Masako Toki at atimes.com:

"Japan is confronting a formidable dilemma: whether or not to support the nuclear deal concluded between the United States and India on July 20. Japan's decision could risk discrediting its carefully accumulated non-proliferation and disarmament credentials. The decision could also affect its national identity.

India has never joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), both of which Japan values as cornerstones of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. Japan is particularly disturbed that the US-India agreement does not include any specific countermeasure in the case of India's nuclear-weapons testing.

And yet despite being the only country to experience nuclear devastation, Japan has been extremely cautious in expressing its attitude toward the nuclear deal. It has merely repeated that it will "fully examine and carefully consider the effects on the non-proliferation regime". In other words, Tokyo has been wise enough to avoid further controversy but not strong enough to maintain its stance as a champion of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation...."

Aditya Sarkar, Anish Vanaik originally published in Economic and Political Weekly:

"Indo-US Nuclear Deal: In Whose Interests?

A report of a recent international conference in New Delhi that critically discussed the foreign policy, nuclear weapons and nuclear power aspects of the Indo-US deal...."

K.P. NAYAR at telegraphindia.com:

"New York, Sept. 27: The Left parties may no longer have to force the Manmohan Singh government to freeze or abandon the nuclear deal with the US.

The Israelis, in a twist of irony, may do this job for them, according to latest reports from Vienna where a meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was held last week on the sidelines of the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Soon after that meeting, the Associated Press exclusively acquired copies of two confidential Israeli documents seeking an exemption for itself from NSG rules. The documents were circulated among 45 NSG member states by Japan...."

MATTHEW LEE for AP:

"NEW YORK (AP) - In a setback for the United States, Iran won a two-month reprieve from new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program on Friday. The Bush administration and its European allies ceded to Russian and Chinese demands to give Tehran more time to address international concerns...."

UN News Service:

"28 September 2007 - Japan is committed to bolstering global efforts for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the country's newly-appointed foreign minister told the United Nations General Assembly's annual high-level debate today...."

KS Jayaraman, Indo-Asian News Service:

"While India is still debating how to make the Indo-US nuclear deal work, an American company, anxious to enter the Indian market, has offered to build commercial nuclear power reactors in the country.

These reactors will rely entirely on India's thorium resources -- except at the start - and thereby remove the objections of critics

The California-based Dauvergne Brothers Inc (DBI) says its novel type of thorium breeder reactor is fuelled with fissile material like uranium only once when it is started. It runs for its full operational life on Uranium-233 (or U-233) bred in its core from thorium.

Thorium, which India has in plenty, cannot be directly burned in a reactor. It has to be converted into fissile U-233. India's own thorium utilisation strategy hinges on reprocessing -- a contentious issue between India and the US. The DBI claims its design is tailor-made for the Indian situation...."

WISE News Communique on November 13, 1996:

"India's 30-kW non-power reactor Kamini went critical on October 29. The reactor is situated at the Indian Ghandi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam, near the southern city of Madras. The small research reactor is fuelled by uranium-233 and is a demonstration project for the proposed thorium use in India's nuclear fuel cycle.

(461.4577) WISE-Amsterdam - India's uranium resources are smaller (about 50,000-65,000 metric tons) than the amount of thorium which is about 330,000 metric tons. When natural thorium-232 in a reactor is bred with neutron uranium-233, it can be used as fuel. India has a so-called "three-stage nuclear program". In the first stage, plutonium is created in its pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) and extracted by reprocessing. In the second stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs) use this plutonium in 70-percent MOX-fuel to breed uranium-233 in a thorium blanket around the core. In the final stage, the FBR's use thorium-232 and produce uranium-233 for other reactors. (see also WISE NC 446.4426)...."

India-defence.com:

"A team of scientists at a premier Indian nuclear facility has made a theoretical design of an innovative reactor that can run on thorium - available in abundance in the country - and will eventually do away with the need for uranium.

