North Korea launches rocket by Jean H Lee AP

N. Korea launches rocket, defying world pressure

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/04/AR2009040400348_2.html?nav=igoogle

By JEAN H. LEE The Associated Press Sunday, April 5, 2009; 12:29 AM

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said. The multistage rocket hurtled toward the Pacific, reaching Japanese airspace within seven minutes, but no debris appeared to hit its territory, officials in Tokyo said.

The U.N. Security Council approved an emergency session for Sunday afternoon in New York, following a request from Japan that came minutes after the launch.

The South Koreans called it "reckless," the Americans "provocative," and Japan said it strongly protested the launch.

The launch was a bold act of defiance against President Barack Obama, Japanese leader Taro Aso, Hu Jintao of China and others who pressed Pyongyang in the days leading up to liftoff to call off a launch they said would threaten peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

South Korea's presidential Blue House said the launch poses a "serious threat" to stability on the Korean peninsula and that it would respond to the provocation "sternly and resolutely." President Lee Myung-bak ordered the military to remain on alert, the Blue House said.

"We cannot contain our disappointment and regret over North Korea's reckless act," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters Sunday. He said the launch of the long-range rocket "poses a serious threat to security on the Korean peninsula and the world."

North Korea claims its aim is to send an experimental communications satellite into orbit in a peaceful bid to develop its space program.

The U.S., South Korea, Japan and others suspect the launch is a guise for testing the regime's long-range missile technology _ one step toward eventually mounting a nuclear weapon on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.

Read the entire article here: N. Korea launches rocket, defying world pressure

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20090405 North Korea launches rocket by Jean H Lee AP

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Obama’s Nuclear Leadership Opportunity

Obama’s Nuclear Leadership Opportunity

The Moderate Voice: Obama’s Nuclear Leadership Opportunity by Robin Walker

February 26th, 2009 By Guest Voice Robin Walker

The Truman National Security Project bills itself as “the nation’s only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of progressives across America to lead on national security.” The following essay (the first in a series for TMV) is from Robin Walker, a Project fellow. As with other “guest voice” posts, this and future contributions from the Truman Project do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TMV editorial board or writers.
_______________________________________________

By Robin Walker, Truman National Security Project

Of the various challenges President Obama mentioned in his Tuesday evening address to Congress — two wars, a housing crisis, energy, healthcare, education, the deficit, etc. — one challenge got little attention but represents an opportunity for serious progress: nuclear weapons.

By law the President has to produce a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) by the end of 2009. If properly handled, the NPR could improve our security, reduce the deficit, improve the United States’ standing in the world, and increase security in one of the most dangerous regions of the world, South Asia.

[…]

The longstanding India-Pakistan rivalry is frequently described as the most likely nuclear war scenario in the modern world. Since both countries demonstrated their nuclear capabilities with tests in 1998, three crises have narrowly averted escalating to the level of nuclear exchanges: the 1999 Kargil war; the 2001-2 military buildup; and the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Anything the United States can do to minimize the risk of these countries using nuclear weapons is clearly in the interest of the United States and the international community.

Read Mr. Walker’s entire commentary here: Obama’s Nuclear Leadership Opportunity by Robin Walker

20090226 Obamas Nuclear Leadership Opportunity by Robin Walker

http://themoderatevoice.com/26749/obama


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U.S.-India Nuclear Chickens Coming Home to Roost by Robin Walker

U.S.-India Nuclear Chickens Coming Home to Roost by Robin Walker

http://www.allourmight.com/?p=210

October 27th, 2008 by Jim Arkedis

The following is the latest in our series from fellows in the Truman National Security Project. Robin Walker writes:

The recently-completed U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal put a major crack in the nonproliferation dam of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). That’s in addition to the the announcement last week that China will build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan. The next president will have to move quickly to prevent the complete destruction of the existing nonproliferation regime and a potentially rapid spread of nuclear weapons that could follow.

Under the U.S.-India deal, the United States agreed to provide nuclear fuel for India and enable U.S. firms to sell nuclear it technology. In exchange, India will allow international inspectors and IAEA safeguards at their civilian (but not military) nuclear sites.

The deal is controversial because it would give India—a non-signer of the NPT like neighbor Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel—the de facto rights of a nuclear weapons state under the NPT, which bans nuclear trade with non-signers and non-nuclear countries.

[…]

Options for the next president include:

[…]

Read the rest of Mr. Walker’s column here: U.S.-India Nuclear Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Robin Walker is a South Asia and nonproliferation expert . The views expressed here are his own.

The views and ideas expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the Progressive Policy Institute, nor the management staff of AllOurMight.com.

http://www.allourmight.com/?p=210

20081027 US India Nuclear Chickens Coming Home to Roost by Robin Walker

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