The Objective and Ulterior Motive for Iran Sanctions

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Wednesday, August 10, 2011.

Sanctions for What? - Paul Pillar in The National Interest [link]

• ... what do we hope to accomplish through sanctions? What is our objective in imposing them on any particular country? One possible objective is to influence a regime … A second possible objective is to undermine the target regime … A third possible purpose is to constrain the regime.
• What ought to be the first step in any recommendation about sanctions is to specify exactly what is the objective we hope to accomplish … much of the commentary touting the importance of sanctions against a given country makes no effort to specify what the objective is.
• There is yet another purpose, also not legitimate, that probably is also involved in much of what is said about sanctioning Iran. That is to be able to say at some point that sanctions have not “worked” and therefore one must resort to something else, particularly military force.
• Those driven by this objective … have an interest in being vague … leaving them more flexibility about how they can argue in the future that the sanctions have not “worked.”

Three Easy Ways to Increase U.S. National Security -- With Bipartisan Backing - Kingston Reif in Nukes of Hazard [link]

• [1] Reverse reckless cuts to nuclear terrorism prevention programs … The Senate should … restore full funding to the [National Nuclear Security Administration’s] Global Threat Reduction Initiative when it takes up the Energy and Water bill in September.
• [2] Approve enabling legislation for the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and the 2005 International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ISCANT) [sic] … U.S. ratification of the Conventions will bolster the cooperative international effort to prevent nuclear terrorism.
• [3] Insist that civilian nuclear cooperation agreements contain the highest nonproliferation standards … Congress should … promptly approve H.R. 1280 [which would require Congressional approval of civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with foreign countries that do not pledge to foreswear [sic] the development of uranium enrichment and reprocessing technologies.]

Opinion: Lessons of Fukushima and Hiroshima - Joseph Cirincione in Kyodo News [link]

• ... nuclear technology is inherently dangerous whether in a nuclear power plant or a nuclear bomb.
• Fukushima showed us that nuclear power is neither cheap nor clean … Hiroshima demonstrated that science had mastered the basic energy force of the universe, but not our basic instincts.
• The good news is that we are moving towards more sane policies on nuclear power and nuclear weapons … The next two decades are likely to see nations continue to move away from the false paths charted at Hiroshima and Fukushima and towards more rational security and energy strategies.

Pentagon’s Mach 20 Missile Ready for Ultimate Test - Noah Shachtman in Wired [link]

• The Pentagon has been working for nearly a decade on an audacious plan to strike anywhere on the planet in less than an hour [known as Prompt Global Strike]. Wednesday could prove to be the do-or-die moment for that plan [when the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 is tested].
• The Defense Department is pursuing three different families of technologies … One is to rearm nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles with conventional warheads … A second effort is to build shorter-range cruise missiles that can fly at five or six times the speed of sound … Some variation of the HTV-2 is the third choice.
• ... to some in the defense community, [the third strategy is] the most appealing.

Officials Say SKorea Opens Fire After NKorean Artillery Shells Land Near SKorean Waters - Sam Kim in Associated Press [link]

• South Korean marines returned fire Wednesday after North Korea launched artillery shells … The three North Korean shells fired near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea prompted the South to fire three shells back.
• Both sides’ shells landed in the water, and there were no reports of casualties.
• South Korean forces stepped up their monitoring of the North after Wednesday’s artillery exchange … The North’s shelling took place unexpectedly.