Why We Don't Need to Resume Nuclear Testing

Stories we're following today:

Why We Don't Need to Resume Nuclear Testing - Daryl Kimball in Proliferation Analysis [link]

• Nuclear testing is a dangerous and unnecessary vestige of the last century that the U.S. has already given up. The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992 and the nuclear weapons labs do not need nuclear explosive testing to maintain the reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent. U.S. action on the CTBT would build support for updating and strengthening the global nonproliferation system at a critical juncture.
• Unfortunately, some pro-testers are stuck in the past. In his October 20 Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Why We Need to Test Nuclear Weapons,” Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) relies on several old and misleading arguments against the CTBT.
• Note: Daryl Kimball is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association - a Ploughshares Grantee.

Clashes in Iran on Anniversary of Embassy Takeover - New York Times [link]

• Police officers firing tear gas and wielding batons clashed Wednesday with anti-government demonstrators in Tehran who sought to turn a rally commemorating the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy into a renewed protest against the disputed June 30 election, news reports and witnesses said.
• At the same time, in Washington, President Obama used the commemoration to renew his appeal for Iran to choose between its history of fraught and hostile relations with the United States or to “open the door to greater opportunity, prosperity, and justice for its people.”

Global Insights: Germany Relaunches NATO Nuclear Debate - Richard Weitz in World Politics Review [link]

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel's new coalition government [made a] controversial commitment to remove all U.S. nuclear weapons from German soil within the next few years.
• By formally adopting the commitment as a core element of its platform, the German government has dramatically focused attention on what has until now been a low-key debate within NATO over whether to retain nuclear weapons as a core element of the alliance's strategy.

Iran Expands Gchine U Mine - Arms Control Wonk [link]

• Bloomberg’s Jonathan Tirone has a story today revealing that Iran has dramatically expanded operations at its Gchine uranium mine.
• Dealing with [risks from Iran's program] would require a comprehensive monitoring arrangement that would safeguard Iran’s nuclear program from the moment that uranium ore came out of the ground at Gchine through the entire fuel cycle. The most feasible way in which to establish such a monitoring arrangement would start with Iranian ratification and implementation of the Additional Protocol.

Brent Scowcroft on the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Frederick Kempe in the New Atlanticist [link]

• Atlantic Council president and CEO Frederick Kempe interviewed Brent Scowcroft on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• "It was a tumultuous day in Berlin, but just an ordinary day in the White House. ... I think the President strategically had exactly the right approach. What he kept trying to say was, “Look, nobody won or lost here; we both won with the end of the Cold War."