Free Republic

Sixty years ago today, an atom bomb exploded over Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people, mostly civilians. Tens of thousands more died from radiation sickness in the years that followed. The memory of that day offers a horrific reminder of what is at stake when the nuclear non-proliferation regime comes under attack as it is today. The direct challenge comes from the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. Both expose serious shortcomings in the non-proliferation treaty (NPT). It permits non-weapons states to develop nuclear fuel cycles, allowing them legitimately to proceed to the brink of weaponisation. If Iran and North Korea...

(via North KoreaZone) The United States and its allies have intercepted two deliveries of materials useful in making nuclear and chemical weapons by North Korea, the State Department said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher made the disclosure in remarks to reporters, citing 11 successful efforts in the past nine months by the United States and its allies in an anti-proliferation campaign, called the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). `I have cited two cases involving North Korea. I¡¯ve cited several cases involving countries of proliferation concern, including Iran,¡¯¡¯ Boucher said in a press briefing. ``In addition, we worked to impede the...

On 11 occasions over the past nine months, the U.S. and allies cooperating in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) have successfully prevented the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or related items. At least two of those incidents involved Iran, two involved North Korea and another involved an unidentified third country, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the PSI, a project launched by President Bush during a 2003 visit to Krakow, Poland. With a focus on stopping and searching ships, planes, trains or trucks, the PSI aims to prevent terrorists and rogue states...

Rice warns N. Korea against nuke proliferation, eyes PSI, UNSC (Kyodo) _ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned North Korea against its nuclear ambitions and possible proliferation, citing an ongoing multilateral interdiction initiative and the possibility of referring the case to the U.N. Security Council. While reiterating the United States remains committed to peacefully resolving the nuclear issue through six-party talks, Rice made the warning in a press briefing en route to Brazil on Monday, according to a transcript of her remarks made available Tuesday by the State Department. "The Proliferation Security Initiative is always there. It does...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Drug Addiction On the Rapid Rise Last Year [Analysis By Lee Young-hwa] [Japanese Expert Analysis: Part I] Overseas sale blocked by PSI; outfits such as N. Korean security now resorting to domestic sale [ 2005-04-11 16:20 ] N. Korean spy ship sunk in Japanese water in Dec., 2002 <photo: Yonhap News> Recently, drug addicts in N. Korea are rapidly increasing. According to some experts, the  drug addction in some border area (with China)  is so widespread that it reminds them of waning days of Ching Dynasty(translator's note: late 19th century China.)N. Korea is the only country...

When experts from the US and the IAEA came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness. The discovery gave the experts a new appreciation of the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by A. Q. Khan, a chief architect of Pakistan's bomb. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans...

It is playing a key role in curbing and caging North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. It played a key role in disarming Libya, discovering and rolling up the Pakistani A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network, and has become a framework for international military and police exercises organized by the United States. Its membership includes most of the world's largest economic powers, most of the world's largest military powers, and most of the most influential states on earth. The United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Netherlands, France, Australia and Germany are among its 15 member states, and it is one...

Kerry Spot BUNKER-BUSTER DEBUNKER. . . . John Kerry seems to misfire.. . . . 06/02 09:04 AM The presidential campaign focused on containing nuclear weapons Tuesday, as President Bush touted his Proliferation Security Initiative and Senator Kerry outlined his plans to keep nukes out of the hands of terrorists. The clearest distinction between the two candidates is their perspective on whether America needs "bunker-buster" nuclear weapons. The lesson the rest of the world took from the first Persian Gulf war was that the U.S. military can target any site, anytime, anywhere — provided it is above ground. Beyond several...

(CNSNews.com) - One year after President Bush launched a global drive aimed at preventing weapons of mass destruction from reaching rogue states and terrorists, the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) has been boosted by Russia's agreement to join. The announcement came shortly before Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry charged in a campaign address that the U.S. had done "too little, often too late" in efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons. Speaking in Florida Tuesday, Kerry said he wanted the U.S. to "launch a new mission ... to prevent the world's deadliest weapons from falling into the world's most dangerous...

KRAKOW, Poland (AFP) - Up to 80 nations gathered in southern Poland to mark the first anniversary of a Washington-sponsored pact aimed at stemming the spread of weapons of massive destruction, hailing Russia's decision to come aboard. John Bolton, US under secretary of state for arms control, described Russia's announcement earlier Monday that it would sign up to the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as a "major development", which should close off valuable lanes to traffickers of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). "This is a major development, a very welcome decision," Bolton told a news conference, after Russia's foreign ministry announced...

