Thread: Nuclear Arms Control?

Funds from the US is going into increasing Pakistan's nuclear arms. The Obama admin knows about the new nuclear weapons being made.

Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says

17 May [NYTimes] WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the assessment of the expanded arsenal in a one-word answer to a question on Thursday in the midst of lengthy Senate testimony. Sitting beside Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, he was asked whether he had seen evidence of an increase in the size of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

“Yes,” he said quickly, adding nothing, clearly cognizant of Pakistan’s sensitivity to any discussion about the country’s nuclear strategy or security.

Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.

The administration’s effort is complicated by the fact that Pakistan is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium and, once a series of new reactors is completed, bomb-grade plutonium for a new generation of weapons. President Obama has called for passage of a treaty that would stop all nations from producing more fissile material — the hardest part of making a nuclear weapon — but so far has said nothing in public about Pakistan’s activities. ...

This thread started on the nuclear arms talks of US and Russia. They just had another two days of talks.

They say these talks are successful, but the Russian are unhappy over the anti-missile system in Poland and Czech republic.

U.S.-Russia nuclear talks make positive start

20 May MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States and Russia have held two days of successful talks on ways to slash vast stockpiles of Cold War nuclear weapons, a Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.

Finding a replacement for the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) before it expires on December 5 could herald a thaw in relations between the world's biggest two nuclear powers.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev last month ordered officials to begin the complicated talks needed to find a replacement for START, one of the biggest arms reduction deals in history.

"The talks were held in a constructive spirit, we consider they were successful," a Russian diplomat told Reuters after the first round of formal negotiations ended on Wednesday. He gave no details on where progress had been made.

The diplomat said the next round of talks would be held in Geneva on June 1-3 and that a progress report would be made to Obama and Medvedev at their meeting in Moscow on July 6-8. ...

The talks are complicated by Washington's plan to station elements of an anti-missile system in Poland and Czech Republic, in order to intercept rockets fired from what it sees as rogue states, such as Iran. Russia says the plan will undermine its national security. ...

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said the United States must allay Russian concerns over the missile system to achieve a breakthrough in the nuclear weapons talks. ....

As usual, these Q+A by Reuters are good. This is about nuclear proliferation risks of N Korea. Click into the link to read more.

Q+A - North Korea: the key global nuclear proliferation risk

27 May SINGAPORE (Reuters) - North Korea's nuclear test this week, and reports it has restarted a plant that makes weapons-grade plutonium, have raised fears of further proliferation that could seriously destabilise global security.

WHAT IS NORTH KOREA'S ROLE IN NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION?
Weapons exports are a key source of revenue for North Korea's ramshackle economy, and a means through which Pyongyang cements its ties with other "rogue states" hostile to the West.

What makes the country such a proliferation threat is that it is willing -- indeed, eager -- to sell its weapons technology, materials and know-how to the highest bidders.

And its nuclear test, the country's second, will have sparked the interest of many potential bidders.

A study by the U.S.-based Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis think tank this year estimates that Pyongyang earns around $1.5 billion a year from missile sales.

North Korean missile technology has already been exported to Pakistan, Libya, Iran, Syria and Egypt.

WHAT COUNTRIES MAY SEEK NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR ASSISTANCE?
Western policymakers are most alarmed by Iran and Syria's desire to boost their nuclear capability. Washington says Pyongyang has already exported missiles and missile technology to Iran and nuclear technology to Syria. ...

There is also a concern that Iran's and Syria's nuclear ambitions may spark an arms race in the Middle East, where only Israel currently has the bomb. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Gulf states may seek nuclear capability to balance the threat from Damascus and Tehran, analysts say.

WHAT ABOUT AN ARMS RACE IN ASIA?
The latest North Korean test may increase calls in Japan and South Korea to have their own nuclear deterrent rather than relying on the U.S. security umbrella. But analysts say it is very unlikely that these countries would risk Washington's displeasure by developing nuclear bombs, although they may well beef up their conventional missile capabilities.

Another risk is that an existing nuclear power uses Pyongyang's test as an excuse to conduct another test of its own. Most worryingly, a Pakistani nuclear test would further inflame tensions with India and increase instability in South Asia.

COULD MILITANT GROUPS ACQUIRE NUCLEAR KNOW-HOW?
The United States says North Korea has already provided conventional weapons technology and training to the Tamil Tigers and Lebanon's Hezbollah. Al Qaeda and related groups are actively seeking nuclear materials and know-how, and analysts say North Korea would be one of their most likely sources. ...

HOW CAN PROLIFERATION FROM NORTH KOREA BE CONTAINED?
One lesson from attempts to curb Pyongyang's nuclear programme is that sanctions and threats have little effect, or only encourage North Korean defiance. Many analysts say the fact North Korea's defiance and brinkmanship have not brought a decisive response may embolden other would-be nuclear powers. ...

For some reason unkown, India repeatedly refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Anybody knows why?

India sticks to its stand on NPT

30 May [EconomicTimes] BANGALORE: External affairs minister S M Krishna on Friday signalled that India will rebuff renewed American attempts to get the country to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), weeks ahead of a scheduled visit by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

India will reiterate its long-standing position on the treaty, which it regards as discriminatory, when Ms Clinton visits the country in July, ....

“Every country has its nuclear policy... Our position has been made very clear,” he said. After a lull of eight years under George W Bush’s presidency, the Barack Obama administration has revived talk that it wants India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea to sign the NPT amid preparations for a conference to review the treaty next year.

India and the United States finalised a civil nuclear agreement last year amid stiff opposition from the nuclear non-proliferation lobby which regards it as a threat to the NPT. India has maintained that it will not sign the treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. ....

They have no respect for nukes and still see them as a status symbol.

Lets look at the deeper real reason.

I understand from the above link Israel, Pakistan, N Korea and India are the four known nuclear states that have not signed the NPT.

Does this means India would sign only when Pakistan also signs?

Correction, North Korea signed and withdrew from the NPT.

India always claimed that her nukes are China oriented and Pakistan claims that her nukes are India oriented.

Israel wants a trump card against overwhelming Arab numbers.