One of the reasons China continues to provide the hermit kingdom with energy and food aid is the fear of what a Kim regime facing collapse might do with its nukes.
Vladimir Putin, Mr Medvedev's predecessor and successor, takes every opportunity to laud his country's nuclear prowess, and is committing a third of Russia's booming military budget to bolstering it.It is not the only power investing in its nukes (see table).
There are disputed borders with nukes on both sides between India and both China and Pakistan.The kind of protocols that the cold-war era America and Soviet Union set up to reassure each other are much less in evidence today.
This was an ominous sign.In this section Goodbye to Gaza Too late to stop their nukes?
Mr Putin would rather see Syria descend into a "mess of slaughter" than see America get what it wants.Russia's president is expected to link any bid to discuss disarmament to American plans for missile-defence systems deployed in Europe, which are aimed at Iran but which Russian generals present as a bid to neutralise their nukes.
Although bond yields have edged up during the past two months, they are still lower than before the Fed started to tighten indeed, they are unusually low in real terms offsetting the rise in short-term rates.In this section Goodbye to Gaza Too late to stop their nukes?
Goodbye to GOD Equality and the monarchy MI5 gets ready for the starter's gun Nukes of hazard Of foreigners and families Law v business ReprintsMr Cameron hankers to transform the Leviathan of the modern British state into machinery that is more disposed to distribute power than hoard it.
States with fewer nukes prefer not to give many details of what they are holding.
Unless the official nuclear powers take steps to uphold their side of the NPT bargain that obliges them to work towards abolishing their nukes in exchange for keeping others from seeking the bomb, this opportunity could be lost.
A baritone who sings Fado and opera, he once auditioned (unsuccessfully) for a Portuguese version of "My Fair Lady".In this section On the last lap A grim inheritance After DSK Nostalgie de la boue North star From cukes to nukes It's all Greek to them ReprintsHe will need every ounce of his determination.
To placate senators worried about the deterioration of America's nuclear arsenal, Mr Obama also promised to spend an extra $10 billion sprucing up America's remaining nukes over the next 10 years.