But the success of the project largely depends on the US playing ball. The novel Fast Thorium Breeder Reactor (FTBR) being developed by V. Jagannathan and his team at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai has received global attention after a paper was submitted to the International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems (ICENES) held June 9-14 in Istanbul...."

Nils Bohmer, 09/11-2006 Bellona.org:

"Lately the debate over whether Norway should develop nuclear reactors based on thorium is growing in intensity. Since Norway sits on the worlds third largest resource of thorium, the Progress party argues that this could be an important future source of income, and that it would be a more secure card for Norway to bet on then carbon capture.

This raises some questions. The most important question is to what extent thorium reactors are a responsible and sensible solution for the global climate challenge and defense policy questions. Another question is whether the radioactive element thorium has a potential for profitable industrial development in Norway.Let us analyze the latter question first:..."

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited at CCNR web site:

"....Thorium is a naturally-occurring radioactive material, about 3 times more abundant than uranium. Thorium is not a nuclear fuel, but it can be transmuted into uranium-233 inside a nuclear reactor. U-233 is a human-made element that, like plutonium, can be used either as a nuclear explosive or as a nuclear fuel.

According to this scheme -- not likely to be utilized in the foreseeable future -- plutonium would be mixed with thorium as fuel to breed fissile uranium-233 (U-233), an artificial isotope of uranium that is similar to plutonium in many respects:

• U-233 is virtually non-existent in nature, but, like plutonium, it can be created in a nuclear reactor;
  
  
• U-233 is immediately weapons-usable; in fact it can be used in much simpler bomb designs than plutonium can (''gun-type'' as opposed to ''implosion'' bombs);
  
  
• U-233 is a powerful nuclear explosive; more powerful, in fact, than either uranium-235 or plutonium-239;
  
  
• it is also usable, like plutonium, as a reactor fuel;
  
  
• U-233 is, like plutonium, a highly toxic alpha-emitting radioactive material;
  
  
• U-233 can only be obtained for use by reprocessing spent fuel.

Nicholas Kulish at IHT.com:

"PRIBRAM, Czech Republic: To understand just how divisive is the proposed American missile-defense radar installation here, talk to Josef Rihak. Better still, talk to both of them...."

Alice Slater for Nuclear Age Peace Foundation:

"The Model Statute for an International Sustainable Energy Agency...."

Hans M. Kristensen at fas.org:

"....With "advanced fuzing options" the AF and F system will allowing targeteers to set the Height of Burst (HOB) more accurately and significantly improve the ability to hold hard targets at risk. Because 63 percent of the W76 stockpile is being added the new fuze, if Admiral Nanos is correct, the U.S. inventory of reentry vehicles with hard target kill capability will increase from 400 today to 2,400 in 2021...."

Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer:

"....along the lines proposed by Israel, would considerably enhance the nuclear nonproliferation regime," Siegel said.The Israeli plan offers 12 criteria for allowing nuclear trade with non-treaty states, including one that hints at Israel's status as an undeclared nuclear weapons state: A state...."

Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute:

"Existing technologies for more efficient end-use can save three-fourths of U.S. electricity at an average cost of around 1 cent per kilowatt-hour--cheaper than running a coal or nuclear power plant, let alone building one. Scores of utilities have demonstrated and implemented at scale, rapid, large, predictable, and extremely cheap "negawatts" (saved electricity). California's per-capita use of electricity has been flat for 30 years while per-capita real income rose 79 percent. Firms like DuPont, Dow, and IBM are saving billions of dollars by cutting energy intensity, sometimes as fast as 6-8 percent a year...."

