IRAN
Iran Atomic Talks With UN Monitors Unexpectedly Extended
Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg News – Jan 17 2013
Negotiations between United Nations nuclear inspectors and Iran over access to suspected atomic installations in the Persian Gulf country were unexpectedly extended into a second day.
Iran, powers to hold nuclear talks in late January: ISNA
Torbati, Pawlak and Dahl, Reuters, Jan 16 2013
An Iranian news agency said on Wednesday that Iran and six world powers would resume talks over the Islamic state’s nuclear programme in late January but a European Union official said the two sides had yet to agree a date. Russia voiced alarm last week at delays in agreeing a new round of talks on the Iranian programme, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon capability.
Iran President Urges Sanctions Remedy
Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal – Jan 16 2013
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented measures to counter international sanctions that he said were hurting the nation’s economy, as United nations envoys tried to restart nuclear talks that could ease those penalties.
NORTH KOREA
Park Geun-hye talks NK nukes with US delegation
Song Chae Kyung-hwa and Park Byong-su, The Hankyoreh – Jan 17 2013
On Jan. 16, Korean president-elect Park Geun-hye met with a US government delegation that included Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. “We cannot allow the North to develop nuclear weapons. We will respond with resolute action,” said Park during the meeting. Park met the delegation at her office in the Tongui neighborhood in Seoul.
Japan envoy hopes U.N. to take action against N. Korea ‘sooner than later’
Yonhap News – Jan 17, 2013
Japan’s point man on North Korea said Thursday he was hopeful that the U.N. Security Council would take an action “sooner than later” against North Korea’s rocket launch last month, but stopped short of saying whether such an action might include new sanctions. Shinsuke Sugiyama, Japan’s chief envoy to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, made the remarks after holding talks with his South Korean counterpart Lim Sung-nam in Seoul.
INDIA AND PAKISTAN
Another Face-Off for Nuclear-Armed Rivals
The New York Times – Jan 16, 2013
One of the likeliest flash points for a nuclear war is the enduring conflict between India and Pakistan, which have scores of nuclear weapons. In recent weeks, several fatal incidents across the disputed Kashmir border have stoked new fears that the firing of bullets could escalate into something even worse.
NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
Nuclear Arms Control: Another New START
Steven Pifer, Brookings – Jan 17, 2013
President Obama has the opportunity — provided that Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to engage — to enhance U.S. and global security significantly through further reductions in nuclear arms and a cooperative NATO-Russia missile defense arrangement.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Assad ‘may have used gas’ against Syrian rebels
The Week – Jan 17, 2013
There are suggestions the Syrian military attacked its own citizens with a poisonous gas called Agent 15 last month, a move described by an Israeli intelligence agent as a provocative test to gauge the reaction of the US and its allies.
US asks Turkey, Jordan to secure chem weapons if Syria crisis worsens
Jeffrey Smith, NBC News – Jan 17, 2013
The Obama administration has quietly arranged for thousands of chemical protective suits and related items to be sent to Jordan and Turkey and is pressing the military forces there to take principal responsibility for safeguarding Syrian chemical weapons sites if the country’s lethal nerve agents suddenly become vulnerable to theft and misuse, Western and Middle Eastern officials say.
