Nuclear Abolition News . Analysis . Features

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

Interview By Thalif Deen
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis 

NEW YORK - When he addressed a massive gathering in the Czech capital of Prague last month, U.S. President Barack Obama made a historic statement pledging that his country will take "concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons."

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By Julio Godoy
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) It is indeed an irony of history. The U.S.-led NATO's decision to station nuclear weapons across Western Europe gave birth and clout to the German peace movement. Thirty years later, it is back in the news, this time vigorously campaigning for U.S. President Barack Obama's proposals.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

- India has a flourishing nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000 MWe of nuclear capacity on line by 2020.
- China has electricity demand growing at 20 percent per year and a rapidly-expanding nuclear power program. Nuclear capacity of at least 40,000 MWe is planned by 2020.
- India is already self-sufficient in reactor design and construction and China has become so for second-generation units, but is importing Generation-3 plants. India's uranium resources are limited, so it is focusing on developing the thorium fuel cycle to utilise its extensive reserves of thorium.
- China's uranium resources are modest and it is starting to rely on imported uranium.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

"We committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear free world."

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

11 Benchmarks for Global Nuclear Disarmament

Japan has proposed a resolution for the total elimination of nuclear weapons to the United Nations General Assembly every year for the past 15 years and has otherwise been engaged in active nuclear disarmament diplomacy. In a mov to take advantage of the growing momentum toward a nuclear free world, Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone has put forward an 11-point initiative for promoting global nuclear disarmament.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

The NPT Process and the Review Conference

The third preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) takes place at the UN in New York May 4-15 against a background of increasing calls for progress on nuclear disarmament and measures to strengthen the Treaty. The NPT was concluded in 1968 and entered into force on March 5, 1970. It is the founding document of multilateral non proliferation endeavours.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

The 2008 NPT PrepCom from April 28 to May 9 was probably as good as it can get in the current review process, says Rebecca Johnson in a study for the UK-based Acronym Institute for disarmament diplomacy. Unlike in 2007 - or the previous Review Conference in 2005 - there were no major obstacles to get in the way of a smooth process.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
VOICES of the South on Globalization

A world without nuclear weapons is no longer viewed as a perception belonging to the realm of dreamers or even madcaps. It is very much a realistic possibility provided those in possession of nuclear weapons and fissionable materials soon decide to negotiate a series of multilateral and unilateral measures.

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By Ramesh Jaura
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

Norway's foreign affairs minister Jonas Gahr Støre has called for giving new priority to nuclear disarmament that has been assigned to oblivion since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.