The Mediterranean Anti Nuclear Watch at manw.org:

"

Peter Preston at guardian.co.uk:

"Once upon a distantly recent time, the doctrines of nuclear weaponry seemed to make crude, crunching sense. If you splat me, I'll splat you - in our Mad old world. (That's Mad as in "mutually assured destruction".) But now the madness is more miasmic, dementia lacking discernible doctrine or even plain speaking. Take Iran, North Korea and the missile defence row currently consuming much of eastern Europe. And while you're at it, take Pakistan too...."

the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation:

The Sunflower, Issue #123 - October 2007 Perspectives Washington is Sending Mixed Signals on Nuclear Agreements by Jimmy Carter Middle Powers Initiative Statement on US/Iran Confrontation Meeting the Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons by David Krieger Nuclear Proliferation Feinstein Will Try to Zero Out Warhead Funding in Conference on Spending Bill Inflammatory Amendment on Iran Passes in the Senate Peace Begins Here Nuclear Insanity Nuclear Weapons Flown Over Continental US Artist Explores Nuclear Insanity Resources Nuclear Threat Initiative Report by Matthew Bunn New NAPF Video - Nuclear Weapons and the Human Future US Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments and Issues US-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement Foundation Activities Inspiration and Integrity - 2007 Evening for Peace Honors Peter, Paul & Mary Foundation President David Krieger Speaking in Italy David Krieger to Discuss What Matters Most Youth Empowerment Initiative Prepares for New School Year Quotes

The NATO PA:

"A NATO expert said today (Saturday) that the world had entered a "second nuclear age" in which many of the rules that applied in the days of the Cold War stand-off between East and West no longer applied...."

The Times of India:

"LONDON: A nuclear war between India and Pakistan would not only have catastrophic affects in these two countries or their neighbours, but it could cause one billion people to starve to death across the world...."

Noam Chomsky in Japan Focus:

"Nuclear-armed states are criminal states. They have a legal obligation, confirmed by the World Court, to live up to Article 6 of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which calls on them to carry out good-faith negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons entirely. None of the nuclear states has lived up to it.

The United States is a leading violator, especially the Bush administration, which even has stated that it isn't subject to Article 6.

On July 27, Washington entered into an agreement with India that guts the central part of the NPT, though there remains substantial opposition in both countries. India, like Israel and Pakistan (but unlike Iran), is not an NPT signatory, and has developed nuclear weapons outside the treaty. With this new agreement, the Bush administration effectively endorses and facilitates this outlaw behaviour. The agreement violates US law, and bypasses the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the 45 nations that have established strict rules to lessen the danger of proliferation of nuclear weapons...."

Tarique Niazi in Japan Focus:

"Many observers have recently argued that the newly forged Indo-U.S. alliance will work against its "intended aims of Chinese encirclement." [1] Although India denies its part in any attempt at "Chinese containment" to the publicly acknowledged satisfaction of China, [2] the theory nevertheless persists. China's response to the Indo-U.S. alliance is, however, quite creative. Instead of reacting with alarm, Beijing has gone on a charm offensive to draw New Delhi into a triangular entente among China, India and Russia. India, which has languished under foreign subjugation for centuries, has a visceral aversion to strategic alliances with world powers. Since its independence in 1947, it has followed what could be described as the "Third Way" in world diplomacy, which manifested itself in the birth of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) in the 1950s. China is now building bridges to India based in part on the latter's instinctive wariness of foreign influences, which is evident in India's homegrown opposition to its nuclear deal with the U.S.

Most surprisingly, India has been warmly receptive to Chinese overtures to form a triangulation of regional entente. Since President Bush's landmark visit to New Delhi in March 2006, which laid the foundation for exceptional cooperation between Washington and New Delhi in civilian uses of nuclear technology, India has received the highest-level visits by the Chinese President Hu Jintao in November 2006 and the Russian President Vladimir Putin in January 2007. If anything, these exchanges demonstrate that the Indo-U.S. alliance has brought China, India and Russia ever closer...."

DAVID E. SANGER and MARK MAZZETTI in the New York Times:

"WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 - Israel's air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports...."

Robin Wright and Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post Staff Writers:

"A controversial nuclear deal between the United States and India appears close to collapse after the Indian prime minister told President Bush yesterday that "certain difficulties" will prevent India from moving forward on the pact for the foreseeable future...."

