Nuclear Policy News – October 21, 2019

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TOP NEWS

Secondary circuit of Iran’s Arak nuclear reactor to be operational within two weeks: official
Reuters

Trump appears to confirm open secret about US nuclear weapons in Turkey
CNN

Russia stops U.S. diplomats en route to a nuclear accident site
New York Times

United States

Western governors want nuclear testing compensation expanded
Associated Press10/15/19
Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing exposed more states and more people to radiation fallout and resulting cancers and other diseases than the federal government currently recognizes, Western governors said.

Middle East

Secondary circuit of Iran’s Arak nuclear reactor to be operational within two weeks: official
Reuters10/20/19
The secondary circuit of the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor will be operational within two weeks, Ali Asghar Zarean, a special assistant to the chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Erdogan’s ambitions go beyond Syria. He says he wants nuclear weapons.
New York Times10/20/19
With Turkey now in open confrontation with its NATO allies, having gambled and won a bet that it could conduct a military incursion into Syria and get away with it, Mr. Erdogan’s nuclear proliferation threat takes on new meaning.

Trump appears to confirm open secret about US nuclear weapons in Turkey
CNN10/16/19
President Donald Trump appeared to confirm Wednesday that US nuclear weapons are being housed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, making him the first U.S. official to publicly acknowledge what has been considered an open secret for years.

East Asia

U.S. proposed helping North Korea build tourist area amid nuclear talks: report
The Hill10/19/19
The U.S. reportedly offered a long-term plan to help North Korea build a tourist area in its country as part of denuclearization talks in Stockholm earlier this month.

Kim Jong Un vows to fight U.S. sanctions as deadline for nuclear talks nears
TIME10/16/19
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to surmount U.S.-led sanctions on his country in state media reports Wednesday alongside evocative propaganda images of him riding a white horse seen as foretelling significant decisions as his own deadline for U.S. movement on nuclear talks is nearing.

Russia/Europe

Russia stops U.S. diplomats en route to a nuclear accident site
New York Times10/16/19
The Russian authorities removed three American diplomats from a train heading to an Arctic town near the site of a recent nuclear accident, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.

Last Soviet leader Gorbachev urges Russia, U.S. to hold nuclear talks
Reuters10/18/19
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, warned on Friday that the world was drifting into a dangerous era of militarized politics and appealed to Moscow and Washington to sit down for urgent nuclear arms control talks.

Analysis/Commentary

NC3 and crisis instability-growing dangers in the 21st century
Nautilus InstituteDaryl Press
10/17/19
The problems of strategic instability may be returning in a particularly dangerous form.

Will the Saudis go nuclear?
National InterestPeter A. Wilson
10/16/19
Under what circumstances might Riyadh conclude that the clandestine and rapid acquisition of a nuclear arsenal would help address the challenges the country faces?

I have a plan to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons
National InterestPeter Murphy
10/17/19
The dominant conclusion among the North Korea analyst community is that Kim Jong-un will never give up his nuclear weapons because they are necessary to ensure his regime’s survival.

John Bolton’s awful legacy on North Korea
38 NorthDaniel R. Depetris
10/17/19
The record on North Korea will be very unfavorable to Bolton, where he devoted two decades of service to stonewall any diplomatic progress in reducing the North Korean nuclear threat to the US and its allies.

It’s time to talk to Iran
New York TimesWilliam J. Burns and Jake Sullivan
10/14/19
With tensions rising in the Middle East and Iran suffering under sanctions, this may be the last best opportunity to walk back from the brink.

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