U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill speaks with reporters today after meetings in Beijing (Peter Parks/Getty Images). U.S., China Unable to Loosen North Korean Nuclear Logjam “Useful exchanges,” but “no news” marked U.S.-Chinese talks yesterday on breaking an impasse in the North Korean nuclear crisis, said lead U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill (see GSN, May 30). Hill met twice with Chinese nuclear envoy Wu Dawei to discuss ways to resolve a financial dispute that has stalled North Korea’s implementation of a February agreement to freeze its nuclear program...Full Story

Tuberculosis Case Raises Bioterror Response Concerns A recent incident involving an airline traveler with a contagious disease has raised questions about how the United States would respond to a biological attack, a DePaul University bioterror expert said today (see GSN, Jan. 18, 2005)...Full Story

Nuclear Trade Talks Resume in New Delhi U.S.-Indian nuclear talks resumed today in New Delhi with officials from both nations expressing hope that they could work out the final details of an agreement to supply U.S. nuclear technology and materials, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, May 29)...Full Story

	Thursday, May 31, 2007

U.S., China Unable to Loosen North Korean Nuclear Logjam “Useful exchanges,” but “no news” marked U.S.-Chinese talks yesterday on breaking an impasse in the North Korean nuclear crisis, said lead U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill (see GSN, May 30). Hill met twice with Chinese nuclear envoy Wu Dawei to discuss ways to resolve a financial dispute that has stalled North Korea’s implementation of a February agreement to freeze its nuclear program. “I think we have established that we are really working to resolve this matter and will resolve it,” Hill told reporters after his meetings.  He encouraged Pyongyang to drop its insistence on resolving the dispute before shutting down its plutonium production reactor. “Rather than standing around waiting for us to do things, they should get going on their own obligations,” Hill said. “There is no purpose in that reactor operating today.” North Korea has had difficulty finding a bank willing to accept about $25 million in accounts once frozen by the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia after U.S. officials said the money was tainted by counterfeiting and money laundering. Washington has since encouraged the bank to release the funds, but no other bank has been willing to accept the money, reportedly out of fear that U.S. sanctions would result. Hill said the problem would not derail the larger denuclearization pact agreed in February (see GSN, Feb. 13). “It's certainly not dead,” he said.  “Certainly we have a pretty serious bump in the road here, we plan to get over it. ... It really is a technical matter which cannot just be solved through political means” (Associated Press/China Post, May 31). Hill’s optimism was based on North Korean overtures, he said. “In private channels and publicly the D.P.R.K. — the North Koreans — continue to be committed to the Feb. 13 agreement,” he said (Reuters/New York Times, May 30). Back to top       Nuclear Trade Talks Resume in New Delhi U.S.-Indian nuclear talks resumed today in New Delhi with officials from both nations expressing hope that they could work out the final details of an agreement to supply U.S. nuclear technology and materials, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, May 29). U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon discussed measures to free up the deal’s completion, which has been stalled by Indian concerns that the pact would overly constrain India’s future nuclear activities. In particular, India has objected to limits on its freedom to test nuclear weapons and reuse U.S.-supplied nuclear fuel. “None of these issues that we have highlighted will be brushed aside and they will be examined by both sides in the light of our good bilateral relations,” said one Indian Foreign Ministry official. “There is considerable work to be done on what is a very technical and detailed agreement,” U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford said yesterday.  “We want to finish as soon as we can and both sides are positive we can do this” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, May 31). Meanwhile, two former top Indian nuclear officials criticized the agreement in newspaper commentaries today. “Unpalatable” U.S. positions would undermine India’s ability to modernize its nuclear deterrent, said P.K. Iyengar, a former chairman of the nation’s Atomic Energy Commission. “We haven't evaluated the detailed requirements for a minimum credible deterrent, including delivery systems. Our research and development limps on, while elsewhere a new generation of efficient nuclear weapons and their delivery systems is being actively worked on,” he said (The Hindu I, May 31). Another former commission chairman shared Iyengar’s opposition to the deal and urged the Bush administration to seek changes to the U.S. law, known as the Hyde Act, which exempted India from most, but not all, U.S. nuclear nonproliferation measures. “The fact is India has already made all the compromises it could make upfront and cannot make any more at this stage,” said M.R. Srinivasan.  “The U.S. administration has to find a way to accommodate fully agreements reached with India in July 2005 and March 2006. If the only way to do so is to amend the Hyde Act, then the U.S. should plan to do so rather than ask India to make any more compromises” (The Hindu II, May 31). Back to top       U.S. Forces Russia to Modernize Weapons, Putin Says Russian President Vladimir Putin today blamed U.S. policies for this week’s test of a new Russian strategic missile, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 30). Speaking at a Moscow news conference, Putin cited the U.S. withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, its refusal to ratify the latest version of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, and other military moves as provocations that required a Russian response. “It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race,” he said.  “We have signed and ratified the CFE and are fully implementing it. We have pulled out all our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia to (locations) behind the Ural Mountains and cut our military by 300,000 men.” “And what about our partners? They are filling Eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another one in Romania, a (missile defense) site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic,” he added. “What we are supposed to do? We can't just sit back and look at that.” Russia this week tested a cruise missile as well as a new long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads. “There is no reason to fear these actions by Russia, they aren't aggressive.  It's merely a response to tough and unfounded unilateral actions by our partners,” he said.  “These actions are aimed at preserving a global balance.” Without specifically mentioning the United States, Putin criticized nations that “want to dictate their will to all others regardless of international norms and law.” “It's dangerous and harmful,” he added.  “Norms of the international law were replaced with political expediency. We view it as diktat and imperialism” (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News, May 31). Back to top       EU-Iran Talks Begin Amid Low Hopes EU and Iranian diplomats began nuclear talks in Madrid today, but nonproliferation experts said they expected little progress (see GSN, May 30). Iran has resisted pressure from world powers to suspend its uranium enrichment program, a move that Western nations have said is necessary to resume high-level negotiations for a long-term solution to the nuclear crisis. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian nuclear envoy Ali Larijani began their meeting today to discuss ways to restore those talks.  There appeared, however, to be little willingness to compromise on the key demand of the nuclear freeze. Larijani yesterday reaffirmed Iran’s intention to continue its enrichment program and the foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations yesterday backed a U.N. Security Council call for an Iranian nuclear freeze. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has meanwhile issued nearly daily statements to indicate his goal of expanding Iran’s nuclear activities. His “statements inveighing against suspension leave little room for Larijani to compromise, even if he were so inclined, which is open to question,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Reuters/New York Times, May 30). For the Western side, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today repeated the Bush administration’s demand for Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment centrifuges. “The international community is united on what Iran should do, which is to suspend; to demonstrate that it is in fact not seeking a nuclear weapon under cover of civilian nuclear power,” she said in Vienna. She urged Tehran to meet the Western condition for resuming talks. “The question isn't why won't we talk to Tehran. The question is why doesn't Tehran want to talk to us,” she said. “If Iran is prepared to take that course then we are prepared to change 27 years of American policy and sit with Iran to talk about whatever Iran would like to talk about,” Rice added.  “But that can't be done when Iran continues to ... try to perfect technologies that are going to lead to a nuclear weapon” (Anne Gearan, Associated Press I/Washington Post, May 31). During the previous Solana-Larijani meeting last month, Iran tried to find some middle ground by offering to shut down some, but not all, of its centrifuges, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 26). The U.S.-backed European delegation, however, rejected that concept. “It was clear that those on the Western side did not accept any centrifuges (running) at all,” said one diplomat familiar with the talks.  “As a result, the Iranians have gone completely hard-line.” The division remained at a Friday meeting to prepare for today’s session.  Mid-level officials from Iran and the European Union met in Brussels, but found little to discuss. “It was a disaster,” said another diplomat (Associated Press II/USA Today, May 30). Back to top