Hon Phil Goff, Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control

"17 October 2007
Media Statement

New Zealand is today to lead a call at the United Nations General Assembly for countries to remove their nuclear weapons from high alert status, Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Phil Goff said today...."

Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance [GANA]:

" Dear Readers,

the whole southern hemisphere of the planet we live on is covered by Nuclear Weapon Free Zones:
The Antarctic Treaty, for the Antarctic territory; the Treaty of Tlatelolco, governing Latin America and the Caribbean; and the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Pelindaba).

Therefor it was a shock for me to read:

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh makes nuclear buzz with his meeting with leaders of Brazil and South Africa, for the second India-Brazil-South Africa Summit (IBSA).

In his bilateral talks with [Thabo] Mbeki [Luis Inacio] Lula, the Prime Minister will try to garner support of South Africa and Brazil for the India-US nuclear deal.

It is a diplomatic exercise that is also aimed at getting across the message back home that India may have put its safeguards negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on hold but plans to keep its NSG diplomacy on track.

Reaching Critical Will:

"

First Committee Monitor

Please find below the first edition of the First Committee Monitor, the weekly publication from the NGO Working Group on the First Committee, edited and distributed by the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. This edition can be found online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM07/week1.html. You can also access the PDF version of this report at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM07/week1.pdf.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please never hesitate to ask.

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, RCW Project Associate

In this edition:

1. Introduction
2. Nuclear Disarmament
3. Nuclear Proliferation
4. Nuclear Energy and the Fuel Cycle
5. International Court of Justice
6. Disarmament Machinery
7. Fissile Materials
8. Outer Space
9. Verification and Transparency
10. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
11. North Korea's Nuclear Programme
12. Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
13. Missiles
14. Conventional Weapons
15. Arms Trade Treaty
16. Small Arms and Light Weapons
17. Disarmament and Development
18. Terrorism
19. Biological and Chemical Weapons
20. Landmines
21. Negative Security Assurances

Zenit.org:

"NEW YORK, OCT. 17, 2007 (Zenit.org).- All the tools of diplomacy must be used to defuse crises concerning attempts to acquire nuclear weapons capabilities, says the Holy See...."

NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN at nytimes.com:

"TEHRAN, Oct. 20 - Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, viewed by the West as a moderating influence in Tehran, resigned before crucial talks with Europe this week over Iran's nuclear program, signaling that officials here may have closed the door to any possible negotiated settlement in its standoff with the West...."

Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor:

"Istanbul, Turkey - The diplomatic fireworks were few. But the sheer presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Iran Tuesday has hardened both Moscow's and Tehran's strategies of confronting the West, as he reinforced support for the Islamic Republic and its nuclear program.

Mr. Putin told a summit of five Caspian Sea nations, "We should not even think of using force in this region" - a veiled warning to the US not to strike Iran. But the Russian leader also sought a delicate balance on the nuclear issue, after a week of rebuffing top American officials over Washington's missile defense plans for Europe, and despite French and German leaders' hopes for a tougher line against Iran...."

Kaveh L Afrasiabi at atimes.com:

"With the clock ticking toward the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November, where IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei will present a report on the status of Iran's cooperation with the UN's nuclear agency, Iranians are coming to terms with the sudden resignation of their chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and his replacement with Saeed Jalili, a deputy foreign minister and close ally of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad...."

Abolition 2000 US-India Working Group:

"The US-India Working Group of the ABOLITION 2000 network(1) welcomes reports that implementation of the US-India Nuclear Agreement remains on hold for the time being. However, the governments of India and the US have not abandoned the agreement altogether and attempts to revive the process are continuing. Nevertheless it appears that the world has gained at least some breathing space to reflect on the damage that the agreement would do to the twin causes of disarmament and non-proliferation...."

