Shedding Excess Nuclear Weapons

July 3, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

Rethinking the role of nuclear weapons - The Obama administration is considering pairing down the nuclear arsenal, possibly to between 1,000 and 1,100 warheads from the current 1,737. Administration officials note that this pending decision reflects “new thinking on the role of nuclear weapons in an age of terror.” Robert Burns of AP has the story.

--”James Cartwright, the retired Marine Corps general who commanded U.S. nuclear forces from 2004-07, thinks the U.S. should acknowledge that a large nuclear force is of limited value in deterring today’s major threats.”

--”The administration has indicated it would prefer to pursue further reductions as part of a negotiation with Russia, but some have suggested that reductions could be done unilaterally,” notes Burns. Reflexive opposition from Republicans in Congress is assumed to follow any announcement from the administration - nuclear policy included. http://wapo.st/LVqDlH

Happy 4th of July - We’ve all heard the 1812 overture set to fireworks. How about some really, really big fireworks? “Nuclear Tests set to the 1812 Overture” http://bit.ly/M422HK

--Early Warning will be taking tomorrow off to celebrate the 4th. We will be back online on Thursday. Keep your fireworks safe and subcritical.

Strong language - After obtaining the powerpoint presentation the Iranians gave on their negotiating position in Moscow, David Ignatius of the Washington Post thinks a deal could be reached on halting 20 percent enrichment and shipping the existing stockpile out of the country. However, he thinks this is highly unlikely judging from Iran’s use of language.

--”It’s an argumentative document, conveying Iran’s view in language that is, by turns, defensive and sharply assertive,” he writes of the presentation. Read the full-story here.http://wapo.st/MPhOZ6

Technical talks - Technical talks begin in Istanbul today to try to advance negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. http://bit.ly/OijqL7

Tweet - @MicahZenko: Pentagon announced (months ago) all the Persian Gulf military reinforcements "revealed" by NYT today. Not News. http://nyti.ms/O0izLy

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Pretty much - “Is America Waging Economic War on Iran?” asks John Bennett at Dotmil. Bennett looks at the Iran sanctions industry forming in Washington - largely fueled by Congress with financial firms and energy consultant groups playing big roles.

--"Sanctions are at a six right now. We need to get to a 10 or a spinal-tap 11...We do that by really thinking of sanctions not as incremental measures, but as economic war," said Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. http://bit.ly/LMWHGH

Secondary sanctions effects - Iran has proven fairly resilient to current sanctions. “In sum, the sanctions have allowed the Ahmadinejad government to blame its shortcomings on foreigners, devalue the rial and benefit from the increase of citizens’ financial reliance on the state,” writes Mohammad Ali Shabani for Al Monitor. http://bit.ly/N5CZln

Missile exercise - Iran is slated to conduct a military exercise involving Long-, Medium- and short-range surface-to-surface missiles. Global Security Newswire has the story. http://bit.ly/LN1NCC

Perspective - In the interest of a little perspective, our own Ploughshares Fund discovered that the $31 billion dollars a year the U.S. spends on nukes equals the combined municipal budgets of Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Seattle.

--See the infographic here: http://bit.ly/NfGise