 stealth bombers to Guam NHK World 1/11/18 The US Air Force says it has deployed to Guam 3 B-2 stealth bombers that can carry nuclear weapons. The move is seen as an attempt to deter North Korea and China. ‘It would be suicidal to attack the USA first’: North Korean diplomats Asia Times 1/12/18 “It would be suicidal to attack the USA first and especially with nuclear weapons. We understand that it would be the last day of our country,” Vorontsov quoted one diplomat he met with in Pyongyang in November as saying. China’s trade with North Korea plunges as sanctions tighten The Seattle Times 1/11/18 China’s trade with North Korea plunged 50 percent in December as U.N. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development tightened, the government reported Friday. MIDDLE EAST Trump expected to stay the course on Iran deal but add new penalties Washington Post 1/12/18 U.S. officials and others have said Trump is expected to accept the recommendation of senior advisers that he keep the old nuclear-related sanctions suspended, while announcing new ones that would target other aspects of Iran’s behavior such as mass arrests during anti-government protests this month. UK, Germany and France urge US not to tear up Iran nuclear deal The Guardian 1/11/18 Washington’s closest allies have sent a carefully timed warning to Donald Trump not to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, saying it is essential for international security, and no better alternative has been suggested by the White House. SOUTH ASIA India faces real threat from chemical, biological and nuclear weapons says army chief International Business Times 1/12/2018 India faces a real threat of non-state actors using chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, warned the country’s army chief. General Bipin Rawat said those threats emerging from weapons of potential mass destruction have become a “reality”, forcing the security establishment to take necessary precautionary measures. Deep diving into the facts about INS Arihant ‘accident’ The Economic Times 1/12/18 On Monday, The Hindu reported that India’s only operational nuclear ballistic missile submarine, INS Arihant, was out of action for about 10 months last year due to an accident. The report raises more questions than it answers due to its glaring technical and operational inconsistencies. INS Arihant Accident Raises Questions About the Sustainability of India’s SSBN Force The Diplomat 1/12/18 As news emerged of an accident that may have damaged INS Arihant, it’s worth considering just how difficult getting a sea-based nuclear deterrent off the ground (or under the sea) can be. U.S. NUCLEAR POLICY Exclusive: Here Is A Draft Of Trump’s Nuclear Review. He Wants A Lot More Nukes. Huffington Post 1/11/18 What the posture review makes clear, however, is that the Trump administration wants to produce a considerable number of new nukes. This would represent a break from precedents established even by Republican administrations. OPINION AND ANALYSIS British think tank warns cyber risk to nuclear weapons ‘relatively high’ The Hill 1/11/18 A British think tank is raising the alarm in a new report that warns nuclear weapons may face a “relatively high” risk of cyberattacks as technology becomes more advanced and hackers grow more sophisticated. Want to Strike North Korea? It’s Not Going to Go the Way You Think. Politico Van Jackson 1/12/2018 Advocates of the bloody nose strategy are willing to make a bet: that if the U.S. attacks the North in an unprovoked but limited way, Kim will not retaliate with violence in kind—or worse. This assumption amounts to a sucker’s bet, and the price will be mass casualties. The two Koreas are talking again, but don’t expect much progress The Economist 1/11/18 In theory the next round of talks could get into issues that stop short of denuclearisation but reduce the chance of an accidental conflagration. Iran’s protests reinforce the case for keeping the nuclear deal The Washington Post 1/12/18 “Trump has a chance here to make a statesman-like decision: Stick with the deal, which is working. Allow young Iranians the chance to better themselves through the implementation of the [Iran deal],” wrote Peter Westmacott, who served as Britain’s ambassador to the United States around the time the pact was negotiated.