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Journal of South Asian Non-Proliferation April 2009 Editorial Staff
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SASSIÔs Journal
of South Asian Non-Proliferation is an online compendium of security related
publications.
It is a periodic compilation of news, official statements, and expert analyses
related to South Asian security issues.
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Supporting worldwide understanding of South Asian security, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament issues. A Product of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) CONTENTSNUCLEAR OPINION / EDITORIAL CENTRAL
ASIA FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED TRIBAL AREAS (FATA) INDO-PAK
TENSION KASHMIR ENERGY / CLIMATE OFFICIAL STATEMENTS (NUCLEAR) MIDDLE EAST
Energy, Poverty and SecurityTHURSDAY, 23
APRIL 2009
DR. ALLAN R.
HOFFMAN
Poverty may be
defined as the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter,
electricity and safe drinking water, which determine our quality of life. All
too often it includes limited or no access to opportunities such as education
and employment which aid the escape from poverty.
Security
usually refers to an individualÕs employment, health or ability to be
shielded from violence. It is also a concept that applies to
nations. Historically, national security had a military connotation
– i.e., could a country protect itself against internal disruptions and
foreign invaders.
Today it is
clear that a nationÕs security also depends on the state of its economy and
the quality of its governance. Recognition of the critical relationship
among economics, governance and security was a major outcome of the Bretton
Woods conference of 1944 that led to the creation of the International
Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development. More recently it has been recognized that states with
little security, often referred to as fragile states, can undermine their
neighbors and regions as well.
Especially since the
attacks of 9/11, a theme often expressed is that poverty leads to terrorism
and that addressing poverty will diminish instability and the terrorism threat.
This is
certainly true to some extent, as most people need to have hope of a better
tomorrow if they are not to be receptive to extreme measures. However,
several recent studies have concluded that poverty alone does not
automatically lead to terrorism, as evidenced by the relative affluence of
many of the 9/11 terrorists and many others in the ranks of Al-Qaeda and
other terrorist organizations. The missing factor appears to be governance
and its link to economic development.
In a
statement to the United States Institute of Peace earlier this year, Robert
Zoellick, President of the World Bank, defined the problem as follows:
ÒFragile states are a witchesÕ brew of ineffective government, poverty, and
conflict. ÉÉWeak governance, corruption, and insecurity combine in a downward
cycle. More
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NUCLEAR
RELATED ISSUES |
New U.S.
Warhead Reductions Said to Depend on Nuclear Targeting Changes
April 1 - Global Security Newswire - U.S. Defense Department officials have concluded that they could not make any significant reductions to the nuclear arsenal unless President Barack Obama opted to scale back the nation's strategic targeting plan, according to nuclear weapons experts and officials
Court rejects N.J. nuke plant terrorist
concerns
April 1-
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was right in rejecting a challenge to the
way it evaluates the dangers of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant,
according to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. On Tuesday,
the court ruled against the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
and its contention that the NRC should have examined the potential
environmental impacts of a hypothetical terrorist attack on the plant during
the relicensing process of Oyster Creek nuclear generating station.
Miliband urges caution over Iran
April 1- BBC news - The international
community should not consider further sanctions against Iran while the US is
offering to engage with Tehran, David Miliband has said.
The
foreign secretary said Iran had a "once in a generation" chance to
normalise relations with the US.
Funding
boost for US weapon sites clean-up
April 1- World Nuclear News- US energy secretary Steven Chu has announced $6
billion in new funding for the environmental clean-up of former nuclear
weapons facilities across the country.
Company
established for new Romanian reactors
April 3- world Nuclear News- Energo Nuclear SA has been formally established to
undertake the construction, commissioning and operation of two new reactors
at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania.
UN chief welcomes Russian, U.S. nuclear
disarmament commitments
April 3
– Xinhua - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the
commitments made by the leaders of Russia and the United States to accomplish
nuclear disarmament and intensify nuclear non-proliferation efforts.
Under the April 1 Joint Statement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama, the two countries will take concrete
steps to fulfill their obligations under the UN-backed Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which forms the foundation of the world's
nuclear non-proliferation regime.