Gareth Porter* at IPS:

"WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration's shift from the military option of a massive strategic attack against Iran to a surgical strike against selected targets associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker earlier this month, appears to have been prompted not by new alarm at Iran's role in Iraq but by the explicit opposition of the nation's top military leaders to an unprovoked attack on Iran's nuclear facilities...."

Reaching Critical Will

"

First Committee Monitor

Please find below the second edition of the First Committee Monitor, the weekly publication from the NGO Working Group on the First Committee, edited and distributed by the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. This edition can be found online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM07/week2.html. You can also access the PDF version of this report at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM07/week2.pdf .

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please never hesitate to ask.

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

In this edition:

• Introduction
• Nuclear Disarmament
• Grapes and Cucumbers: Panel Discussion on Nuclear Disarmament
• Operational Status of Nuclear Weapons
• Nuclear Proliferation
• The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
• Disarmament Machinery
• Fissile Materials
• Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
• North Korea's Nuclear Programme
• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
• Missiles
• Conventional Weapons
• Arms Trade Treaty
• Disarmament and Development
• Landmines
• Biological and Chemical Weapons
• Negative Security Assurances

Rob Edwards, Environment Editor at sundayherald.com:

"ALEX SALMOND has made a major bid to win international backing for his government's campaign to rid Scotland of nuclear weapons, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

The first minister has written to 122 countries highlighting the nation's opposition to the deployment of Trident nuclear warheads on the Clyde, and his determination to try and block the UK government's decision to replace Trident.

Salmond is also asking the countries to support a request for Scotland to be given observer status at future meetings of the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international agreement to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.

The first minister's move, on the eve of the Scottish government's Trident summit in Glasgow tomorrow, has been hailed as a potential breakthrough by disarmament experts...."

Reaching Critical Will:

"

Click here for the PDF Version, or
email the Project Associate to subscribe to the Monitor

In this edition:

• Introduction
• Nuclear Disarmament
• Nuclear Weapons Convention
• Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
• Disarmament Machinery
• Missiles
• Outer Space
• Verification and Transparency
• Negative Security Assurances
• Biological and Chemical Weapons
• Depleted Uranium
• Conventional Weapons
• Small Arms and Light Weapons
• Arms Trade Treaty
• Landmines
• Disarmament and Development
• Regional Disarmament
• Terrorism

Praful Bidwai at TNI.org:

"The suspension of the India-US nuclear agreement, due to opposition from Indian Left parties, probably means the deal is as good as dead and could impact on the country's strategic alignment with the US...."

Michael Veiluva at disarmamentactivist.org:

" Iranian media is observing Washington's shift away from the nuclear issue and now emphasizing Iran's role in 'sponsoring terrorism.' Iran's foreign minister said that his country's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog has made the US change the game and create another problem for the Islamic Republic as it perceives the pending solution of Tehran's nuclear issue (FARS News Agency (Iran) .30.10.07)...."

Michael Spies at disarmamentactivist.org:

"On 25 October, the United States and Russia presented a joint statement to the UN General Assembly First Committee, noting the twentieth anniversary of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and calling for interested countries to discuss the possibility of internationalizing the Treaty, "though the renunciation of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, leading to the destruction of any such missiles, and the cessation of associated programs." The statement, delivered by Russia, also describes the Treaty as an important and practical step toward fulfillment of Article VI of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), cites the role the Treaty played in easing tensions in Europe, and expresses concern about the proliferation of missiles in this range to an ever-greater number of countries. Speaking after the presentation of the statement, US Ambassador Rocca called for greater attention to be paid to the issue in order to ensure regional stability.

The statement is deliberately vague. Notably, it does not call on all states to join the Treaty, but rather calls for discussion on the possibility of "interested" parties to consider renouncing their intermediate- and shorter-range missiles. Nor does it specifically reference whether this commitment would take the form of a new treaty or, most importantly, how this objective would be verified. This minimalist, non-committal approach to international arms control and disarmament perhaps reflects disagreement between the two former superpowers on the utility of legally-binding treaties as a means to combat proliferation. However, while this statement tends to come across as a half-full political gesture, the substantive aspects of the issues are worth (re)exploring...."

