Arms Control Wonk

The ever alert wonk-reader, Allen Thomson, has pointed out that North Korea has stated it will attempt its satellite launch between April 4 and 8th. (Thanks Allen!) Hopefully, they will release a notification about where the stay-clear zones will be, which will give us some indication of the capabilities of their rocket. (I’ve been running …

Cross-posted from TotalWonkerr.com. I’ve just stumbled across a paper, almost a year old now, by one Peter Friend, the head of Safeguards and Security at Urenco. It concerns the safeguarding of a centrifuge enrichment facility. Yes, this again. It includes a short section on “new inspection techniques.” Here are the highlights: There are many organisations …

With all the talk about shooting down a possible North Korean satellite launch, I wanted to see just where the legal authority for such an action would come from. It turns out that its clear: it’s legal under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to shoot it down. Let me just review some of the …

Cross-posted from Verification, Implementation and Compliance At the present, I believe that the likelihood of an Iranian break-out is slim. The principal reason for this argument is that Iran’s installed capacity at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz is still low, and that a break-out would entail significant political and security risks for the country. …