Category Archives: Nuclear weapons

Trump blames Cohen testimony for collapse of summit with Kim Jong-un

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US president says the timing of the Cohen hearing, while he was at the talks in Vietnam, was ‘a new low’ in politics

US president Donald Trump has blamed that the Democrats’ decision to interview his longtime fixer, lawyer Michael Cohen, on the same day as a meeting with Kim Jong-un for the fact that the North Korea summit ended with no deal.

“For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the ‘walk.’” Trump said on Twitter, referring to his decision to walk away from what he previously said was a bad deal with Kim. “Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!”

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Kim and Trump finally show their hands after nuclear talks in Hanoi

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We now know where North Korea and US stand – and the gaps that still need to be closed

The Hanoi summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un may have broken down abruptly and stalled negotiations for the time being, but it has opened a window into the talks that leaves some hope that a compromise can be reached.

Related: Vietnam summit: North Korea and US offer differing reasons for failure of talks

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The art of the no deal: how Trump and Kim misread each other | Julian Borger

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North Korean despot and US president’s wildly different perceptions exposed in Hanoi

As with many disastrous second dates, the collapse of Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un was made inevitable by the misreading of each other’s intentions at their first encounter.

Since their initial meeting in Singapore last June, the US president had become fixated on what he saw as a close personal bond with the North Korean dictator half his age. He told his supporters: “We fell in love ... He wrote me beautiful letters.”

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Trump on Kim Jong-un talks: ‘Sometimes you have to walk’ – video

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The US president, Donald Trump, says it is not a good time to strike a denuclearisation deal after talks with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, break down in Vietnam

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Kim Jong-un answers question from foreign journalist for first time – video

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un answers – for what is believed to be the first time – a question from a foreign journalist. Asked if he was positive about reaching a deal with US president Donald Trump over nuclear disarmament, Kim said it was too early to tell whether a deal could be reached. However, he said he had a 'feeling that good results would come out' of the talks and that he was not pessimistic. Trump then asks a nearby photographer to make sure he sends his pictures to Kim 

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Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet for second time – video

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The leaders of the US and North Korea meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the start of the second nuclear summit. The pair, who looked pleased to see each other as they shook hands, were to hold a brief discussion on Wednesday before full meetings on Thursday

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Kim Jong-un arrives in Hanoi for Vietnam summit with Donald Trump

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North Korean leader to meet US president on Wednesday for dinner after three-day overland trip

Kim Jong-un has arrived in Hanoi, after transferring from train to car for the final leg of his overland trip to Vietnam where the North Korean leader is scheduled to have a private dinner and meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Kim will meet the US president for a brief one-on-one conversation, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

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Russian state TV shows map of potential US nuclear targets

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New hypersonic missiles could hit targets including Pentagon in under five minutes, it claims

Russian state television has broadcast a map of the US showing military facilities Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear strike, in a report that was unusual even by its own bellicose standards.

The targets included the Pentagon and the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland. A hypersonic missile Russia is developing would be able to hit them in less than five minutes, it said.

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Trump’s cronies are in secret talks to sell nuclear tech to Saudi. The risks are clear

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The congressional report on this multibillion-dollar scheme provides further evidence of attempts to monetise the Trump presidency

The idea that the US might sell state-of-the-art nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, potentially enabling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reckless regime to build nuclear weapons, sounds so far-fetched as to be almost grotesque.

After all the near-hysterical American and Israeli warnings about the risk of Iran, the Saudis’ arch-rival, acquiring the bomb, surely even Donald Trump would balk at such breathtaking – and dangerous – hypocrisy?

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Green MEPs held after anti-nuclear protest at Belgian military base

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UK’s Molly Scott Cato among those held after action over stockpiling of US nuclear bombs

Three Green MEPs – including one from the UK – have been arrested after breaking into a Belgian military airbase to protest against its stockpiling of American B61 nuclear bombs.

