TOP NEWS Turkey has U.S. nuclear weapons, now it says it should be allowed to have some of its own Newsweek Rouhani orders development of faster centrifuges, no limit to nuclear R&D Radio Farda James Mattis is very worried about Pakistan The Week U.S. Nuclear Policy US Air Force to keep A-10 off the chopping block in next budget request Defense News9/4/19 The A-10 Warthog will not be one of the planes the U.S. Air Force requests to retire in its upcoming fiscal 2021 budget request, a senior service official confirmed. U.S. wargames to try out concepts for fighting China, Russia Defense One9/4/19 A series of September and November wargames led by the Pentagon’s Joint Staff will evaluate new battle plans for fighting China and Russia, Pentagon officials say. Pentagon shelves neutral particle beam research Defense One9/4/19 Defense officials are taking a step back from one of its most ambitious research goals: launching a massive neutral-particle-beam generator, essentially a ray gun, into space to fry the electronics of enemy missiles. Russia/Europe Turkey has U.S. nuclear weapons, now it says it should be allowed to have some of its own Newsweek9/4/19 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has argued that his country should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons as other major powers have. Middle East Rouhani orders development of faster centrifuges, no limit to nuclear R&D Radio Farda9/5/19 Iran will from Friday begin developing centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium, as the next step in scaling back its nuclear commitments, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. East Asia North Korea tells United Nations to cut international aid staff: letter Reuters9/4/19 North Korea has told the United Nations to cut the number of international staff it deploys in the country because the world body’s programs have failed “due to the politicization of U.N. assistance by hostile forces.” China still pursuing nuclear fuel processing plant with Areva: official Reuters9/2/19 China is still actively promoting a nuclear fuel processing project with France’s Areva, the head of its nuclear safety watchdog said at a briefing on Tuesday, where he also criticized a U.S. blacklisting of Chinese nuclear firms. South Asia Narendra Modi in Russia: Moscow to set up 20 nuclear power plants in India, countries sign pact to develop sea route between Chennai, Vladivostok Firstpost9/4/19 Russia on Wednesday said that it is planning to set up more than 20 nuclear power units in India in the next 20 years. What exactly did Pakistan’s prime minister say about the country’s nuclear weapons? The Diplomat9/3/19 A quick review of Khan’s video remarks to the International Sikh Convention in Lahore, where he spoke on Monday, shows that the report on Pakistan apparently pledging no first-use of nuclear weapons was based on a mistranslation. James Mattis is very worried about Pakistan The Week9/3/19 In a wide-ranging interview at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis reaffirmed his stance that Pakistan is the “most dangerous” country in terms of United States foreign policy. Multilateral Arms Control UPDATE 1-Test-ban body chief enters race to lead U.N. nuclear watchdog Reuters9/4/19 The head of the global nuclear test-ban agency is running to become the next director general of the U.N. atomic watchdog, he told staff on Wednesday, bringing the number of candidates to four from three continents. Commentary/Opinion/Analysis Trilateral arms control initiative: A Chinese perspective Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsWu Riqiang 9/4/19 Since the Chinese nuclear force is “an order-of-magnitude” smaller than that of the United States and Russia, China believes that “countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should continue to take the lead in making drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear weapons. The more we wait, the worse it will get 38 NorthSiegfried Hecker, Robert Carlin, and Elliot Serbin 9/4/19 For a variety of reasons, the diplomatic window seems to be narrowing.