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US Alarmed By Breakneck Nuclear Buildup By Rivals

North Korea, China and Russia are expanding nuclear arsenals at breakneck pace, says a senior White House official National Security Council

North Korea, China and Russia are expanding and diversifying their nuclear weapons stockpiles at a “breakneck” speed, a White House official has said, warning that absent a change in the trajectory of their arsenals, the US may have to increase its own.

Pranay Vaddi, senior director for arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, made the remarks at a forum on Friday, noting that the three countries are driving the US and its allies into bracing for a “world where nuclear competition occurs without numerical constraints”, Yonhap news agency reported.

A missile is launched by the rocket force of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), targeting designated maritime areas to the east of the Taiwan Island. (Photo by Wang Yi/Xinhua/IANS)

“Russia, the PRC and North Korea are all expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control,” he said at the event hosted by the Arms Control Association, a US-based nonpartisan organization. PRC stands for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“Those three, together with Iran, are increasingly cooperating and coordinating with each other in ways that run counter to peace and stability, threaten the United States, our allies and our partners, and exacerbate regional tensions,” he added.

The official pointed out that to deal with the realities of a “new” nuclear era, President Joe Biden recently issued an updated nuclear weapons employment guidance. “It emphasizes the need to account for the growth and diversity of the PRC’s nuclear arsenal and the need to deter Russia, the PRC and North Korea simultaneously,” he said. “It also reaffirms our commitment to use arms control and other tools to minimize the number of nuclear weapons needed to achieve US objectives.”

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. (Credit Image: © KCNA/Xinhua/ZUMAPRESS.com)

Vaddi warned that the US will need to adjust its posture and capabilities to ensure its ability to deter growing threats from the three countries should there be no change in their current nuclear weapons policy trajectory. “Let me be clear (that) absent a change in the trajectory of adversary arsenals, we may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required,” he said.

Vaddi stressed that Washington has already taken “prudent” deterrence steps, including pursuing a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, and seeking to extend the life of certain Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines during the transition from legacy to modern capabilities.

He also pointed out that the US has “fully” invested to ensure that its “extended deterrence” commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend allies, continues to contribute to nonproliferation efforts.

He mentioned the Washington Declaration between the US and South Korea as an example of efforts to “jointly approach nuclear scenarios” with allies as “equal partners”. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Biden adopted the declaration last April as part of efforts to enhance the credibility of extended deterrence.

The 9M729 missile container is demonstrated at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, outside Moscow, Russia. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi/IANS)

The official criticized Russia and China for their “outright refusal” to even discuss arms control, and North Korea for answering the US’ attempts to engage on risk reduction and nuclear issues with “more missile tests and greater hostility”.

“Practically speaking, they are forcing the US, our close allies and partners to prepare for a world where nuclear competition occurs without numerical constraints,” he said. “The reality is that further enhancing our capabilities and posture is incredibly important to rejuvenating strategic arms control.”

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India News

Global powers anxious about Pakistan’s nukes

A London-based Pakistani journalist Farooq Sulehria said, “The Talibanization of the Pakistan military is something we can’t overlook. What if there is an internal Taliban takeover of the nuclear assets?”…reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan’s government, the Taliban, its various outfits in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and other jihadist groups inside Pakistan have created a worry over the nuclear weaponry falling into terrorist hands

At a time when US President Joe Biden’s words put the spotlight on Pakistan as “the most dangerous nation in the world”, Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities are also occupying a position of significance and creating anxieties for various major global powers.

Biden at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Reception in Los Angeles (California), during which he berated both China and Russia said, “This is a guy (Xi Jinping) who understands what he wants but has an enormous, enormous array of problems. How do we handle that? How do we handle that relative to what’s going on in Russia? And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world: Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion.”

Pakistan’s government, the Taliban, its various outfits in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and other jihadist groups inside Pakistan have created a worry over the nuclear weaponry falling into terrorist hands.

Pakistan supports the Taliban covertly. The world believes that Pakistan’s nuclear program remains a threat of being stolen by terrorist organizations. Last year in August, after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghan soil, Afghanistan has quickly fallen into the Taliban’s extremist clutches.

The political upheaval in Afghanistan also has regional repercussions, especially for those in neighbouring Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s continued production of fissile material and subsequent weapons, as well as the potential deployment of more tactical nuclear weapons, only makes the increasing possibility of the misuse of these materials more glaring and plausible.

A London-based Pakistani journalist Farooq Sulehria said, “The Talibanization of the Pakistan military is something we can’t overlook. What if there is an internal Taliban takeover of the nuclear assets?”

There has been multiple instance when experts and US Presidents have expressed their concerns over Pakistan’s nukes. During the time of the Obama administration, a Harvard nuclear expert, Graham Allison, stated, “When you map weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, all roads intersect in Pakistan.”