Tuberculosis Case Raises Bioterror Response Concerns A recent incident involving an airline traveler with a contagious disease has raised questions about how the United States would respond to a biological attack, a DePaul University bioterror expert said today (see GSN, Jan. 18, 2005). His concerns stemmed from the difficulties officials had in restraining the travel of a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer who repeatedly flew commercial airliners in Europe and the United States this month even though he knew he was carrying a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. “Our leaders tell us that they are doing everything possible to meet bioterrorism threats, but these proclamations are disingenuous, deluding us all — not so much a deliberate lie but a mirage grounded on little more than a wish and a prayer,” wrote Barry Kellman in a Chicago Tribune commentary.  Kellman is a professor at Depaul University’s College of Law and author of a soon-to-be-published book on bioterrorism. “The more complete truth is that little is being done to prevent bioterrorism, and a reasonably smart criminal or fanatic could inflict a catastrophe,” he added (Barry Kellman, Chicago Tribune, May 31). The tuberculosis episode began earlier this month when the lawyer elected to take a long-planned trip to Europe two days after learning that that he suffered from a form of the disease that resists multiple types of treatment, the New York Times reported.  He was not experiencing any symptoms of the disease, which doctors chanced upon through a routine chest X-ray, and his wife traveling with him has not contracted the disease, according to the Times. Health officials told the Times that they strongly advised the man not to travel, but the man has disputed how strong those recommendations were.   Later, officials contacted him in Rome and told him explicitly not to board any commercial airliners, the Times reported, but the man flew nevertheless.  Ultimately, he took at least five flights in Europe in addition to his flight from the United States and his return leg to Montreal. After driving into the United States from there, he reported to a New York hospital and has since been held in quarantine, first in Atlanta and now in Denver, the Times reported. The man’s travel decisions were “gross irresponsible,” said Richard Wenzel, an infectious disease expert at Virginia Commonwealth University.  “It’s irresponsible in active tuberculosis for anyone to be on an airplane — whether it’s multi-resistant or not” (Altman/Schwartz, New York Times, May 31). Back to top       U.S. School Opens Nonlethal Biological Defense Lab Kent State University officially opened a facility yesterday intended to train scientists to safely conduct biological defense research, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal reported. The Center for Public Health Preparedness would use nonpathogenic materials to simulate actual biological materials as a way to train researchers without endangering them. Sites that contain real agents are necessary to study anthrax, smallpox and other potential biological weapons, said center director Christopher Woolverton, but learning scientific methods in those laboratories can be risky. “If you're a student or new worker, the risk to yourself is greater,” he said.  “If you drop something, you put yourself and others at risk. If you drop something in our lab, you sweep it up.” The site is one of just two in the United States funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Beacon Journal reported.  The other at Emory University near CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. The center plans to begin its first 12-student class next week (Carol Biliczky, Akron Beacon Journal, May 31). Back to top

Japanese Subway Attacker Still Faces Death A Japanese appeals court today upheld the death sentence of a cult member convicted of participating in the 1995 chemical weapons attack in the Tokyo subway system, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, March 21). Seiichi Endo, 46, was convicted in 2002 of that crime and two other attacks involving chemical weapons.  In all, the attacks killed 19 people and injured thousands, according to Kyodo. Endo’s attorneys argued that the Aum Shinrikyo cult had brainwashed him to help prepare for attacking the subway, where other cult members released lethal sarin gas. Japan’s High Court judges disagreed. “The defendant Endo was proactively involved in sarin production and his criminal responsibility is in no way lighter than that of others who carried out the crime,” said Presiding Judge Osamu Ikeda. “He played an important role that was indispensable for the crime,” the judge added.  “It can hardly be said that his free decision-making function had been ripped off.  He took part in the crime on his own initiative.” Thirteen people have been sentenced to die for the cult chemical attacks, and two have no more judicial appeals available (see GSN, Sept. 6, 2006 and Sept. 15, 2006 ; Kyodo News Service, May 31). Back to top

U.S. Target Missile Has Mixed Flight Record The target missile used in this week’s failed U.S. missile defense test has a mixed record of success, and the Missile Defense Agency plans to replace others like it in the long term, Inside the Pentagon reported today (see GSN, May 29). Officials aborted the test launch of a California-based missile interceptor Tuesday after an Alaska-based target failed to launch properly. The target was part of the Strategic Targets System, a program that produces mock enemy missiles by using two rocket stages from retired Polaris missiles and third stage from a commercial source, according to Inside the Pentagon. Those targets have now failed twice in their last nine tests which occurred sporadically over the past 14 years. Some experts said the infrequent schedule may have affected quality control over the missiles. Still the agency intends to continue using the targets in the near future. “It has very good capabilities and replicates the threat” posed by potential U.S. adversaries, said agency spokesman Rick Lehner. Officials have begun an “extensive” examination into this week’s failure, he added (Elaine Grossman, Inside the Pentagon, May 31).   Back to top

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