UN Security Council to meet Sunday on
NKorean rocket launch
April 5- Channel News Asia- The
UN Security Council was to meet in emergency session later Sunday at the
request of Japan and the United States to discuss what Washington and Seoul
described as North Korea's "provocative" long-range rocket launch.
Obama Condemns North KoreaÕs Launch of a
Missile
By Edwin Chen and Hans Nichols
April 5
Bloomberg- President Barack Obama condemned North KoreaÕs launch of a missile
and outlined an agenda designed to eventually rid the world of its nuclear
arsenal.
US blasts North Korea rocket launch as
'provocative'
April 5 – AFP - US President
Barack Obama blasted North Korea's rocket launch as "provocative" and
pledged to take action at a UN Security Council meeting.
U.S. Offers to
Cut Nuclear Arms
April 5- WSJ- President Barack Obama,
in the face of a rocket launch this weekend by North Korea, announced an
ambitious U.S. arms-control campaign aimed at drastically reducing atomic
weapons globally while still recognizing developing nations' rights to pursue
nuclear power.
Iran's president
may deliver 'good' nuclear plant news
April 6
– CNN - Iran's
president will deliver some good news this week about the country's first
nuclear power plant, a semi-official news agency reported Monday. The Mehr
News Agency said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will comment on progress at
the Bushehr nuclear power plant on a visit to the city of Natanz on Thursday.
The news agency quoted Parviz Fattah, the Iranian minister of power. Fattah said he hopes the nuclear
power plant will produce electricity for use as early as this summer, the
news agency said.
Iran criticizes
Obama, calls on U.S. to scrap nuclear arms
April 6- Reuters -
Iran criticized on Monday U.S. President Barack Obama for saying
Tehran posed a threat with its nuclear program and urged Washington and other
countries possessing atom weapons to dismantle their arsenals.
Experts Push
for Nonproliferation Successes Ahead of 2010 NPT Conference
April 6 - Global Security Newswire- Nuclear weapons experts today pushed for achieving some significant arms control milestones ahead of next year's Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference in New york.
Japan backs Obama's call for nuclear-free
world
April 6 – AFP - Japan on Monday
voiced strong support for US President Barack Obama's call to eventually rid
the world of nuclear weapons. "It is an extremely good move for a
country that possesses nuclear weapons, especially the United States, to
seriously pursue this," Prime Minister Taro Aso told reporters. Obama
pledged in a speech at Prague Castle on Sunday to lead the quest for a world
without nuclear weapons, denouncing "fatalism" over proliferation
and asking for an immediate end to nuclear testing.
North Korea a problem for Obama
By
Paul Reynolds
April 6- BBC news- North Korea's launching of a
rocket has, despite its apparent failure to put a satellite into orbit,
provided a new headache for US President Barack Obama as he formulates his
policy towards the unpredictable totalitarian state.
North Korea boycotts nuclear talks
Apr 14 - North Korea vowed to restart
its nuclear reactor and to boycott international disarmament talks for good
in retaliation for the UN Security Council's condemnation of its rocket
launch. China, the country's main ally, appealed for calm, while Russia
called on Pyongyang to return to the talks in the interests of
denuclearisation, reports said.
UN nuclear inspectors quit NKorea
Apr 14 – AFP - UN nuclear
inspectors left North Korea Thursday after the hardline communist state
ordered them out and announced plans to restart production of weapons-grade
plutonium.
China reiterates call for restraint by parties in
Korean nuclear talks
April 16 – Xinhua - China urged
"calmness and restraint" Thursday from the six parties in the talks
aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula after the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) asked international inspectors to leave the country.
US nuclear experts
pull out of North Korea
April 17- AP- U.S. monitors of North Korea's
nuclear program left the communist nation Friday after the regime ordered
them out and vowed to restart its reactor in anger over U.N. criticism of its
recent rocket launch.
U.S.-Russian Nuclear Talks Venue Will Be Rome,
Frattini Says
April 17
– Bloomberg - The U.S. and Russia will hold talks on April 24 in Rome
as part of a strategy aimed at reducing their nuclear arsenals, Italian
Foreign Minister Franco
Frattini told reporters today in the capital.
