Top News North Korea Accuses Washington of Weaponizing Human Rights as Nuclear Talks Stall New York Times Kremlin: Putin, Trump will talk nuclear arms control The Hill Inhofe sets collision course with Dems on defense budget, nukes and transgender troops Defense News East Asia North Korea Accuses Washington of Weaponizing Human Rights as Nuclear Talks Stall New York Times11/29/18 North Korea has lashed out at the United States for continuing to press it to improve its human rights record, even with animosities between the two countries having eased so much that President Trump said he and the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, were “in love.” North Korean diplomats and the state news media have unleashed blistering attacks on Washington since the United Nations’ human rights committee adopted a resolution this month condemning North Korea’s “longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights.” China Adviser Says ‘Impossible’ for North Korea to Give Up Nukes Bloomberg11/28/18 It’s “impossible” for North Korea to completely give up its nuclear weapons, and the U.S. should instead focus on more incremental progress, an adviser to China’s foreign ministry told South Korea’s diplomatic community on Wednesday. Xin Qiang, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the U.S. and the international community should abandon its push for “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization,” commonly referred to as CVID, and instead push for “conditional, reciprocal and incremental denuclearization.” Russia/FSU/Europe Kremlin: Putin, Trump will talk nuclear arms control The Hill11/29/18 President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss nuclear arms controls and a number of other subjects during a meeting at this week’s Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Kremlin said Thursday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin and Trump will speak one-on-one and then bring in their aides for further talks, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Nuclear Policy Cheney, Cotton Introduce the Stopping Russian Nuclear Aggression Act The Washington Free Beacon11/28/18 Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) introduced legislation to counter Russian aggression on Wednesday. The two lawmakers introduced the Stopping Russian Nuclear Aggression Act, which aims to limit Russia’s nuclear arsenal. It would prevent funding to extend the New START Treaty until the United States can certify Russia has agreed to a process that verifies the reduction in their nuclear weapon stockpile. Inhofe sets collision course with Dems on defense budget, nukes and transgender troops Defense News11/28/18 Sen. Jim Inhofe, the staunch Republican Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, and Rep. Adam Smith, the Washington Democrat and likely next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, are on a collision course for 2019. “What he’s doing is taking the thing that’s singularly the biggest threat to us and saying: ‘We want to make America more vulnerable,” Inhofe said of Smith’s position on nuclear weapons. Inhofe called the nuclear triad “the most important area of modernization.” Opinion and Analysis Why Insisting on a North Korean Nuclear Declaration Up Front is a Big Mistake 38 NorthSiegfried S. Hecker 11/28/18 With nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula dramatically reduced, it is time to find out if Kim’s drive to improve the economy will eventually lead to denuclearization. He may determine that his nuclear arsenal poses a significant hindrance to economic development that outweighs the putative benefits it confers. Washington and Seoul should work together to encourage rather than inhibit this potential shift. Can Trump abrogate the INF Treaty without Congress? Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsWalter C. Clemens 11/28/18 President Donald Trump wants to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed by presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. But can he do so without Congressional approval?