State of Play on Talks with Iran

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

Ashton statement - ”European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told her Iranian counterpart Thursday that Iran needs to agree soon on a plan to stop its 20% enrichment, or there wasn’t much prospect of the current diplomatic track continuing as such indefinitely,” writes Laura Rozen in .

--“Yes, the few week delay may also, conveniently enough, give diplomats a few days for August vacation. But the underlying message seems pretty stark: the diplomatic track may be winding down, or at least going into hiatus, without a greater sign of seriousness from Iran,” writes Rozen. Read the full post for the details of the Ashton statement and a helpful guide to the nuances of diplomatic language. http://bit.ly/OwHoCU

Patience - “Engagement may not show immediate results, but negotiating with Iran is the only way to achieve a lasting solution to the nuclear dilemma,” writes Mary Kaszynski for The Diplomat.

--”Military action may be more satisfying in the short-term, but only engagement promises a long-term solution to the nuclear impasse. Understanding this, the U.S. must resist the impulse to end the talks prematurely and instead redouble its efforts to engage Iran.” http://bit.ly/Rht5UM

Not insignificant - Gen. James Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, refuted the notion that a few hundred nuclear weapons is insignificant, defending his assessment that the US could have an effective strategic force with 900 total nuclear weapons.

--”The retaliatory capability of 300 nuclear weapons on anybody's territory is catastrophic – catastrophic,” he said at a Senate Appropriation subcommittee hearing. Kingston Reif at The Nukes of Hazard has the story. http://bit.ly/M6TimW

War and ping pong - South Korea and North Korea are technically still at war. Now they are about to exchange volleys - this time in an Olympic table tennis match. The two Koreas face off on Saturday in London in what could be the most politically charged match of the games. Reuters has the story. http://trib.in/OwONlN

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McKeon & Turner - “During the past several years, it has become clear to us that NNSA is not delivering what the military needs,” write Reps. Buck McKeon (R-CA) and Michael Turner (R-OH) in a letter to the President.

--They express concern that NNSA has proven unable to deliver programs on time or on budget. They recommend changing oversight rules for NNSA in ways that critics argue would undermine the health and safety of agency workers and financial accountability of NNSA. http://bit.ly/Nqr4iy

No cause for alarm - Gregory Kulacki refutes a recent AP story that described a “muted” pro-bomb discussion in Japan. He argues that the story mischaracterizes the prevailing anti-nuclear weapon sentiment in Japan, which can be traced by several historical documents released in a push for greater transparency in government.

--”Recent Japanese comments on nuclear weapons, like those mentioned in the AP story, are a consequence of a concerted effort to make the discussion of Japanese governmental decisions about nuclear weapons more open to public scrutiny than it has been in the past. This is not a cause for alarm, but a welcome development that is highly likely to solidify Japanese opposition to the development of nuclear weapons,” writes Kulacki in a guest post on the Ploughshares Fund blog. http://bit.ly/NJmwtp

Tweet - @pourmecoffee: [Yesterday] in 1939 Einstein sent this letter to FDR warning of the coming atomic age. Still chilling. http://to.pbs.org/QmJqWO

Quote - “A central tenet of the Obama Administration’s security policy is that, if the U.S. ‘leads by example’ we can ‘reassert our moral leadership’ and influence other nations to do things,” said Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) on May 19th. http://bit.ly/N3lhDR

Doubletake - “A central tenet of the Obama Administration’s security policy is that, if the U.S. ‘leads by example’ we can ‘reassert our moral leadership’ and influence other nations to do things,” said Rep. Michael Turner on August 1st.

--Plagiarism is, apparently, the purest form of message discipline. Jeffrey Lewis at Arms Control Wonk found the quotes and asks why the congressmen are sharing speeches that feature made-up quotes from the Administration. http://bit.ly/N3lhDR

Still time - Experts disagree that “time is running out” before Iran could acquire a bomb, rhetoric often touted by politicians in U.S. and Israel.

-- “Nonproliferation experts and Middle East analysts are skeptical of Israeli claims that the Tehran regime is so close to building a nuclear weapon that time is running out for a peaceful resolution of the decades-long standoff.” Carol Williams interviews the experts for The L.A. Times. http://lat.ms/Rh2U0l

Fallout gets around - “One of the ‘special’ things about nuclear contaminants is that you can track them for a very long time, and see exactly how one test — or accident — in a remote area is intimately connected to the entire rest of the planet,” writes Alex Wellerstein at Restricted Data. Showing just how special, Wellerstein offers a set of fallout dispersion maps from Castle Bravo, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.

--”There’s plenty of fallout for everyone — well enough to go around. No need to be stingy. And nearly seven decades into the nuclear age, there’s a little bit of fallout in everyone, too.” http://bit.ly/QKgfwo