Toronto man tried to
export nuclear technology to Iran, police say
April 17- The Canadian Press- A Toronto man is
facing charges after allegedly trying to send nuclear technology to Iran, a
country under intense international pressure to curtail its nuclear ambitions
because of fears it wants to produce a bomb.
Ahmadinejad
says Iran favors talks with the West
Apr 18 – ANI - Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that his country is in favour of a dialogue with
the West over the nuclear stand-off.
US nuclear experts pull out of North Korea
April 18- AP - U.S. monitors of North
Korea's nuclear program left the communist nation after the regime ordered
them out and vowed to restart its reactor in anger over U.N. criticism of its
recent rocket launch.
Russia gives
cautious response to Obama nuclear plan
Apr 20- Reuters - Russia responded
cautiously on Monday to U.S. President Barack Obama's plans for a
nuclear-free world, saying a number of conditions would need to be met for
the vision to become reality.
Top UN Nuclear Official Optimistic About North
Korea, Iran
April
20 - VOA- The head of the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency says he
believes the international community's nuclear disagreements with North Korea
and Iran can be resolved through dialogue, not confrontation.
U.S. to Signal
"Positive Trajectory" at NPT Preparatory Conference
April 21 - Global Security Newswire -- The Obama administration plans to outline a "positive trajectory" for curbing nuclear weapons during a key U.N. meeting next month on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a senior U.S. State Department official said last week.
Time Needed to
Settle North Korean Nuclear Crisis, Russia Says
April 23- Global Security News- Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today quashed any thoughts of a major
development in the nuclear standoff with North Korea during his two-day trip
to Pyongyang, Reuters reported.
Russia seeks to get N. Korea back into nuke
talks
April 23- AP - Russia launched a
mission Thursday to try to bring North Korea back into international
disarmament talks, sending its top diplomat to Pyongyang after the North
announced it would restart its nuclear program.
North Korea to
boycott nuclear talks: Russia
April 24- Reuters –
North Korea will stay away from international nuclear disarmament talks,
Russia's foreign minister said on Friday after visiting the secretive state
and pressing Pyongyang to return to the sputtering discussions.
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AFGHANISTAN
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Off base on terror: Judge's decision throws open U.S. courthouse
doors to our worst enemies
April 4th 2009,
A federal judge has taken the fateful step of
ruling that three of the 600 prisoners at Bagram air base in Afghanistan have
rights under the U.S. Constitution. This is dangerous folly.
One can only pray that higher courts reject Judge John Bates' premise that noncitizens are not barred - as
long thought - from contesting war captivity abroad in American civilian
courts.
Karzai:
Afghanistan to review criticized sharia law
KABUL,
Afghanistan (CNN) -- Amid mounting
pressure from the West, Afghan President Hamid Karzai says his government
will review a recently approved version of a law that critics say legalizes
marital rape and the U.S. president has called "abhorrent."
Europeans Offer Few
New Troops for Afghanistan
Steven
Erlanger and Helene
Cooper
NEW York Times: April 4, 2009
STRASBOURG,
France — With protesters raging outside, NATO leaders on Saturday gave a tepid troop
commitment to President ObamaÕs
escalating campaign in Afghanistan, mostly committing soldiers only to a
temporary security duty.
Merkel Makes Surprise Visit to German Troops
in Afghanistan
Patrick
Donahue
April 6
(Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela
Merkel made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today to tour German military
bases in the north, her second trip to the country.
MerkelÕs
arrival follows a NATO summit along the French- German border in which North
Atlantic Treaty Organization members pledged 5,000 more troops and trainers
to Afghanistan. Germany has 3,465 troops in provinces north of the Kabul,
which have had less Taliban-related violence than the south.
NEW York Times: April 7, 2009
Defense
Secretary Robert Gates has made a credible effort to bring new discipline and
focus to military spending after the unrestrained, inchoate years of the Bush
administration. He has made tougher choices than his predecessor, Donald
Rumsfeld, and shifted billions of dollars from complex systems of little use
in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to weapons needed right now by troops
fighting todayÕs wars.
