A Nuclear Iran

Iran 'co-operation' draws praise BBC — The US and the UN have given an upbeat assessment of the possibility of settling the nuclear dispute with Iran. US National Security Adviser Jim Jones said Tehran was now "willing to come to the table", following talks this week between Iran and major powers. The head of the UN's nuclear agency, who is in Tehran, said there had been a "gear shift" towards co-operation. click to read complete article

Iran to buy nuclear fuel from any supplier, even from U.S. Chinaview — Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran is ready to buy its needed nuclear fuel from any country even from the United States, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Talking to the reporters, Ahmadinejad said that "If the Americans have announced that they want to provide our needed (nuclear) fuel, there is no problem. We think it is a good point. We want to buy our fuel from any supplier in the world. It makes no difference, the United States can be one of the suppliers." click to read complete article

Iran could make an atom bomb, according to UN report's 'secret annexe' London Times — Iran has the know-how to produce a nuclear bomb and may already have tested a detonation system small enough to fit into the warhead of a medium-range missile, according to confidential papers. The “secret annexe” to this year’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran summarises information submitted by intelligence agencies about the country’s work on warheads, detonators and nuclear fuel enrichment. It is based partly on evidence thought to have been smuggled out of Iran by the wife of a spy recruited by German intelligence. click to read complete article

Chinese Prime Minister Visits North Korea

‘Dear Leader’ welcomes Chinese comrade to boost hopes of a nuclear agreement London Times — The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, arrived in North Korea for talks with its reclusive leader Kim Jong Il yesterday amid hopes of advancing nuclear disarmament by the pariah state after months of tension. Mr Kim made the unusual gesture of greeting Mr Wen in person, embracing him as he arrived at Pyongyang airport. The visit appeared to end one of the worst periods in relations between East Asia’s two nuclear powers. The countries — once described by Mao Zedong as being “as close as lips and teeth” — have had frosty relations since April, when North Korea launched an intercontinental rocket, which was followed in May by an underground nuclear test. China ended support for its long-time ally and backed condemnation and sanctions by the UN Security Council. click to read complete article

North vows not to give up its nuclear weapons JoongAng Daily - South Korea — North Korea vowed Wednesday not to be bound by the latest United Nations resolution on non-proliferation and disarmament, saying it will never give up its nuclear weapons under any circumstance. A spokesman for the North’s Foreign Ministry told the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that the prerequisite to global denuclearization is the United States and other heavy possessors of nuclear weapons carrying out their own disarmament. click to read complete article

N. Korea says ready to discuss denuclearization of Korean Peninsula RIA Novosti - Russia — Pyongyang is ready to discuss with foreign mediators the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula in bilateral and multilateral formats, the official N. Korean news agency KCNA said on Monday. The announcement came during a meeting between the North Korean officials and a Chinese delegation, led by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, which arrived in Pyongyang early on Sunday. click to read complete article

Russia or Georgia - who's at fault?

France accuses Russia of failing to meet EU-backed Georgia truce RIA Novosti Russia — Russia is not meeting its obligations under the peace plan aimed at resolving the conflict between Georgia and Russia over breakaway regions of S. Ossetia and Abkhazia, the French foreign minister said Thursday. The so-called Medvedev-Sarkozy ceasefire plan stipulates that EU observers should be able to monitor the situation on the border between Georgia and its former regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but so far only Georgia has allowed their deployment. click to read complete article

Georgia 'started unjustified war' BBC UK — The war in Georgia last year was started by a Georgian attack that was not justified by international law, an EU-sponsored report has concluded. However, the attack followed months of provocation, and both sides violated international law, the report said. click to read complete article

Georgia points to Russia 'invasion' Aljazeera — It was all quiet at the Georgian checkpoint on the edge of South Ossetia as the European Union-sponsored commission published its investigation into last year's war. Georgian policemen in camouflage fatigues chatted amiably with EU ceasefire monitors, who have stepped up their patrols around the publication of the report in case of renewed outbreaks of violence. click to read complete article

People's Republic of China celebrates its 60th Anniversary

Chinese pay tribute to motherland's birthday Chinaview Xinhua — As the People's Republic of China celebrates its 60th founding anniversary, patterns of the number "60", and the national flag -- the five-star red flag -- can be seen everywhere throughout the country, even on children's heads. In a barbershop in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Huang Xianlong, 5, smiled at his new hair style comprising four Chinese characters "Guo Qing Kuai Le", which means "Happy National Day". click to read complete article

Nixon library will be target of Mao protest Orange County Register — A statue of deceased Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong at the Nixon Presidential Library &Museum is the subject of a protest planned for Thursday, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The statue has been in the Hall of World Leaders since the Nixon Presidential Library opened. Kai Chen – a Chinese-American organizing the protest – is the first person to launch a complaint about it, said Sandy Quinn, assistant director of the Nixon Library &Birthplace Foundation click to read complete article

