Together with Anthony Seaboyer I have set up a new, multi-author blog on nuclear and missile proliferation, which is called C x I (capabilities times intentions). Check it out!
I intend to continue posting at ACT.at … that’s the plan, I will see how things develop. 
Franz Eder, the guy I have been sharing an office with since 1648 and with whom I have co-authored/edited some articles and books (the moste recent one being “Europe and Transnational Terrorism”) has recently entered the blogosphere.
So don’t miss his new blog on terrorism and counter-terrorism resarch @ http://www.counter-terrorism.eu !
Everybody is talking about Twitter (even more so after the “elections” in Iran) … so, here we go, ACT.at is on Twitter.
Alright, it’s about time to get back to arms control blogging. First of all, a big ‘thank you’ to Michael for keeping the blog alive in the past six weeks! I hope that he will stick to ACT.at in the future.
Three weeks ago, I posted a brief piece on missile defense pork barrel CTlab’s Current Intelligence section. Now check this out: Alaskan Senator Mark Begich (D) will give a speech on missile defense at the Heritage Foundation (event site).
NTI’s GSN quotes Alaska’s second Senator, Lisa Murkowksi (R):
“Under the Bush administration the plan was 40 interceptors there at Greely, and it had been stated that that was what really was required,” Murkowski told the newspaper. “You have a new administration, but you still have the same secretary of defense who said in the Bush administration that 40 was the magic number, and now the operational number is 26 or 27. It begs the question, what has changed? This threat, we would all agree, has not changed — in fact, North Korea is even being more threatening than they have been in the past”
Let the threat inflation begin (or rather, continue …)!
I’ll be in the United States until July 19, but I’ll do my best to drop a line every now and then. Meanwhile, Michael Haas will take care of the Arms Control Blog.
Up to date, North Korea has launched five surface-to-air and surface-to-ship missiles from a launch site on its eastern coast. In contrast to earlier media reports, there were only two missile launches on Monday and three further launches on Tuesday. It is expected that more launches of missiles with shorter ranges will follow on the DPRK’s west coast.
The launch of surface-to-air missile were allegedly directed against US spy planes, whereas the launch of anti-ship missiles could be a reaction to South Korea’s decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative.
Source: Globalsecurity.org
Moreover, Joshua Pollack cites an April 2009 statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, which threatens – among other things – with a nuclear test and test firings of ICBMs should the UNSC fail to apologize for its condemnation of the DPRK’s recent long-range missile launch.
Well …
On 13 January Hillary R. Clinton testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (click here to access the full testimony). The passage on arms control and disarmament seems to be promising. Yes, they can …
Therefore, while defending against the threat of terrorism, we will also seize the parallel opportunity to get America back in the business of engaging other nations to reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons. We will work with Russia to secure their agreement to extend essential monitoring and verification provisions of the START Treaty before it expires in December 2009, and we will work toward agreements for further reductions in nuclear weapons. We will also work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian missiles off hair-trigger alert, act with urgency to prevent proliferation in North Korea and Iran, secure loose nuclear weapons and materials, and shut down the market for selling them – as Senator Lugar has done for so many years.
The Non Proliferation Treaty is the cornerstone of the nonproliferation regime, and the United States must exercise the leadership needed to shore up the regime. So, we will work with this committee and the Senate toward ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and reviving negotiations on a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.
A video of the symposium at UCL is now availble from iTunesU. Click here to download it (1.2GB to tickle your modem).
As I promised …
Carnegie offers a FAQ on the pact – see here.
Pavel Podvig takes an interesting approach by emphasizing that the deal should be taken as a welcome opportunity to rethink the non-proliferation regime and to come up with new ideas – see here.
CSIS has a new report on its web-site – see here.
Leonard Weiss of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation sees the deal as “reckless foreign policy” – see here.