Quake hits
Afghanistan, no word on casualties
Apr 9, 2009
KABUL, April 9 (Reuters) - An earthquake shook
the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, witnesses and officials said. Officials
at the government's anti-disaster management department said they were
checking for damage and casualties but had no details on the size or
epicentre of the quake.
Allies Ponder How to
Plan Elections in Afghanistan
New York Times : April 11, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan —
Inside the office of the Afghan interior minister is a map showing that
nearly half the country is a danger zone. Ten of AfghanistanÕs 364 districts
are colored black, meaning they are under Taliban control,
and 156 are colored to indicate high risk.
Worldview: The AfPak
challenge
By Trudy Rubin
Gen. David Petraeus makes the case for Obama's war.
When Gen. David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill 11 days ago about the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the story was relegated to the inside pages of major papers. What a contrast to the media circus when Petraeus testified on the Iraq war.
ObamaÕs
Afghanistan-Pakistan Quandary – Part I
The US
expansion of military commitment to Afghanistan without nation-building is
unlikely to succeed
Ashley J.
Tellis
YaleGlobal, 13
April 2009
WASHINGTON: Despite opposition from many within the
Democratic Party and even within the White House against deepening US
involvement in Afghanistan, President Obama has courageously decided to fight
this war—using, as he put it, Òall elements of our national power to
defeat al Qaeda, and to defend America, our allies, and all who seek a better
future.Ó In a White Paper, his administration has affirmed that Washington
aims Òto disrupt, dismantle, and eventually destroy extremists and their safe
havensÓ within the ÒAf-PakÓ region because doing so constituted AmericaÕs
Òvital national security interest.Ó All this is good, but by failing to
admit, out of political convenience, that the United States will engage in
nation-building in Afghanistan—even as Obama embarks on just that
mission—the president risks undermining his own strategy.
In Recruiting an
Afghan Militia, U.S. Faces a Test
New York Times : April 14, 2009
MAIDAN
SHAHR, Afghanistan — The ambitious American plan to arm local militias in
villages across the country was coming down to a single moment.
The
American officers sat on one side of a long wooden table; a group of Afghan
elders on the other. The pilot program was up and running, but the areaÕs big
enclave of Pashtuns — the ethnic group most closely identified with the
Taliban —
had not sent any volunteers. The Pashtuns were worried about Taliban
reprisals.
Does the
Afghanistan War Represent Graveyard Thinking?
John W.
Whitehead
Rutherford Institute 4/15/2009
"I fear that President Obama,
finding himself embroiled in an unwinnable war, with too much invested in
treasure, lives and reputation to just pick up and walk away, will share the
fate of another liberal Democratic president whose dreams for a "Great
society" had to be abandoned because of his decisions to become involved
in quagmire."--Professor Camillo Bica
US seeks transit deal with Turkmenistan
ASHGABAT,
Turkmenistan (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States hopes
to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan on allowing the transit of non-lethal
goods to neighboring Afghanistan. Assistant Secretary of State Richard
Boucher says he discussed the possibility of overland cargo transit and
overflights in Wednesday's talks with President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov
New tactic for
U.S., NATO in Afghanistan: say sorry
Apr 17, 2009
KABUL (Reuters) -
After years of alienating Afghans by being slow to acknowledge killing
civilians, U.S. troops are trying a new tactic: say sorry fast.
Afghanistan
to have 15,000 extra police, minister says – Summary
Asia
World News: 19 Apr 2009
Kabul -
Afghan Interior Minister Mohmmad Hanif Atmar announced Sunday that his
country will recruit and train 15,000 additional police forces by this summer
to help provide security for presidential elections set to take place in
August. Some 30 international donors have recently agreed in a meeting to
fund the training and equipping of the new additional police forces, Atmar
told a press conference.
Army troops in Iraq prepare to head to
Afghanistan
Associated Press: 2009-04-21
BAGHDAD
(AP) — Only in Iraq a few weeks, nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers
who specialize in clearing roads of explosives learned they were being
shipped off to southern Afghanistan, one of the clearest signs of America's
shifting wartime priorities. The transfer, which moved into its final stages
Monday, is the largest movement so far of personnel and equipment from Iraq
as President Barack Obama puts the focus on the fight in the Taliban
heartland.