Nuclear Energy - Nuclear Weapons

POLITICS-US: Obama Struggles to Regain Early Momentum

By Eli Clifton and Daniel Luban
The United States Congress returns to work Tuesday after a turbulent summer recess that has raised doubts over President Barack Obama's ability to face down domestic opposition from Republicans and enforce party cohesion on issues ranging from healthcare reform to troop commitments in the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan.

DISARMAMENT: Africa Joins the Nuclear-Free Club

By Fareed Mahdy
Africa, the second-largest continent after Asia, has now become the world's largest nuclear-free zone comprising 53 countries with about a billion people. This means denuclearisation of one of the richest uranium producing regions.

POLITICS: ElBaradei Foes Leak Stories to Force His Hand on Iran

By Gareth Porter
Western officials leaked stories to the Associated Press and Reuters last week aimed at pressuring the outgoing chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, to include a summary of intelligence alleging that Iran has been actively pursuing work on nuclear weapons in the IAEA report due out this week.

DISARMAMENT: Egypt Rejects U.S. Nuclear Umbrella

By Fareed Mahdy
The spectre of a U.S. nuclear umbrella for the Middle East haunted the U.S.- Egyptian summit this week. In the run-up to President Hosni Mubarak's first Washington visit in five years, both the Egyptian leader and his senior aides categorically rejected an undeclared U.S. offer to guarantee defence of the region against atomic weapons as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace plan.

POLITICS: Obama to Bolster Nuclear Disarmament at U.N.

By Thalif Deen
When U.S. President Barack Obama presides over a meeting of world leaders in the Security Council on Sep. 24, he will provide a high profile political platform for two of the most sensitive issues at the United Nations: nuclear non- proliferation and nuclear disarmament.

NORTH KOREA: After Clinton’s Trip, More Questions Than Answers Remain

By Eli Clifton
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea to secure the release of two U.S. journalists has called attention to the lack of engagement over the past five-months since Pyongyang quit the six-party talks.

IRAN: Nuclear Capability After 2013, Says U.S. Intelligence

By Daniel Luban
Iran is unlikely to be able to produce the highly enriched uranium (HEU) necessary for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a U.S. government intelligence estimate made public Thursday.

IRAQ: Shi’a Unity Deal Explodes U.S. Proxy War Myth

By Gareth Porter
The agreement announced Monday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and a Shi’a resistance group called the "League of the Righteous" (Asa'ib al-Haq) formally ended the group’s armed opposition to the regime in return for the release of its leader and eight other Shi’a detainees. This deals a final blow to the U.S. military’s narrative of an Iranian "proxy war" in Iraq.

INDIA: With Nuke Submarine Launch, India Displays its Growing Military Prowess

By Ranjit Devraj
With the launch of an indigenously made nuclear-powered submarine, India has caused an international uproar. But back home, observers played it down as nothing more than a long-term naval enhancement in a peninsula country with a long coastline.

GERMANY: Nuclear Power Fails, And Nobody Notices

By Julio Godoy
Seven German nuclear plants have failed to generate any electricity this month due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany did not suffer any power shortages.

MIDEAST: As U.S. Winds Down, Iraq Tilts Toward Iran

By IPS Correspondents
A raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp of Iranian dissidents is widely seen as a sign that Iraqi authorities are establishing their independence as the U.S. occupation winds down – and tilting instead towards Iran.

US-IRAN: Waiting for the Dust to Settle

By IPS Correspondents
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is stuck between a rock and a hard place in its Iran policy. On the one hand, the recent unrest will take time to percolate into a reformed Islamic Republic. On the other, time is in short supply if the U.S. hopes to stop Iran progress toward a nuclear weapons capability.

INDIA-U.S.: Hurdles Aplenty Before Nuclear Deal Goes Commercial

By Ranjit Devraj
As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday to take a forward a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, signed by the previous Bush administration, it was apparent that there were many roadblocks to be cleared before deals worth an estimated 10 billion dollars are signed.

DISARMAMENT: N-Britain Goes Uselessly to Sea

By Sanjay Suri
Too early yet to call it a victory for anti-nuclear lobbyists, but the British government decision last week to put off an upgrade of its Trident nuclear system is at least denial of immediate victory to those who want newer nuclear weapons.

US-IRAN: To Deal or Not to Deal, That Is the Question

By IPS Correspondents
In 2007, after eight months of detention in Iran – four in solitary confinement in Tehran's notorious Evin prison – Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari returned to the U.S. and held a press conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, where she directs the Middle East Programme.

U.S.: Clinton Seeks “Multi-Partner World”, Warns Iran on Time

By Jim Lobe
In her first comprehensive policy address since becoming secretary of state nearly six months ago, Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for a "multi-partner'' - as opposed to a "multi-polar" - world" and defended President Barack Obama's policy of engagement with adversaries, including Iran.

ENERGY: Germany Gets Some Nuclear Jolts

By Julio Godoy
The faults at the nuclear plant at Kruemmel near Hamburg surfaced just three days after Chancellor Angela Merkel declared nuclear energy "indispensable" to Germany.

MIDEAST: Fine-Tuning the Cold War

By IPS Correspondents
Ambiguity - is it the watchword for all involved in the issue over whether Iran goes nuclear, especially in light of the ongoing political uncertainties that engulf the Islamic Republic?

POLITICS: Is the Non-Aligned Movement Still Relevant?

By Thalif Deen
When the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) holds its triennial summit meeting in the Red Sea coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh next week, Cuba will formally hand over the chairmanship of one of the world's largest single political groups to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

POLITICS-INDIA: Waiting to Hear Clinton on AfPak, China

By Ranjit Devraj
It is hard to say whether U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will find herself being quizzed more on Washington's 'AfPak' strategy to contain global terror or her appeasement of a financially muscular China, when she lands in India mid-July.

U.S.: Obama Discredits 'Green Light' for Israeli Attack on Iran

By Jim Lobe
Seeking to end speculation about whether his administration had eased its opposition to an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday insisted that Washington's position remained unchanged.
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