Nuclear Policy News – June 12, 2019

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Top News

A year after Singapore, little change seen in U.S.-North Korea ties: poll
Reuters

Russia Keeps Asking U.S. To Agree To No Nuclear Weapons Use, But It’s Not Getting An Answer
Newsweek

Decision to keep nuclear weapons data classified hurts US national security
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

East Asia

A year after Singapore, little change seen in U.S.-North Korea ties: poll
Reuters6/11/2019
A year after the first U.S.-North Korea summit, most people in countries with a stake in the process think relations between the old rivals have not improved significantly, highlighting a stalemate in their nuclear talks, a poll shows.

Japan Picked An Aegis Ashore Site Based On Miscalculations From Google Earth
The Drive6/11/2019
Japanese officials have admitted that they miscalculated the angles of elevation of various mountains when deciding on where to base one of its two future Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense systems.

Russia/FSU/Europe

Russia staging ‘significant’ military buildup in Crimea: report
The Hill6/12/2019
U.S. intelligence officials say that Russian forces are undergoing a “significant” military buildup in the contested Ukrainian region of Crimea, including around Soviet-era military installations.

Russia Keeps Asking U.S. To Agree To No Nuclear Weapons Use, But It’s Not Getting An Answer
Newsweek6/11/2019
Moscow’s top diplomat has again petitioned Washington to join an agreement to mutually forego the use of nuclear weapons, an effort that has so far produced no response.

Russian Foreign Ministry Refutes Claims On Moscow Changing Approach To Nuclear Weapons Use
Urdu Point6/11/2019
Russia has not changed its stance on the use of nuclear weapons despite the respective claims from the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

Non-nuclear states discuss weapons proliferation in Sweden
DW6/11/2019
Diplomats from 16 countries have convened in Stockholm to focus on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Their aim is to prevent the spread of atomic weapons, calling it “a danger to world peace.”

A Swedish disarmament initiative
Government Offices of SwedenMargot Wallstrom
6/11/2019
The risk of nuclear war is greater and the threat more serious than for many years. This is why the Government is hosting a high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament today. This is the first meeting of its kind for many years, and a number of countries will be taking part at ministerial level. The fact that the meeting is being conducted at a high political level and with ministers from all over the world shows the level of interest and the need to discuss the disarmament issue in an increasingly unsafe world.

Opinion/Analysis/Commentary

Decision to keep nuclear weapons data classified hurts US national security
Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsHeather Wuest
6/11/2019
The Trump administration’s decision to classify the total number of nuclear weapons that the United States possesses and the number of nuclear warheads dismantled in 2018 marks an abrupt change from the recent norm.

Could a Low-Yield, Sub-Launched Nuclear Missile Stop a Russian First Strike?
Warrior MavenKris Osborn
6/11/2019
Could a low-yield Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile help stop a Russian-launched first nuclear strike by ensuring a proportional response and holding enemy targets at risk of a precise, tailored nuclear attack? Conversely, could a newly emerging low-yield nuclear weapon lower the threshold to a dangerous limited or large scale nuclear war? Could potential adversaries mistake a conventional cruise missile for a nuclear weapon — and therefore launch a nuclear weapon?

Special Interest

Create a Global Code of Conduct for Outer Space
Chatham HouseDr. Patricia Lewis
6/12/2019
The rules governing human activity in space have been in place for only a few decades, and yet they are already out of date. They need to be built on and extended to reflect the dramatic and rapid changes in the use of space.

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