Jeffrey Lewis at armscontrolwonk.com:

"Well, well, well.

It appears that Syria's box-on-the-Euphrates is at least four years old and was spotted by US intelligence, which drew less dire conclusions:

A senior American intelligence official said yesterday that American analysts had looked carefully at the site from its early days, but were unsure then whether it posed a nuclear threat...."

Praful Bidwai in IPS:

"NEW DELHI, Oct 31 (IPS) - Caving in to intense pressure from Washington and from domestic business and strategic lobbies, India's Congress party-led coalition government is planning to push through the civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in the teeth of strong political opposition...."

Richard Halloran at washingtontimes.com:

"A nuclear agreement that was to have been emblematic of new strategic relations between the United Stares and India appears to be falling apart, with serious consequence all around...."

Colum Lynch, Washington Post Staff Writer:

"Experts Call 'Hair Trigger' Denial Misleading, Say Much of Arsenal Is Capable of Launch in Minutes

UNITED NATIONS -- The Bush administration has come under fire for stating before a United Nations conference that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is not on "hair-trigger alert" -- an assertion that arms-control experts criticized as "inaccurate" and "misleading."...."

H.E. Christina Rocca:

"....It is popular to call for removing nuclear weapons from "hair-trigger alert." Frankly, in order to take action to comply with this request, we would first have to put our weapons on "hair-trigger alert", so we could then de-alert them...."

Bruce G. Blair, President, World Security Institute at lcnp.org:

"The statement by Christina Rocca, Permanent Representative of the United States to the Conference on Disarmament, in the general debate of the First Committee on October 9, 2007, is highly inaccurate in its characterization of the U.S. nuclear posture. Its assertions about the alert posture of the U.S. nuclear forces are contradicted by an overwhelming body of evidence and knowledge...."

Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance

"Dear Readers,

this is a very dangerous development. It could spin completely out of control. And, please, remember Pakistan, although not an official Nuclear Weapon State, has Nuclear Weapons. One should ask the terrible question:
what will happen if these will fall in the wrong hands....

The Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament:

"PNND Update 19 October-November 2007

1. Five Women Leaders elected as Co-Presidents of PNND

2. US Supermodel Christie Brinkley joins PNND Co-Presidents at the United Nations

3. Preventing Nuclear Genocide - PNND address by Senator Romeo Dallaire, former Commander of the UN forces in Rwanda

4.Parliamentarians advance new initiative to stand-down nuclear forces

5. Scottish Parliament opposes UK plans to replace its Trident nuclear weapons system

6. Nuclear disarmament and the US presidential candidates

7. US-India nuclear technology deal update

8. Parliamentary launches of the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention

9. PNND Global Council Meeting October 12

10. Summary of PNND activities and accomplishments: 2000-2007

11. Legislators and the United Nations Disarmament Agenda - Oct 26 roundtable in New York

12. Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations: Reinforcing the Rule of Law in International Relations: The Key Role of Parliaments"

Trevor Findlay in Arms Control Today:

"The theory of punctuated equilibrium posits that life on Earth has evolved not in constant, linear fashion but through long periods of stasis, interrupted by catastrophic events, such as meteor impacts, which suddenly push it in new, adaptive directions. Without stretching the metaphor too far, the evolution of nuclear safeguards can be viewed in this way. It has been characterized by long periods of continuity, interrupted by extraordinary events that have changed its nature and direction...."

William D. Hartung in The Nation:

"The Nation -- There is a surreal quality to many of the foreign policy arguments being put forward in the 2008 presidential campaign, particularly among Republican presidential hopefuls. The Bush Administration's fiasco in Iraq is a transformative event that calls for a fundamental re-thinking of US security strategy. The policies of "preventive" war, forward basing of US troops aimed at intimidating designated adversaries and unbridled support for missile defense and new nuclear weapons should all be cast aside in search of a new approach...."