Russia is expected to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), an international program to stamp out proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including ballistic missiles, possibly before a Group of Eight summit meeting scheduled for June in Sea Island, Ga., a government source said Thursday. The PSI currently comprises 14 countries including Australia, Britain, Japan and the United States. The members currently are coordinating over whether to formally admit Moscow to the PSI at a meeting to mark the first anniversary of the group's founding in late May, according to the source. Russia would be the last country among the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The recent attacks on the USS Cole (DDG-67) and the French supertanker MV Limburg offer a stark illustration of terrorist interest in maritime targets. U.S. intelligence officials have identified between 12 and 300 ships possibly owned and/or operated by al Qaeda. Upon his capture, the alleged al Qaeda mastermind behind the USS Cole attack, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein Abda Al-Nasheri, reportedly confessed to planning future attacks against U.S. and British warships in the Straits of Gibraltar. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence agencies have described an increase in terrorist "chatter" regarding ships, port facilities,...

Story Number: NNS040310-05 Release Date: 3/11/2004 3:00:00 PM By Fire Controlman 2nd Class Joseph W. Lovett, USS Port Royal, and Lt. Chris Davis, ESG 1 Public Affairs PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- USS Port Royal (CG 73) returned home to Pearl Harbor March 11 following a six-and-a-half month deployment with Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1. The 350 crew members assigned to Port Royal returned to “the Navy’s best homeport” following operations in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Port Royal deployed Sept. 2 with ESG 1, supporting a Chief of Naval Operations and Commandant of the Marine Corps-sanctioned...

How high are the stakes in the war on terror? We are working to prevent the detonation of a nuclear device in an American city some day. That has made weapons proliferation — hitherto the obscure province of arms-control experts and international lawyers — an issue of the utmost priority. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton is a Bush administration point man on proliferation, promoting a policy that — like much else having to do with President Bush — is under harsh attack. John Kerry, citing Bush's alleged inability to work with other countries,...

Corruption in Indonesia's maritime law enforcement agencies was blamed yesterday for a rapid increase in piracy in south-east Asia, where concern is also growing about a link between piracy and terrorism. A detailed analysis of the growing dangers facing shipping in the region, released yesterday by the UK-based World Markets Research Centre (WMRC), blames coastguard and naval forces for the failure to confront the threat. "It is not pure coincidence that ships passing through [adjoining] Malaysian waters - mere miles away - suffer a fraction of the pirate attacks that occur in Indonesian waters. Corruption also helps to explain why...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - U.S. Navy sailors may board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed Friday that the United States is seeking similar deals with other nations, but he declined to identify them. Wednesday's accord - the first of its kind, Boucher said - comes amid fears that terror networks would use ships for attacks, taking advantage of comparatively lax security on the waters after crackdowns in the skies....

Moscow (CNSNews.com) - The Russian Foreign Ministry described non-proliferation talks with the United States on Friday as "serious, businesslike and pragmatic," but Moscow has so far refrained from a clear commitment to join the U.S.-backed Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton traveled to Russia this week for talks aimed largely at urging Russia to join the PSI, which is designed to further curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Bolton met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, who is in charge of non-proliferation issues; Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev, and other officials. So far,...

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The United States is leading a military exercise in the Arabian Sea this weekend that will further test the ability of a new security coalition to prevent rogue states and terrorists from transferring non-conventional weapons by sea. The air and sea maneuver involves naval forces from Australia, Singapore, Spain, Britain and Italy, with several other countries sending observers. The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), launched by President Bush last year, aims to prevent the illicit buying or selling of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and related technology by stopping and searching suspect ships or planes. The...

<p>The media have barely noticed, but the Bush Administration has embarked on a burst of "multilateral" cooperation. It's called the Proliferation Security Initiative, and in only a few months of existence it has already had more success than the United Nations in controlling weapons of mass destruction.</p>

Officials have confirmed that a German-flagged ship was carrying parts to build a nuclear bomb from a Persian Gulf country to Libya in October. Investigators seized the shipment before it reached its destination. Just a few months before Libya declared it would cease its efforts to create weapons of mass destruction, American and British agents seized a German freighter ship loaded with centrifuges and other parts that are used to create enriched uranium, the material needed to build nuclear bombs. The seizure is believed to have influenced Tripoli’s decision to suspend its weapons program last month. On Wednesday, U.S. State...