IRAN
Iran Ready to Double Nuclear Work in Bunker – IAEA
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters – November 16, 2012
Iran is set to sharply expand its uranium enrichment in an underground site after installing all the centrifuges it was built for, a U.N. nuclear report showed on Friday, a move that could increase Western alarm about Tehran’s nuclear course.
NORTH KOREA
U.S. Says North Korea Can Learn From Myanmar
AP – November 15, 2012
America’s warming relations with former adversary Myanmar should demonstrate to North Korea the benefits of opening up to the world, a top White House official said Thursday. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon was speaking ahead of a historic visit to Myanmar next week by President Barack Obama, the first by a sitting U.S. president. Mr. Donilon said the trip is intended to “lock in” and encourage further democratic overhaul.
Japan, North Korea Begin New Talks in Mongolia
AP – November 15, 2012
Japan and North Korea began talks Thursday in Mongolia that Tokyo hopes will shed light on decades-old abductions. The meetings in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator are scheduled to last through Friday. In August, lower-level negotiators from Japan and North Korea held the countries’ first bilateral talks in four years, but made little progress.
ISRAEL
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Under Rocket Fire, Netanyahu Warns Gaza
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters – November 16, 2012
Palestinian militants nearly hit Jerusalem with a rocket for the first time in decades on Friday and fired at Tel Aviv for a second day, in a stinging challenge to Israel’s Gaza offensive after an Egyptian bid to broker a truce.
SYRIA
Where Syria’s Opposition Groups Get Their Rockets
Kristen Chick, Christian Science Monitor – November 16, 2012
With few weapons flowing to the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, homemade rockets, mortars, and hand grenades have become increasingly used in the fight. While the battle for Aleppo grinds on in Syria’s largest city, behind the front lines hums an operation crucial to the fight: homemade weapons manufacturing.
Can Europe’s Shrinking Military Back up Its Commitments to Syria?
Scott Johnson, International Herald Tribune – November 16, 2012
Great Britain on Thursday became the latest European country to throw its support behind the nascent Syrian rebel opposition movement. British Defense Minister William Hague, who will host Syrian representatives in London on Friday to discuss cooperation going forward, said the time may have come for Western help in establishing a no-fly zone.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Pentagon Says 75,000 Toops May be Needed to Seize Syria Chemical Arms
David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, New York Times – November 15, 2012
The Pentagon has told the Obama administration that any military effort to seize Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons would require upward of 75,000 troops, amid increasing concern that the militant group Hezbollah has set up small training camps close to some of the chemical weapons depots, according to senior American officials.
NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION
South Korea’s Commitment to Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Duyeon Kim, The Hill – November 16, 2012
North Korea and nuclear weapons are ever-present in the minds of South Koreans except when it comes to its own nuclear energy. This may seem counterintuitive.
India and the Meltdown of Canada’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy
Paul Meyer, Toronto Star – November 15, 2012
Canada and India both want to start a new chapter in the history of our bilateral nuclear relations. This new chapter is meant to put behind us the bitterness of the past, when a Canadian-supplied research reactor was exploited to produce India’s first “peaceful” nuclear explosion in 1974 and subsequently to help create India’s nuclear weapon arsenal that was made overt through a series of nuclear tests in May 1998.
