Man Survives Two Atom Bombs

Benjamin Netanyahu Snubs US Nuclear Conference
THE TELEGRAPH: Israel's prime minister has called off a trip to Washington next week to attend a conference on nuclear non-proliferation, deepening tensions with Barack Obama and threatening to overshadow an event the US president views as crucial to his global agenda.

Binyamin Netanyahu. Photograph: The Telegraph
Israeli officials said Benjamin Netanyahu decided to send a minister in his place after reports that Muslim nations in the Middle East would single out Israel's undeclared nuclear programme for criticism.

The White House tried to downplay the cancellation, but will be privately furious at a very public snub by Mr Netanyahu, who may have been looking for such an opportunity after a recent tete-a-tete [sic] with Mr Obama behind closed doors in Washington. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, April 09, 2010

Barack Obama Signs Historic Nuclear Treaty with Russian President
THE TELEGRAPH: US President Barack Obama was in Prague to sign a landmark nuclear disarmament treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that slashes their two nations' atomic arsenals.



US President Barack Obama arrived in Prague on Thursday to sign a landmark nuclear disarmament treaty with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that slashes their two nations' atomic arsenals.

The two heads of state signed a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired last December, in the city where Obama called for a nuclear-free world in a keynote speech a year ago.

The treaty, which must be ratified by the US Senate and Russia's parliament to take effect, also imposes limits on the intercontinental ballistic missiles needed to deliver the warheads.

Obama will meet Medvedev at the Prague Castle - the seat of the Czech president - for a one-on-one before the signature stook [sic] place in the castle's richly adorned Spanish Hall around noon local time.

Thousands of police have been deployed to provide security in Prague during the US-Russian summit.

The agenda for the talks includes hot-button international issues such as Iran's nuclear programme. >>> | Thursday, April 08, 2010

LE TEMPS: Nucléaire – Obama et Medvedev ouvrent un nouveau chapitre du désarmement : Le président américain et son homologue russe se sont retrouvés jeudi à Prague pour signer le traité START prévoyant une réduction considérable de leurs arsenaux nucléaires >>> ATS/AFP | Jeudi 08 Avril 2010

WELT ONLINE: Abrüstungsabkommen – Obama und Medwedjew segnen Start-Vertrag ab: Barack Obama und Kremlchef Dmitri Medwedjew haben den umfassendsten Abrüstungsvertrag seit zwei Jahrzehnten unterzeichnet. Der US-Präsident sagte anschließend, der neue Start-Vertrag werde die USA und die Welt sicherer machen. Er tritt in Kraft, sobald ihn die Parlamente beider Staaten ratifiziert haben. >>> AFP/dpa/Reuters/jm | Donnerstag, 08. April 2010

Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms
President Obama on Monday discussing his new nuclear strategy, which would limit the conditions for using such weapons. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.

But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation.

Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to create incentives for countries to give up any nuclear ambitions. To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.

Mr. Obama’s strategy is a sharp shift from those of his predecessors and seeks to revamp the nation’s nuclear posture for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organizations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China.

It eliminates much of the ambiguity that has deliberately existed in American nuclear policy since the opening days of the cold war. For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack. >>> David E. Sancer and Peter Baker | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Are We About to Witness a Scramble for Atomic Weapons in the Middle East?
LA TIMES: Iran's program appears to be stirring interest that some fear will lead to a scramble for atomic weapons in the volatile region.

VIENNA — As Iran races ahead with an illicit uranium enrichment effort, nearly a dozen other Middle East nations are moving forward on their own civilian nuclear programs. In the latest development, a team of eight U.N. experts on Friday ended a weeklong trip to Saudi Arabia to provide nuclear guidance to officials from six Persian Gulf countries.

Diplomats and analysts view the Saudi trip as the latest sign that Iran's suspected weapons program has helped spark a chain reaction of nuclear interest among its Arab rivals, which some fear will lead to a scramble for atomic weapons in the world's most volatile region. Arabs make plans for nuclear power(more) By Bob Drogin and Borzou Daragahi

LE FIGARO:
Larijani : "La France de Sarkozy pourrait jouer le rôle d’intermédiaire sincère"

Mark Alexander