Mao's Grandson May Be Major General Next Year New York Times — The grandson of Chairman Mao Zedong could be promoted to major general next year, the China Daily said on Tuesday, contradicting other reports saying the 39-year-old had already risen in rank. Rumours of the promotion have been buzzing around websites in China, where Mao's descendants have not played a prominent role in politics. click to read complete article

Iran's Nuclear Program

U.S. to Iran: Prove your nuclear program is peaceful CNN — The United States wants Iran to provide international inspectors with full access to a newly disclosed underground uranium enrichment plant that Obama administration officials say is both illegal and probably intended for developing weapons. However, an Iranian official called U.S. accusations about the planned facility -- which Iran disclosed to the International Atomic Energy Agency last week -- a propaganda effort to discredit his country before crucial talks with the international community on its nuclear energy program. click to read complete article

Iran defiant amid new nuclear row BBC — Iran's newly-revealed nuclear facility is open for inspection by UN experts, the country's president has said. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted that the plant, thought to be under construction near the holy city of Qom, was being built in line with UN regulations. click to read complete article

Gates favors diplomacy not military action on Iran Reuters — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said diplomacy and sanctions rather than military action are the way to persuade Iran to change its nuclear program as divisions emerge in the Iranian leadership. Iran's nuclear dispute with the West intensified last week after Tehran disclosed that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant. click to read complete article

Elections in Germany

The Enemy Within - Angela Merkel's Fight to Hold on to Power Der Speigel — German Chancellor Angela Merkel may look set for another term in office, but her political future hinges on the election result. If her CDU party ends up having to form another grand coalition with the center-left SPD, it will spell the beginning of the end of her political career. Angela Merkel is on a plane flying over the Black Sea. The German chancellor is on her way to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but a curious mood pervades the flying conference room. The dimensions are somehow off. The seats are too small and people are perching uncomfortably on armrests. The temperature in the plane keeps changing -- it is always either too warm or too cold, but never quite comfortable. The aircraft is too crowded, so that journalists are forced to either sit on the floor or uncomfortably close to Merkel on a gray sofa. click to read complete article

German Nuclear Plants’ Future at Stake in Merkel Election Fight Bloomberg — Angela Seidler, a 41-year-old tour guide at E.ON AG’s Grafenrheinfeld nuclear-power plant in southern Germany, may have to find a new career before she retires. “There are about six years of work” until the plant reaches a government-mandated production limit, Seidler said. After that, she said, “it’s over for Grafenrheinfeld” -- unless voters grant a reprieve in Sept. 27 elections. click to read complete article

Gay leader drinks to future with Merkel at Oktoberfest London Times — An openly gay politician who can survive the brutish ribaldry of the Munich Oktoberfest should have little trouble sitting down with the likes of Hamas, Muammar Gaddafi or other tough negotiating partners. Perhaps that was what was buzzing through Guido Westerwelle’s mind yesterday as he sipped delicately from his litre of frothing beer, clearly wishing it was chilled prosecco. click to read complete article

Obama's First Speech to the U.N.

Obama pledges radical cuts in nuclear arsenal Guardian UK — Obama has just said some striking things about US nuclear weapons policy in his first speech as US president to the UN general assembly. On the section on the atomic age: He said: We will complete a Nuclear Posture Review that opens the door to deeper cuts, and reduces the role of nuclear weapons. On Monday, The Guardian reported that Obama had rejected a first Pentagon draft of the Nuclear Posture Review, due to be completed by the end of the year, because the defence department had not been radical enough in envisaging the possible cuts in the arsenal, and in terms of nuclear doctrine. He wanted options that diminished the role of nuclear weapons in American security. click to read complete article

Obama says U.S. leads in meeting climate change challenge? Calgary Herald — U.S. President Barack Obama sounded the warning bell over many issues throughout this morning’s address to the United Nations – political, environmental and economic. While some of the messages were predictable – the need to stabilize the global financial system and the need for peace in the Middle East – it was his position on the environment that might have raised a few eyebrows. click to read complete article

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak London Telegraph — Barack Obama’s Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage of his presidency than any US leader in recent times with the exception of Bill Clinton. But he is still worshipped with messiah-like adoration at the United Nations, and is considerably more popular with many of the 192 members of the UN than he is with the American people. The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of international confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs shows strikingly high approval levels for the president in many parts of the world – 94 percent in Kenya, 93 percent in Germany, 88 percent in Canada and Nigeria, 77 percent in India, 76 percent in Brazil, 71 percent in Indonesia, and 62 percent in China for example. The Pew survey of 21 countries reveals an average level of 71 percent support for President Obama, compared to just 17 percent for George W. Bush in 2008. click to read complete article