Arms Control Treaties close to tipping point

Various: The international community is having to respond to both progress and setbacks in its attempts to control both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. The Guardian newspaper reports on Iran’s defiance of the UN security council over its uranium enrichment facilities that are suspected to form the basis of nuclear weapons program. The BBC reports on a new agreement between India and Pakistan aimed at reducing the risk of accidental nuclear war in the region. North Korea may have enough plutonium for 4-8 warheads says the Boston Herald , despite agreeing to abandon its weapons program. But the main concern among arms control analysts, such as those at the STAFOR organization, is the deteriorating relationship between Russia and the US , brought about because of the positioning of radar and missile stations in Poland and the Czech Republic. The US claims that the installations are part of the national antiâballistic defense system, and are designed to defend the US against a missile launch from places such as Iran, not Russia. Russia disagrees, and is threatening to abandon the IntermediateâRange Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in December 1987. The Eurasia Daily Monitor highlights a timeframe over Russian complaints regarding the INF treaty.