Reaching Critical Will:

"

Click here for the PDF Version, or
email the Project Associate to subscribe to the Monitor

In this edition:

• Introduction
• Nuclear Disarmament
• Operational Status of Nuclear Weapons
• Nuclear Proliferation
• The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
• Disarmament Machinery
• Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
• Negative Security Assurances
• Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
• Verification and Transparency
• Fissile Materials
• Missiles
• Outer Space
• Biological and Chemical Weapons
• Depleted Uranium
• Conventional Weapons
• Small Arms and Light Weapons
• Arms Trade Treaty
• Landmines
• Disarmament and Development
• Regional Disarmament
• Terrorism
• Disarmament Education

J. Sri Raman at truthout.org:

"Tuesday 06 November 2007

A wide range of observers, from then-US President Bill Clinton to peace activists everywhere, saw South Asia as the scariest place on earth in the early months of 2002. The eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation of a million Indian and Pakistani troops across the border in Kashmir seemed to threaten an imminent nuclear war. Events in Pakistan alone have sufficed now to make the subcontinent the scariest spot in the world, and for a very similar reason.

The Musharraf-declared martial law in Pakistan has created a situation full of agonizing uncertainties ahead. The most horrendous prospect, however, is of a nuclear fallout...."

Pugwash Council:

"

2020 Vision Campaign International Secretariat Mayors for Peace:

"Jeju (South-Korea), 31 October 2007 - Today the 2020 Vision Campaign received the endorsement of the world largest and most widely recognized mayoral association, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). In its final declaration the UCLG supports the Mayors for Peace campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and calls on all nation states and armed groups to cease considering cities as military objectives - 'cities are not targets'...."

PHILIP ELLIOTT for AP:

"MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Two Democratic presidential candidates with extensive foreign policy experience warned Thursday that the current unrest in Pakistan is reminiscent of events that led up to the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81....

...."But unlike Iran, Pakistan already is a nuclear state."...."

WILLIAM MATTHEWS at DefenseNews.com:

"Congress will not let the U.S. military begin building a missile defense site in Europe until the U.S. has ratified agreements with the host nations - and that's not close to happening, said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif.

In remarks to defense reporters Nov. 8, Tauscher said the U.S. Missile Defense Agency should work harder at protecting deployed U.S. troops against current missile threats with proven technology and "pull back" from "science projects" such as the European missile defense site...."

David Cronin at commentisfree.guardian.co.uk:

"Have Nicolas Sarkozy and other western leaders forgotten that they are in fact obligated to get rid of nuclear weapons?...."

DAVID E. SANGER at nytimes.com:

"TWO years ago, when Gen. Pervez Musharraf still seemed secure in his rule over Pakistan, he was asked a question that is now urgently coursing through Washington: Are his country's nuclear weapons safe from Islamic radicals?..."

Jonathan Granoff, special to The Courier-Journal:

"Religious leaders gathering this week at the Festival of Faiths in Louisville must make a forceful call to forge a consensus of conscience and reason: Nuclear weapons are unworthy of civilization. No other threat to human survival is as immediate and hazardous as the 27,000 warheads still in existence

In today's nuclear arsenals, triggering devices are approximately as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. A few dozen exploding in the U.S., Russia, Pakistan or India would virtually destroy these nations, cause immeasurable suffering, and could irreversibly end what we know as civilization...."

JAMES RUPERT -- james.rupert@newsday.com

"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Why all the fuss about Pakistan?

Each year since 2002, the U.S. government has poured nearly $2 billion into this land a hemisphere away -- roughly half what it spent this year for its entire cancer institute budget and about what it spent on the international space station.

And as Pakistan slid into crisis this year, commentators as disparate as Newsweek, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and London's daily Telegraph declared it the "most dangerous" country in the world...."

