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HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI ANNIVERSARY
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Atomic Bomb's Lingering Consequences
Peter Rowe, San Diego Union Tribune
August 10, 2015
Nuclear weapons have been used in warfare twice, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Is there a fail-safe way to prevent a third occasion?
That question challenged a remarkable group of University of California San Diego faculty. They agreed with the university's first chancellor, Herbert York, who argued that nuclear warfare would make a mockery of words like "victory" or "defeat." "The only words that would make any sense," he told a congressional panel in 1961, "are 'complete and utter disaster,' 'catastrophe.' "
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The AP's Controversial and Badly Flawed Iran Inspections Story, Explained
Max Fisher, Vox
August 20, 2015
On Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press published an exclusive report on the Iran nuclear program so shocking that many political pundits declared the nuclear deal dead in the water. But the article turned out to be a lot less damning than it looked - and the AP, which scrubbed many of the most damning details, is now itself part of this increasingly bizarre story.
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Why Accepting the Iran Nuclear Deal is a No-Brainer
Harold Brown, The Washington Post
August 13, 2015
Iran's nuclear program, its advance suspended during the negotiations, is but two years from a nuclear weapon. That's an urgent problem demanding immediate attention. Iranian possession of nuclear arms would give other regional powers an irresistible urge to obtain them. The Middle East and Persian Gulf conflicts would escalate. That consideration surely motivated the unicorn-level rarity of a common position among the United States, Britain, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia and China.
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Funding Inspections Under the Iran Deal
Jessica Michek, Bipartisan Policy Center
August 17, 2015
The body tasked with verifying Iran's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a U.N. agency based in Vienna. But it seems unlikely that the IAEA will be able to carry out the enhanced monitoring regime called for in the Iran deal without a significant increase in the funding it receives from the United States and other member governments.
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The Iran Nuclear Agreement: The Need For a Full U.S. Implementation Plan
Anthony Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies
August 24, 2015
The U.S. focus on whether the Congress can get 60 votes against the agreement, and then
67 votes to override a veto, presents the potential danger that the U.S. does not prepare
properly for what happens if they can't block the agreement and the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA) actually goes into force.
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The Comprehensive P5+1 Nuclear Agreement With Iran:
A Net-Plus For Nonproliferation
Statement from Nuclear Nonproliferation Specialists
August 17, 2015
A multitude of arms control and nonproliferation experts prepared this statement which cites the many positive gains provided by the nuclear agreement.
"The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a strong, long-term, and verifiable
agreement that will be a net-plus for international nuclear nonproliferation efforts."
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Is Iran Deal a Threat to Israel? New Signs Military is
At Odds with Netanyahu
Joshua Mitnick, Christian Science Monitor
August 17, 2015
"It's not a secret that some high-ranking people in the Israeli security establishment, including the IDF, view this deal more favorably than the prime minister."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's denunciation of the Iran nuclear deal as a "historic mistake" enjoys broad public support and has been echoed by opposition leaders. But many Israeli security chiefs have adopted a more nuanced approach to the agreement - the latest indication of a divergence between some in Israel's defense establishment and the prime minister.
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Breakout Timelines Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
David Albright, Houston Wood, and Andrea Stricker,
Institute for Science and International Security
August 18, 2015
A key criterion in the development of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is the time Iran needs to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon, called breakout.
The bare-boned limits on Iran's centrifuge program provide for at least a 12-month breakout period. However, based on ISIS analyses the agreed limits do not guarantee a 12-month breakout timeline during the first ten years of the agreement, if Iran can relatively quickly re-deploy its already manufactured IR-2m centrifuges.
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Iran's Top Man is Still For Nuclear Deal
Alex Vatanka, Middle East Institute
August 18, 2015
In the United States the nuclear deal with Iran has become a political football of historic proportions, but that hasn't been the case in Iran. Why not? Most likely it is because for Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there is no viable alternative to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It's a choice between a deal with the world community or more isolation and economic pain, as well as the social-political uncertainty at home that could come with it.
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Beyond Partisan Infighting: The Role Congress Should Play in Reacting to the Nuclear Agreement With Iran: Mark II
Anthony H. Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies
August 19, 2015
American partisan ideological extremism is in full swing and on a bipartisan basis. It has
been a little over a month since the signing of the P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran on
July 14th, and a month since the vote of the UN Security Council to accept it. As was all
too predictable, it has become a partisan fight along party lines that owes as much to the
coming Presidential election as the merits of the agreement.
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Yes, Iran Can Hide Nuclear Weapons in 24 Days.
Iran Deal's Details Show Fatal Flaws.
Michaela Dodge, The Daily Signal
August 14, 2015
When it comes to the Iran deal, the devil is in details, particularly when it comes to verification and arms control.
In the latest spin on the Iran deal's flawed verification provisions, proponents of the deal are twisting words like pretzels to convince the American public that a nuclear program cannot be hidden in 24 days.
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Why it's Impossible to Hide Nuclear Work in 24 Days - Or 24 Years.
Yousaf Butt, Reuters
August 13, 2015
One of the most misleading distortions being floated by political opponents of the Iran nuclear deal is the "24-day" loophole meme: Iran would be able to hide all evidence of any nefarious nuclear weapons work during the 24 days it may take inspectors to gain access to a suspicious site.
The bottom line is that it is almost impossible to get away with messing around with nuclear materials. Nuclear fingerprints are not removable.
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Are Ayatollah Khamenei's Views of the Iran Nuclear Deal Emerging?
Haleh Esfandiari, Wall Street Journal
August 17, 2015
An insight into his thinking appeared to arrive Saturday in an opinion piece in the conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan. Its editor,Hossein Shariatmadari, is close to Ayatollah Khamenei and often reflects the supreme leader's views.
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The U.S.-Russia Nuclear Relationship: A New Cold War?
Tong Zhao, Carnegie Tsinghua Center for Global Policy
August 17, 2015
Verbal warnings and high-profile military deployments indicate that the U.S.-Russia relationship has inched closer to a new Cold War in the wake of the Ukraine crisis that began in late 2013. Because of worsening U.S.-Russia political relations, relations at the strategic and security levels have deteriorated.
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Policy Highlights Opportunities in Nuclear Plants
Geng Yuhe, China Daily
August 18, 2015
The expansion of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant Project is underway near Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. China is the world's largest nuclear market in terms of the number of power plants under construction.
China's decision to press ahead with its nuclear energy program can have a positive effect on the global market.
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