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Showing posts with the label Nuclear Weapons

The pariah called North Korea

Image credits- VOA As North Korea tests a thermonuclear weapon and make rapid advances in Missile technology, it is time to analyse what can be done about this country that has become a head ache for the rest of the world.  North Korea has always has been an enigma and a security nightmare for the International Community.  It all began with the demise of the USSR which was North Korea's biggest benefactor and one of it's only ally. After 1991 when the Soviet Union seized to exist, North Korea was in one sweep left with out a guardian. It's economy which was hugely reliant on the Soviet Union was in the verge of crashing. It was also the time when Kim II Sung passed away and his son Kim Jong-il took over the reins of power of this reclusive country. In his regime, North Korea suffered it's worst famine that North Korea has ever faced. His military first doctrine also isolated North Korea from the rest of the world. The economy was also on the verge of collapse

Don't Ignore the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Togzhan Kassenova)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office Source- The National Interest Author-  Togzhan Kassenova Just in time for the annual appearance of cherry blossoms, fifty-two heads of state will come to Washington to discuss nuclear security. The fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, launched by President Barack Obama in 2010, will take stock of the progress made in securing vulnerable nuclear material over the last six years. Thanks to the summit process, nuclear security, which was previously relegated to small groups of mainly Western bureaucrats and nuclear nerds, has become a prominent issue on the international stage. Major media outlets cover it, governments around the world have been forced to learn about it and greater understanding exists of why protecting nuclear material is critical to international security. Despite the buzz that these regular meetings of heads of states have generated, many states a

Pakistan Clarifies Conditions for Tactical Nuclear Weapon Use Against India ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Ankit Panda)

Nagasaki bomb ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Charles Levy) Source- The Diplomat Author- Ankit Panda On Monday, a top Pakistani official confirmed what had long been suspected by the arms control community: Pakistan will use low-yield nuclear weapons in responding to hypothetical Indian incursions into its territory. According to Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhary, Pakistan is formalizing it’s plans to use these low-yield nuclear bombs to forestall the advance of Indian troops under New Delhi’s “Cold Start” doctrine. Chaudhary’s statement marks the first time Pakistani officials have acknowledged their intent to use low-yield, or so-called “tactical,” nuclear weapons in a potential future conflict with India. India does not currently operate or plan to develop tactical nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s research and development efforts into tactical nuclear weapons have been an open secret for some time. Khalid Kidwai, the longest serving head of Pakistan’s Str

India and the NPT Need Each Other ( Source- The Diplomat / Authors- Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan and Arka Biswas)

Image credits- United Nations Source- The Diplomat Authors- Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan and Arka Biswas The nuclear non-proliferation order is clearly in trouble. The failure of the recently concluded NPT Review Conference (RevCon) over issues of nuclear disarmament and the Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (MENWFZ) highlighted the challenges the international community faces. India, as always, did not participate in the RevCon, but India has an important stake in the survival of the regime. Equally, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) needs India more than ever, not only because of India’s strong ideational and policy support for non-proliferation but also its increasing stature in global affairs. The differences at the RevCon were stark. Although NPT members eventually agreed to a text for the outcome document, the month-long review conference saw heated debate on how to ban nuclear weapons and establish a world free of nuclear weapons.

The South Asia Nuclear Equation ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Kunal Singh)

Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Skybolt101 Source- The Diplomat Author- Kunal Singh For 15 years, since its inception in February 2000, General Khalid Kidwai served as Director General of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division. Now an adviser to Pakistan’s National Command Authority, Kidwai was a speaker at the recent biennial Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference. Offering a glimpse into Pakistan’s strategic thinking, he explained Pakistan’s shift from a strategy of “minimum credible deterrence” to “full spectrum deterrence.” During his talk, Kidwai justified Pakistan’s induction of battlefield nuclear weapons with operational ranges as low as 60 kilometers on the pretext of a non-existent “Cold Start” doctrine. Kidwai’s remarks have re-opened the debate over South Asia’s nuclear stability. A Stimson Center essay by Jeffrey McCausland has expanded on the dangers of Pakistan incorporating tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs). For instance, Pakistan’s Army would have to use t

India's New Mega Weapon: Nuclear-Armed Supersonic Missiles (Source- The National Interest / Author- Zachary Keck)

SU-30MKI ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons ? Author- United States Air Force by 1'st Lt George Tobias) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck India’s nuclear command has begun receiving fighter jets armed with the country’s most advanced, supersonic cruise missile. According to media reports, India’s Strategic Forces Command (SFC) has begun receiving 42 Su-30MKI air dominance fighters modified to carry air-launched BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This will significantly enhance the striking power of the air leg of India’s nuclear triad. “Individually, the Su-30 and BrahMos are powerful weapons,” Russia and India Report noted. “But when the world’s most capable fourth generation fighter is armed with a uniquely destructive cruise missile, together they are a dramatic force multiplier.” The Sukhoi Su-30 MKI is a twin-seater, highly maneuverable, fourth-generation multirole combat fighter aircraft built by Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau and lic

Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Program: 5 Things You Need to Know ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Akhilesh Pillalamarri)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Sayed Naqvi Source- The National Interest Author-Akhilesh Pillalamarri While the world continues to focus primarily on the threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a potentially much greater nuclear threat has emerged just to its east: Pakistan, the Islamic world’s only nuclear-weapons state. Pakistan is one of the world’s only eight declared nuclear powers and probably the one that causes the most mischief. Pakistan sponsors and harbors militant groups that carry out attacks in all of its neighbors: India, Afghanistan, Iran, and even China. Although Pakistan argues that its nuclear weapons are well-guarded, many experts are not so sure, pointing out that the Taliban and other militants have frequently struck at supposedly secure military bases with impunity. More worrisome, though, is Pakistan’s history of proliferation, which increases the chance that one day some element or the other in the Pakistani military will pro

Asia's Coming Nuclear Nightmare ( Source- The National Interest / Author- David Brewster)

INS Chakra ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Ajai Shukla) Source- The National Interest Author- David Brewster While the world focuses on the dangers that a nuclear-armed Iran could present in the Middle East, a potentially more dangerous and unstable nuclear proliferation is occurring in the Indian Ocean. In the coming years India, Pakistan, and perhaps China will likely deploy a significant number of nuclear weapons at sea in the Indian Ocean. This could further destabilize already unstable nuclear relationships, creating a real risk of a sea-based exchange of nuclear weapons. Observers have long seen India-Pakistan nuclear rivalry as the most unstable in the world, and South Asia as the most likely location of nuclear conflict. This is not just academic speculation. Foreign diplomats have been evacuated from Islamabad on several occasions from fears of an impending nuclear exchange with India. India has a “no first use” (NFU) nuclear-weapons pol