Morning Joe: Bill Clinton Arrives in North Korea

Stories we're following today:

Clinton’s Second Chance in Pyongyang - Newsweek [link]

• The White House today described Bill Clinton's surprise visit to North Korea as a "solely private" effort to secure the release of two captive American journalists. But the real story behind the trip very likely goes back to the public diplomacy that then-President Clinton was conducting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il nearly ten years ago, during Clinton's final months in office.

Nuclear Weapon's Refurbishing Woes Draw Congressional Attention to Treaty - Walter Pincus of the Washington post [link]

• Concern over the U.S. strategic nuclear stockpile, illustrated by problems with a classified material called "Fogbank," has triggered quiet maneuverings on Capitol Hill related to negotiations to extend the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
• Wonk Note: For background on "Fogbank" see Arms Control Wonk's analysis.

My plan to stop the bomb - Ban Ki-moon in The Guardian [link]

• Today the world is at another turning point. The assumption that nuclear weapons are indispensable to keeping the peace is crumbling. Disarmament is back on the global agenda – and not a moment too soon. A groundswell of new international initiatives will soon emerge to move this agenda forward.

Cash for Nuclear Clunkers - My analysis in Huffington Post [link]

• Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has ordered a $60 billion cut in spending over the next five years. The Joint Chiefs of Staff should trade in their old, high-cost nuclear bombs for cash required to buy the effective conventional equipment they need.

A View from the Dark Side

Why Revive the Cold War? - Doug Feith & Abram Shulsky in the Wall Street Journal [link]

• The Cold War ended nearly 20 years ago. Isn’t it time we abandoned policies specifically designed to deal with it? Arms-control talks are a case in point. Why should U.S. officials act as if only a Cold War-style treaty can save the United States and Russia from a destabilizing nuclear arms race?
• Background: A brief history of the persistent failures of Douglas Feith.

Liz Cheney on Obama Policy - Think Progress [link]

Faulty Reset on START - Defense News [link]

• When U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding on July 6 on a treaty to follow the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), this first press of Obama's reset button launched U.S. negotiators into a time warp to circa-1969 Cold War-style negotiations against an artificial deadline. The result is unlikely to be in the interest of the United States.