AFP:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States reportedly has secret contingency plans to safeguard Pakistani nuclear weapons if they risk falling into the wrong hands.

But US officials worry their limited knowledge about the location of the arsenal could pose a problem, the Washington Post said, a week after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency...."

Srinand Jha , Hindustan Times:

"Is there a thaw in the Left parties' attitude on the nuclear question?

The CPI on Monday said it will consider allowing the Centre to go to the IAEA for a safeguards agreement on the nuclear deal as long as no agreement is signed before clearing it with the Left.

Karat clarified he was not talking about the possibility of a consensus on the nuclear question. "If there is no possibility, I will not say we are going to meet again. I am hopeful something will come out," he said. CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat also struck a conciliatory note by saying that neither side (Congress or the Left) was adamant on the issue, while expressing the hope that "something would come out" of ongoing talks on the subject between the two sides. He, however, maintained there was no change in his party's position that the deal should not be operationalised before the UPA-Left panel comes out with its findings...."

Jonathan Schell at truthout.org:

"The journey to the martial law just imposed on Pakistan by its self-appointed president, the dictator Pervez Musharraf, began in Washington on September 11, 2001. On that day, it so happened, Pakistan's intelligence chief, Lt. General Mahmood Ahmed, was in town. He was summoned forthwith to meet with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who gave him perhaps the earliest preview of the global Bush doctrine then in its formative stages, telling him, "You are either one hundred percent with us or one hundred percent against us."

The next day, the administration, dictating to the dictator, presented seven demands that a Pakistan that wished to be "with us" must meet. These concentrated on gaining its cooperation in assailing Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which had long been nurtured by the Pakistani intelligence services in Afghanistan and had, of course, harbored Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda training camps. Conspicuously missing was any requirement to rein in the activities of Mr. A.Q. Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear arms, who, with the knowledge of Washington, had been clandestinely hawking the country's nuclear-bomb technology around the Middle East and North Asia for some years.

Musharraf decided to be "with us "; but, as in so many countries, being with the United States in its Global War on Terror turned out to mean not being with one's own people. Although Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999, was already a dictator, he had now taken the politically fateful additional step of very visibly subordinating his dictatorship to the will of a foreign master. In many countries, people will endure a homegrown dictator but rebel against one who seems to be imposed from without, and Musharraf was now courting this danger...."

No Bases Initiative:

""No to the Bases" initiative organizes a national demonstration on November 17, 2007 at 4pm in Prague's Wenceslas Square. The demonstration takes place during 18th anniversary of the "Velvet revolution" in the Czech Republic. It will call for a national referendum on the issue of the planned US military base in the Czech Republic. According to the latest polls, 68% of Czechs oppose the US plan."

Dana:

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Director General of the IAEA at casmii:

"Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006) and 1747 (2007) in the Islamic Republic of Iran..."

Jon Fox at Global Security Newswire:

"In the January Journal commentary, Kissinger and Shultz joined former Senator Sam Nunn, and former Defense Secretary William Perry in offering a step-by-step road map toward the global nuclear disarmament.

The commentary states that "the world is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous nuclear era." The authors warned that "unless urgent new actions are taken, the U.S. soon will be compelled to enter a new nuclear era that will be more precarious, psychologically disorienting, and economically even more challenging than was Cold War deterrence" (see GSN, Jan. 4).

They called for lowering the alert status of deployed nuclear weapons, eliminating short-range weapons, substantially reducing strategic nuclear forces and pursuing other measures to "lay the groundwork for a world free of the nuclear threat."

Since the piece was published, it has become a touchstone for nonproliferation advocates, been cited by presidential hopefuls, and was included in a speech by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's outgoing foreign secretary (see GSN, June 26).

That push, however, does not clash with initial U.S. work on a new nuclear warhead to begin replacing the nation's Cold War-era munitions, Shultz wrote in a letter to Kissinger this summer...."