IRAN
Opinion: Taking an Iran Option Off the Table
Tad Daley, Consortiumnews.com – March 24, 2013
President Obama’s repetitious warning to Iran that “all options are on the table” carries with it the implicit threat of a nuclear strike against a non-nuclear state, a violation of previously declared principles and a provocation that encourages Iran to build an atomic bomb, as Tad Daley explains.
NORTH KOREA
U.S., South Korea sign ‘strong, decisive’ contingency plan against possible North Korean attacks
Bloomberg News – March 25, 2013
The U.S. and South Korea signed a contingency plan of action against attacks from North Korea, which this month threatened preemptive nuclear strikes against the two allies. General James Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, signed the agreement on March 22 with South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Jung Seung Jo, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said on Monday in a statement on its website.
President Park Says Deterrence is More Important Than Winning War
Arirang News – March 25, 2013
President Park Geun-hye sat down with visiting former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Monday afternoon, and said that Seoul will never tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea. During their 40-minute meeting, President Park reiterated that Pyongyang will pay for any provocative acts but stressed that the window for dialogue is open, should the North make the right and responsible choice.
Opinion: Nuclear Disarmament’s Asian Pivot
Richard Weitz, Project Syndicate – March 25, 2013
In 2009, US President Barack Obama pledged to seek a world without nuclear weapons. But, while he delivered on his promise to negotiate a New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia a year later, progress has since stalled. To break the deadlock, the current bilateral framework for negotiation, which has remained largely unchanged since the Cold War, must be transformed into a trilateral framework that includes China.
Opinion: B-52s should remain strategy relics
James Carroll, The Boston Globe – March 25, 2013
If, nearly a generation after the end of the Cold War, the Korean flashpoint seems fossilized, so does Washington’s response. Is there really nothing for the United States to do but scramble B-52s?
MISSILE DEFENSE
Hagel seeks to reassure Poland on missile defense
Associated Press – March 23, 2013
The United States is dedicated to defending Europe from missile attacks despite a US decision to abandon the final phase of a planned anti-missile system, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said Friday. In a phone call to Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, Hagel conveyed his condolences over the death of a Polish soldier in Afghanistan this week and voiced his “appreciation for Poland’s understanding” over changes to a European missile defense plan, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Editorial: How Many Rockets Did Iron Dome Shoot Down?
Defense Update – March 23, 2013
A number of articles published recently in Israel and abroad – including one in Haaretz daily newspaper, by Reuven Pedatzur which was widely quoted worldwide – have questioned the performance of the Iron Dome counter-rocket, artillery and missile (C-RAM) system praised for defeating most of the rockets fired at Israel by Palestinians during Operation Pillar of Defense, in November 2012.
Editorial: The Enduring Illusion of Missile Defense—30 Years Later
David Wright, Union of Concerned Scientists – March 22, 2013
Thirty years ago tomorrow—March 23, 1983—President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” speech spawned an enthusiasm for missile defense that even today dominates defense discussions in Washington. Much has changed in those 30 years, so where are we?