The MEPs – Molly Scott Cato, Michèle Rivasi and Tilly Metz – unfurled a banner on a runway for F-16 fighter jets at the Kleine Brogel base in the east of the country calling for a nuclear-free Europe, before being taken into custody.

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House investigates ‘White House plan’ to share nuclear technology with Saudis

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Top Trump officials pushed plan to share technology despite objections, according to House oversight committee report

Top White House officials pushed a plan to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, despite objections from career national security staff, according to a new congressional report.

Related: A public holiday and gold-plated gun: Saudi crown prince feted on Asia tour

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‘I believe Putin’: Trump dismissed US advice on North Korea threat, says McCabe

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Former FBI chief says president believed Russian leader over US security agencies and ‘a crime may have been committed’ over Comey firing

A former FBI acting director has alleged Donald Trump dismissed advice from his own security agencies on the threat posed by North Korea’s missiles, saying “I don’t care. I believe Putin.”

Andrew McCabe made the claims in an interview with 60 Minutes, in which he discussed his tenure at the FBI after James Comey was fired by the president in 2017.

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North Korea trying to keep its nuclear missiles safe from US strikes, says UN report

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Measures said to include using civilian facilities to make and test missiles

North Korea is trying to ensure its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities are safe from US military strikes, a UN report has said, as officials from both countries prepared to meet to discuss a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

Trump is expected to meet the North Korean leader, possibly in Vietnam, at the end of the month to discuss measures that would lead to Pyongyang giving up its nuclear weapons in return for US security guarantees and other assurances.

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Russia follows US in suspending nuclear deal

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Moscow announces move after US said on Friday it would withdraw from INF nuclear treaty

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will suspend its involvement in a cold war-era nuclear pact, following a similar decision by the US, and begin developing new nuclear-capable missiles banned by the treaty.

The move came a day after Donald Trump confirmed the US would exit the intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty. The US had complained for several years that a Russian cruise missile violated the treaty, a claim that Russia has denied.

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Donald Trump confirms US withdrawal from INF nuclear treaty

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Announcement gives Russia 180 days to destroy violating missiles and launchers to avoid new arms race

Donald Trump has confirmed that the US is leaving the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, saying “we will move forward with developing our own military response options” to Russia’s suspect missile.

In a written statement, Trump said that the US would be suspending its compliance with the 1987 treaty on Saturday, and would serve formal notice that it would withdraw altogether in six months.

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Doomsday clock stays at two minutes to midnight as crisis now ‘new abnormal’

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Warning that ‘We are like passengers on the Titanic, ignoring the iceberg ahead’ in face of nuclear arms and climate change threats

The risk to global civilisation from nuclear weapons and climate change remains at an all-time high, according to a group of prominent US scientists and former officials, who said the world’s predicament had become the “new abnormal”.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that its symbolic “doomsday clock”, unveiled every year, was stuck at two minutes to midnight, the same as last January. The only other time the Bulletin has judged the world as being this close to catastrophe was 1953, in the early volatile stages of the cold war.

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US to begin nuclear treaty pullout next month after Russia missile talks fail

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  • Officials reject Russian offer to inspect new missile
  • US says it will suspend observance of INF treaty on 2 February

The US has rejected Moscow’s offer to inspect a new Russian missile suspected of violating a key cold-war era nuclear-weapons treaty, and warned that it would suspend observance of the agreement on 2 February, giving six-month notice of a complete withdrawal.

Related: Top North Korean officials reportedly set for Washington visit

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Fragmenting nuclear arms controls leave world in a more dangerous place

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US could withdraw from a second treaty while Vladimir Putin’s Russia promises a new generation of nuclear weapons

The decision on whether or not to destroy the world came down to a humble Soviet duty officer early one morning in 1983. Stanislav Petrov was told by his computer that the United States had launched at least five intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Soviet Union, and that they would strike in just 25 minutes.

Rather than send the alarm up the chain of command, the lieutenant colonel did nothing and averted a nuclear clash over what turned out to be a systems malfunction. For his troubles, Petrov was reprimanded for failing to keep careful notes during the incident and left the service the following year.

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