He said this while sitting on the US Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.

Moreover, ex-US President Bill Clinton also had similar apprehension regarding Pakistan’s strides towards nuclear testing. Clinton, worried about the geopolitical threat of South Asia if Islamabad was to go ahead with its nuclear armament.

Clinton made all sorts of offers within his ambit. Whether it was a state dinner to billions of dollars in assistance to the country, Clinton tried to persuade the then-Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to put off the nuclear testing.

However, once Clinton was unable to succeed in getting his way, he publicly condemned Islamabad’s move. Clinton described the nuke tests “dangerously destabilizing.” Pakistan went ahead with its testing, and the US imposed crippling economic sanctions in retaliation.

Along the same lines, Generals Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, along with their high-ranking generals, claimed their awareness of the risks the Afghanistan move would pose for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and its national security.

From the very inception of the process of creating a nuclear weapon, Pakistan was aware that it was not in a position to put together a weapon system on its own. Moreover, Pakistan’s aspiration for acquiring a nuclear weapon saw an element of urgency as it needed to keep pace with India, which was confidently surging ahead with its own self sufficient nuclear program. This desperation compelled Pakistan to resort to unethical means to acquire sub systems for their nuclear program from different sources, said French journalist Roland Jacquard.

Most significantly, in the past, Taliban-linked groups have successfully attacked government and military targets in the country. In 2012, armed Islamist militants used rocket propelled grenades to attack the sensitive Minhas (Kamra) Air Force base which hosts the Pakistan air Force’s Research and Development facilities. Significantly, the then Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan stated that the Taliban was proud of the operation as their leadership had decided to attack the Kamra air base a long time ago. The base was also targeted earlier in 2007 and 2009 by suicide bombers.

In the past, Al Qaeda leaders had called for attacks on Pakistani nuclear facilities as well. Likewise, in September 2014, an attack was carried out by AQIS on Pakistani nuclear ship Zulfikar, docked at Karachi Naval Dockyard which had also drawn concern from the international community on the capability of such cadres to target vital facilities in Pakistan. Authorities in Pakistan had even alleged that the ship had been taken over by the AQIS operatives, Jacquard writes.

Moreover, Pakistan is increasing its capacity to produce plutonium for use in nuclear weapons in tune with an increase in global stockpiles of atomic weapons, missiles and aircraft delivery systems, led by the United States and Russia who appear locked in competition to modernise their nuclear warheads.

The raw material for nuclear weapons is fissile material, either highly enriched uranium (HEU) or separated plutonium. China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the USA have produced both HEU and plutonium for use in their nuclear weapons. The Indian and Israeli arsenal is mainly plutonium based. So far Pakistan has mainly relied on HEU for its stockpile of around 165 nuclear weapons as per the latest estimates. But Islamabad appears to be diversifying, by enhancing its ability to produce weapon-grade plutonium, according to the findings of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

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-Top News Europe

Russia preparing society for possible use of nukes: Zelensky

President Zelensky stressed that action against Russia threats was needed now, as it posed a “risk for the whole planet”, reports Asian Lite News

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that Russian officials have started “preparing the society” for the possible use of nuclear weapons, but also added that “they are not ready to do it”.

In an interview with the BBC at the President’s Office in Kiev, Zelensky said on Friday: “They begin to prepare their society. That’s very dangerous.

“They are not ready to do it, to use it. But they begin to communicate. They don’t know whether they’ll use or not use it. I think it’s dangerous to even speak about it.”

“What we see is that Russia’s people in power like life and thus I think the risk of using nuclear weapons is not that definite as some experts say, because they understand that there is no turning back after using it, not only the history of their country, but themselves as personalities.”

During the interview, the President also denied having called for strikes on Russia, claiming that an earlier remark had been “mistranslated”.

“After that translation, they (the Russians) did things their way, the way that’s useful to them, and began to retranslate it in other directions,” he told the BBC

“You must use preventive kicks,” Zelensky said, referring to sanctions, “not attacks”.

He further stressed that action against Russia threats was needed now, as it posed a “risk for the whole planet”.

Moscow, he claimed, had “made a step already” by occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear station which President Vladimir Putin is trying to turn into Russian property.

“The world can stop urgently the actions of Russian occupiers,” Zelensky told the BBC.

“The world can implement the sanction package in such cases and do everything to make them leave the nuclear power plant.”

Zelensky also said that Putin is not afraid of a possible nuclear strike but of his community, and his people.

“Because only those people are capable of replacing him now, to take away his power and give it to someone else,” he explained.

Asked whether Putin could survive in an eventual Ukrainian win in the war, the Ukrainian leader said: “I don’t care.”

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