As promised, it has arrived!
Scott Shane – New York Times | Wait, I seem to remember discussing Syrian use of chemical weapons. In April. (Does FYRP – Fuzzy Red Lines ring any bells?) We really knew about this back then, despite what the White House told Senator McCain. Assad blurred the red line into a pink puddle. Maybe there’s also some reluctance to get involved. Especially when one side might eat people.
Bruce Klinger – Wall Street Journal | Mr. Klinger is kind of nervous about a reopened Kaesong Industrial Zone. Aside from providing little to no economic benefits to Seoul, it could restrict the South’s ability to respond to Northern threats. Bradley O. Babson responds at 38North.
Zachary Keck – The Diplomat | Iran will be unveiling a variety of domestically built weapons, such as submarines, missiles, jets, and possibly even UAV’s. Although Laicie Heely of Nukes of Hazard thinks that we should give Rouhani a chance, a weapons expo does not look promising. But hey! Iran’s foreign minister did say that possession of nukes would be a threat to security! Because we can always believe Admiral General Aladeen the Iranian government.
Kim Jong Un – KCNA | North Korea also claims to be developing “military hardware of our own style that [is]… precise, light, unmanned and intelligent.” Sounds a lot like Justin Hammer bluffing to me.
The Wilson Center | It turns out that Brazil has a much more complicated nuclear history than previously thought, with interactions between Brazil and Argentina. Brazil also had Chinese assistance in developing its nuclear program.
Dave Lochbaum – All Things Nuclear | Apparently the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant has several structural problems. Comforting. Oh, speaking of nuclear plants gone wrong, apparently Fukushima has returned. Japan is not the only nation being gripped by nuclear fears. South Korea shut a seventh reactor down. I guess they were reminded of Nuclear Boy.
Meredith Bennett-Smith – Huffington Post | North Korea has a working smartphone! To be honest, I would use it over most Apple products.
We hope you enjoyed this edition of FYRP.
A joke I recently heard was that the North Koreans stole the OS for their smart phone from Apple. The only real difference between the NK smart phone and the iPhone is that in the NK version, SIRI questions you.