US Urged to Restore the UN-Backed 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) — More than 40 former government officials and leading nuclear non-proliferation experts have expressed strong support for an agreement that returns Iran and the United States to comply with the 2015 nuclear deal. The accord between Iran and the major world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2231. [2022-04-21]
A Staggering Array of US Arms to Ukraine Pales in Comparison with Russia's Nuclear Weapons
By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK (IDN) — As the devastating war in Ukraine continues—with thousands of civilian killings and entire cities reduced to rubble—the United States has accelerated an unprecedented flow of weapons to the besieged nation.
If Ukraine loses the ongoing war, battling one of the world’s major military and nuclear powers, it is certainly not for want of weapons. [2022-04-15]
An Upside to The End of Privacy: It Might Someday Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Viewpoint by Matt Bivens, IPPNW
Dr Matt Bivens, an emergency medicine physician, is the immediate past chair of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. This article was originally published in The Boston Globe on 7 April 2022.
BOSTON (IDN) — In Stanley Kubrick’s comedic masterpiece “Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” a series of unfortunate events has the world hurtling toward all-out nuclear war. Desperate to prevent this, the US president has the Russian ambassador brought to the White House’s top secret “War Room” for emergency consultations. [2022-04-13]
The End Of (Human) History?
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte
The writer is an Ambassador, former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affair, and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
NEW YORK (IDN) — Roughly three decades have gone by since the publication of Francis Fukuyama’s essay “The End of History?”. The interrogation mark makes clear that the social scientist and philosopher was not announcing an end to contradiction and conflict among nations. He was mainly asking whether Western liberal democracy could be considered as the final stage of human sociocultural evolution and the final form of governance that would endure. [2022-04-08-01] GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | RUSSIAN
Tuvalu Ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
VIENNA (IDN | CTBTO) — Tuvalu has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), bringing the total number of Treaty ratifications to 172 and underscoring the Pacific Island state’s commitment to ending all nuclear tests, everywhere. [2022-04-03]
The Red Scare
The writer serves on the Boards of World Beyond War, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. She is also the UN NGO representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
NEW YORK (IDN) — In 1954 I attended Queens College during the years before Senator Joseph McCarthy finally met his comeuppance at the Army-McCarthy hearings after terrorizing Americans for years with accusations of disloyal communists, waving lists of blacklisted citizens, threatening their lives, their employment, their ability to function in society because of their political affiliations. [2022-04-02]
Avoidance of Nuclear Weapons in a Possible NATO-Russia War Should Be "Foremost" Responsibility
Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN (IDN) — "We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought," pledged the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states—China, France, Russia, UK, and the United States—in a joint statement on January 3, adding that they "consider the avoidance of war" between them and "the reduction of strategic risks" as their "foremost responsibilities". The five nuclear-weapon states are also the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council, which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. [2022-03-26-33] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | MALAY | SWEDISH | THAI
The Gambia Ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
VIENNA (CTBTO | IDN) — The Republic of The Gambia has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), raising the total number of ratifying states to 171 and bringing the Treaty another step closer to universality. [2022-03-24]
Growing Number of Corporations Against Investing in Nuclear Weapons
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) — "The nuclear weapons narrative is changing. The implicit permission to make weapons of mass destruction is getting revoked by governments, parliamentarians, cities and the financial sector," says a new report, released ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which marks a turning point in post-Cold War history. Significantly, the Russian invasion has also triggered the fear of a third world war, which would involve nuclear weapons. [2022-03-14-32] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | MALAY | NORWEGIAN | THAI | TURKISH
World’s Largest Arms Importers Include Nuclear Powers
By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK (IDN) — A significant spike in arms imports by Europe, East Asia and Oceania during the last five years has reaffirmed the continuously sharp increase in global arms sales—a rising trend undaunted by a faltering world economy or the two-year-long pandemic lockdown. [2022-03-14-31] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWEDISH | TURKISH