Nuclear Summit Ends -- News Round-up

The Guardian: Obama at nuclear summit: 'madmen' threaten global security

US president issues warning to leaders but says that since first summit six years ago, the world has taken ‘concrete, tangible steps’ to reduce nuclear terrorism

Barack Obama used his final nuclear security summit on Friday to deliver the stark warning that “madmen” could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people using only plutonium the size of an apple.

“The danger of a terrorist group obtaining and using a nuclear weapon is one of the greatest threats to global security,” said Obama, convening the meeting of more than 50 world leaders in Washington.

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More News On The End Of The Nuclear Summit In Washington

Obama: 'Madmen' must not be allowed to get nuclear material -- Reuters
Obama warns of ISIS' potential nuclear ambitions at summit -- CBS
Nuclear terrorist attack would 'change our world', says Obama -- BBC
Obama Nuclear Summit Focuses on N. Korea, Islamic State -- VOA
Leaders in Washington for nuclear summit without Russia -- DW
At Nuclear Summit, Many Leaders But No Breakthroughs -- NPR
Peace out, fools! Obama plays the clown by flashing the peace sign for nuclear security summit 'team photo'... and gets a very unimpressed look from David Cameron and bemused world leaders -- Daily Mail
Obama Rebukes Donald Trump’s Comments on Nuclear Weapons -- NYT

President Obama To Host Nuclear Summit

Wall Street Journal: Obama to Host Summit on Global Nuclear Concerns

Threats from Islamic State, North Korea on agenda as world leaders gather for Nuclear Security Summit

WASHINGTON—World leaders are scheduled to gather here Thursday for a two-day summit hosted by President Barack Obama that will focus on global nuclear concerns, particularly the potential for a terrorist organization to obtain nuclear materials and the growing threat of North Korea.

Officials from more than 50 countries are set to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, White House officials said, but notably absent is any representative from Russia.

The summit, which has been held every two years since 2010, comes as world leaders are increasingly concerned about terrorist groups, such as Islamic State, seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon or radioactive material.

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More News On President Obama Hosting This Year's Nuclear Summit

Obama to host world leaders for nuclear summit -- CNN
Obama-led summit focuses on preventing nuclear terrorism -- USA Today
Islamic State threat raises stakes for US nuclear summit -- AFP
Kremlin: Russia skips nuclear security summit over lack of cooperation with partners -- TASS
Skipping nuclear summit a 'missed opportunity' for Russia: White House -- Reuters
Russian Boycott Of Nuclear Terrorism Summit Leaves U.S. ‘Scratching Our Heads’ -- RFE
At the Nuclear Security Summit, Real Action Will Be on the Sidelines -- Stratfor
Washington nuclear summit: What's at stake -- AFP
FACT SHEET: The Nuclear Security Summits: Securing the World from Nuclear Terrorism -- White House
Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit In Times Of Terror – Analysis -- Eurasia Review
Nuclear Materials Remain Vulnerable to Theft, Despite U.S.-Led Effort -- NYT

Germany Unprepared For A Major Nuclear Disaster

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Germany Unprepared For Major Nuclear Disaster -- Spiegel Online

If a nuclear disaster comparable to Fukushima were to hit a German nuclear plant, authorities would be unprepared to handle it, and scientific projections show that radiation would likely spread much further than previous estimates. But government agencies have done little to address the problem. Critics call the delay a "scandal."

The projected catastrophe would begin on the cold winter's day of Dec. 1, 2010. In the scenario envisioned by scientists, fuel elements begin melting at the Philippsburg 2 nuclear power plant in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Engineers release pressure to prevent the plant from exploding, and for the next 25 days, radioactive clouds move north toward the Rhine Valley, over the cities of Speyer and Hockenheim, toward Mannheim and Heidelberg.

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My Comment: Hmmmm .... I doubt that anyone can really be prepared for a major nuclear disaster.

Sydney Weapons Summit Warns of Growing Nuclear Threat

Delegates attend the inaugural International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament meeting in Sydney (Photo AFP)

From Voice Of America:

A new non-proliferation group warns the world is on the brink of a massive increase in nuclear weapons. The global organization has spent the past two days in Sydney looking at ways to strengthen international agreements to halt the spread of nuclear arsenals. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Leaders of the new International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament say the world had been "sleepwalking" on the issue of nuclear weapons for a decade.

They warn that a nuclear attack would dwarf the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The organization was first proposed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after his June visit to the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which was devastated by an American atomic bomb in 1945.

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More News On This Weapons Summit

New commission seeks to bolster arms control pact -- International Herald Tribune
Disaster warning at nuclear summit -- Al Jazeera
Nuclear incident would make 9/11 'insignificant': nuke commission -- AFP
Meeting hears nuclear threat growing -- Radio Australia
Nuclear weapons debated in Sydney -- BBC
World facing nuclear threat: commission -- The Age

While Diplomats Dither, Iran Builds Nukes (Opinion)

Iranian soldiers marching in a military parade in Tehran, Iran. For more pictures
of the Iranian Armed Forces, visit the photo album "Armed Forces of Iran":

From The Wall Street Journal:

This weekend, yet another "deadline" passed for Iran to indicate it was seriously ready to discuss ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Like so many other deadlines during these five years of European-led negotiations, this one died quietly, with Brussels diplomats saying that no one seriously expected any real work on a Saturday.

The fact that the Europeans are right -- this latest deadline is not fundamentally big news -- is precisely the problem with their negotiations, and the Bush administration's acquiescence in that effort.

The rationality of continued Western negotiations with Iran depends critically on two assumptions: that Iran is far enough away from having deliverable nuclear weapons that we don't incur excessive risks by talking; and that by talking we don't materially impede the option to use military force. Implicit in the latter case is the further assumption that the military option is static -- that it remains equally viable a year from now as it is today.

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My Comment: The problem that we have now when it comes to Iran is a complete lack of leadership. Diplomats are like lawyers, you should never leave them alone to talk to each other, otherwise they will just talk, and talk, and talk .... and when finished they will be giving you a huge bill.