Nuclear Policy News – January 14, 2020

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TOP NEWS

The Air Force’s B-52H bomber force has said goodbye to its nuclear bombs
The Drive

European countries to hold Iran accountable for violating nuclear deal
Washington Post

Trump is ready to reopen talks with Kim Jong Un over a North Korea nuclear deal, months after negotiations spectacularly collapsed
Business Insider

United States

The Air Force’s B-52H bomber force has said goodbye to its nuclear bombs
The Drive1/13/20
A new Air Force manual confirms that the only nuclear weapons these iconic aircraft are now approved to carry are nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

East Asia

Trump is ready to reopen talks with Kim Jong Un over a North Korea nuclear deal, months after negotiations spectacularly collapsed
Business Insider1/13/20
The Trump administration is seeking to start new denuclearization negotiations with North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Axios. “We’ve been letting them know, through various channels, that we would like to get those [negotiations] back on track and to implement Chairman Kim’s commitment” to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, O’Brien said.

S Korea’s Moon could seek exemption of UN sanctions on N Korea
Associated Press1/14/20
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that he could seek exemptions of U.N. sanctions placed on North Korea to bring about improved inter-Korean relations that he believes would help restart nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.

ANALYSIS: China’s plan for a new aircraft carrier: Ask Russia nicely
National InterestRobert Farley
1/14/20
China needs reactors more powerful than those that it currently uses on its submarines, and building icebreakers for Russia may provide the necessary experience.

Middle East

European countries to hold Iran accountable for violating nuclear deal
Washington Post1/14/20
European countries on Tuesday triggered a dispute mechanism in their nuclear deal with Iran, citing Tehran’s decision to ignore limitations on its nuclear energy program.

Russia/Europe

ANALYSIS: Russia nuclear breakout and the New START Treaty
Real Clear DefenseMark B. Schneider
1/14/20
In December 2019, former Under Secretary of State and Chief Negotiator of the New START Treaty Rose Gottemoeller argued in favor of the extension of the New START Treaty because, “…the Russians could rapidly add several hundred more warheads, some say up to a thousand warheads, to their existing deployments of ICBMs without deploying a single additional missile.” This is certainly true, but it is rather odd that one of the most important defects in the New START Treaty should be presented as a reason for extending it.

Hypersonic Missiles

ANALYSIS: The U.S. wants to intimidate China with hypersonics, once it solves the physics
Defense OnePatrick Tucker
1/13/20
The U.S. is pressing ahead with new missiles, but questions remain about engineering, tactics, and even geopolitics.

Multilateral Arms Control

ANALYSIS: Nuclear weapons: Which countries have them and how many are there?
BBC News1/14/20
In July 2017, it looked as though the world was a step closer to becoming nuclear weapon free when more than 100 countries endorsed a UN treaty to ban them altogether. But countries with nuclear weapons such as the US, UK, France and Russia boycotted the treaty.

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