IRAN
IAEA says foreign expertise has brought Iran to threshold of nuclear capability
Joby Warrick, The Washington Post — November 6, 2011
Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings.
Q+A: U.N. report on Iran’s nuclear program
Fredrik Dahl, Reuters — November 7, 2011
The U.N. atomic watchdog is set to issue a report this week with detailed intelligence pointing to research and experiments in Iran to develop the technology and skills needed to make nuclear bombs, Western diplomats say.
Insight: Has Iran ended Israel’s Begin Doctrine?
Dan Williams, Reuters — November 7, 2011
Menachem Begin did not pull his punches. In 1981, as work neared completion on an Iraqi nuclear reactor that Israel believed would produce plutonium for warheads, the Israeli prime minister dispatched eight F-16 bombers to destroy the plant. Begin later said that the raid was proof his country would “under no circumstances allow the enemy to develop weapons of mass-destruction against our people”.
Bracing for the Iran Nuclear Report: Will ‘Military Action’ Rhetoric Develop its Own Momentum?
Tony Karon, Time — November 7, 2011
If the proverbial “drumbeat” for war with Iran has grown more insistent in recent weeks, it’s about to turn into something akin to the opening bars of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. That’s because the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected, in a report on Iran’s nuclear program due for release early this week, to suggest that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program may include a “possible military dimension”, giving Tehran the means — possibly with the help of foreign scientists — to relatively quickly build nuclear weapons should it choose to do so.
NORTH KOREA
S. Korea to review sending aid to North
Jiyeon Lee, CNN — November 7, 2011
Signaling South Korea may be attempting to cool tensions with its neighbor, Seoul has vowed to actively review sending humanitarian aid to North Korea through third channels.
Between friend and ally
Sunny Lee, The Korea Times — November 7, 2011
Sometimes China and North Korea appear too close to each other; and that could mean trouble for China. When North Korea embarks on provocative behavior, the international community looks to Beijing to restrain Pyongyang.
PAKISTAN
Pakistan Announces Move to Increase Nuclear Security
Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic — November 7, 2011
Pakistan is training 8,000 additional people to protect the country’s nuclear arsenal, which the U.S. fears could be vulnerable to penetration by Islamist militants at war with the West, the Pakistani military said.
The Pentagon’s Secret Plans to Secure Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal
Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder, Global Security Newswire — November 7, 2011
By hiding its nuclear weapons from Washington, Pakistan has made them much more vulnerable to jihadists. In response, the Pentagon has devised secret plans to secure the Pakistani arsenal — by force if necessary.
