APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 3, 2010

Recommended Citation

"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 3, 2010", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 03, 2010, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-03-may-2010/

APSNet 03 May 2010

  1. Sky high
  2. The nuclear caste system
  3. Indonesia to ratify nuclear test ban treaty
  4. A unified push to export nuke power
  5. [East Timor] Ramos Horta ‘premature’ in rejecting Sunrise proposal
  6. Kandahar violence ‘to get worse’
  7. Al-Qaeda’s allies: explaining the relationship between Al-Qaeda and various factions of the Taliban after 2001
  8. A natural power: challenges for Australia’s resources diplomacy in Asia
  9. “It’s high time to close the legal gap for private military and security contractors” – UN expert body on mercenaries

1. Sky high, Defence News, Department of Defence, 2010-04-29

Defence will increase its satellite communications coverage in the Middle East and Afghanistan, following the announcement that it will acquire additional payload aboard a satellite currently under development.

2. The nuclear caste system, Colum Lynch, Foreign Policy, 2010-04-30

U.S. President Barack Obama is facing a major challenge to his nuclear vision from countries in the developing world that feel the nuclear treaty has been applied unfairly. Many states harbor a festering resentment against the major nuclear powers, saying they have used the NPT to establish an entrenched class system that guarantees their own nuclear defense, and that of allies like India, Israel, and Pakistan, but exposes the vast majority of U.N. members to the threat of nuclear annihilation.

3. Indonesia to ratify nuclear test ban treaty, Lilian Budianto, Jakarta Post, 2010-04-30

Indonesia will ratify a nuclear test ban treaty soon, says the foreign minister, after previously deciding to hold off on ratification until the US made the first move. Marty Natalegawa told the House of Representatives that he would officially announce the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) during the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York.

4. A unified push to export nuke power, Noriyoshi Ohtsuki, Asahi Shimbun, 2010-04-30

After being out-thought and out-punched by relative lightweight South Korea in a bidding battle last year for a $20-billion (1.9 trillion yen) contract to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates, the Japanese government and nuclear power companies are joining forces to ensure future bids are better coordinated. A new public-private controlled company tasked with upping Japan’s game, tentatively called International Nuclear Power Development, is expected to be established as early as the fall.

5. Ramos Horta ‘premature’ in rejecting Sunrise proposal, Andrew Burrell, Australian, 2010-05-01

Senior executives from Woodside Petroleum and Shell will fly to East Timor in a bid to convince President Jose Ramos Horta to accept plans for a controversial $US5 billion ($5.36bn) floating LNG platform to develop the Greater Sunrise gasfields.

6. Kandahar violence ‘to get worse’, Aljazeera, 2010-05-01

Residents of the Afghan city of Kandahar face an upsurge in violence in the coming months as US forces mass on the outskirts of the city, General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, has said. His warning came as US and NATO forces prepare to launch the largest military offensive so far against the Taliban.

7. Al-Qaeda’s allies: explaining the relationship between Al-Qaeda and various factions of the Taliban after 2001, Anne Stenersen, New American Foundation, 2010-04, [PDF, 2.1MB]

While al-Qaeda fighters continue to cooperate with the Taliban on a tactical level, al-Qaeda and the Quetta Shura have diverged strategically since 2001. This development can be ascribed to al-Qaeda’s relocation to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in 2001-2002 – hundreds of miles from the Quetta Shura’s base in Baluchistan – and its alignment with Pakistani tribal militants.

8. A natural power: challenges for Australia’s resources diplomacy in Asia, Richard Leaver and Carl Ungerer, ASPI, 2010-05-03

This report argues that Australia’s role as a stable, low-cost supplier of key commodities to the emerging great powers of Asia, China and India, gives Canberra a greater diplomatic bargaining tool than previous governments have been willing to acknowledge.

9. “It’s high time to close the legal gap for private military and security contractors” – UN expert body on mercenaries, Media Centre, United Nations Human Rights, 2010-04-30

The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries is appealing for broader support towards the creation of a new international Convention to regulate the activities of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). The group of experts is currently drafting a possible new binding legal instrument, after sharing its core elements with all UN member States.