TOP NEWS Russia has retaliation ready if U.S. quits Open Skies treaty: RIA Reuters Iran briefly held IAEA inspector, seized travel documents – diplomats Reuters The value of a cooperative approach to denuclearization with North Korea 38 North United States The Air Force’s ‘doomsday plane’ is in the shop Defense One11/6/19 North Korea said Thursday planned U.S.-South Korean military drills would amount to “throwing a wet blanket over the spark” of nuclear negotiations that are “on the verge of extinction.” Russia Russia has retaliation ready if U.S. quits Open Skies treaty: RIA Reuters11/7/19 Russia has drawn up retaliatory measures in case the United States leaves the Open Skies treaty, a pact which allows both countries to conduct surveillance flights over each other’s territory, the RIA news agency reported late on Wednesday. Middle East Iran nuclear crisis escalates with new inspections report Bloomberg11/7/19 Iran accused an international atomic monitor of setting off explosives detectors at its main enrichment plant, ratcheting up tensions that threaten to tip the nation into a new nuclear crisis. Russia urges Iran to fulfill commitments under nuclear deal Reuters11/6/19 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on Iran to fulfill the terms of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, but said Moscow understood why Tehran was cutting back on its commitments. Iran briefly held IAEA inspector, seized travel documents – diplomats Reuters11/6/19 Iran briefly held an inspector working for the U.N. nuclear watchdog in the Islamic Republic and seized her travel documents, diplomats familiar with the agency’s work said on Wednesday, with some describing it as harassment. Iran nuclear crisis escalates with new inspections report Bloomberg11/7/19 Iran accused an international atomic monitor of setting off explosives detectors at its main enrichment plant, ratcheting up tensions that threaten to tip the nation into a new nuclear crisis. East Asia U.S., S. Korea to conduct ‘scaled-down’ aerial drills Korea Times11/7/19 A government official said Thursday that the United States and South Korea will conduct a “scaled-down” joint air force exercise sometime later this month. North says U.S.-S. Korea drills ‘throw wet blanket’ on talks Associated Press11/7/19 North Korea said Thursday planned U.S.-South Korean military drills would amount to “throwing a wet blanket over the spark” of nuclear negotiations that are “on the verge of extinction.” North Korea threatens to upend nuclear talks due to U.S. ‘reckless military frenzy’ U.S. News & World Report11/6/19 Upcoming military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. come weeks before a critical deadline imposed by Kim Jong Un. Analysis/Commentary The value of a cooperative approach to denuclearization with North Korea 38 NorthRichard Johnson 11/6/19 To enhance the prospects for the comprehensive, verifiable and enduring denuclearization of North Korea, the United States should incorporate into the negotiations an offer to Pyongyang of a Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program. Why are we rebuilding the ‘nuclear sponge’? National InterestTom Z. Collina and Akshai Vikram 11/6/19 The nuclear sponge is the United States’ collection of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) intended to “soak up” a nuclear attack. Iran’s nuclear escalation Wall Street Journal11/6/19 President Hassan Rouhani has announced that Iran will violate restrictions on the Fordow underground nuclear facility starting Wednesday. President Trump’s detractors will say this proves that leaving the 2015 nuclear deal was a mistake, but this is one more sign of the defects in the deal that Europe should be helping the U.S. to address. Will Russia’s new S-500 air defense system end the F-35’s air dominance? National InterestMark Episkopos 11/6/19 The much-vaunted next generation of Russian missile defense, the S-500 boasts a host of best-in-class performance features. The difference between the Cold War and today’s hot peace The HillJames J. Coyle 11/6/19 When America finally recognizes that its unilateral withdrawal from the Cold War battlefield is actually hurting its interests, rather than preserving them, one hopes that a hot peace is the only thing the world need fear.