Reporting the underreported threat of nuclear weapens and efforts by those striving for a nuclear free world. A project of The Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as flagship agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
TOWARD A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD was first launched in 2009 with a view to raising and strengthening public awareness of the urgent need for non-proliferation and ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons.
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UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The growing political rift between the United States and Russia triggered by the granting of temporary asylum to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is now holed up in Moscow, is threatening to further undermine relations between the two superpowers at the United Nations. [P] ARABIC | BAHASA | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSIONPDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH
WASHINGTON (IPS) – Newly published recollections by the former French ambassador to Iran suggest that Iran was not running a covert nuclear weapons programme that it then decided to halt in late 2003, as concluded by U.S. intelligence in 2007. [P] ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSIONPDF
ANNAPOLIS, USA (IDN) – To abolish nuclear weapons, North Korea and all states would have to join the ban before its entry into force, for three reasons. First, the nuclear ban (or abolition) treaty, often called a Nuclear Weapons Convention, would not create true abolition unless all states are parties to it. Second, current nuclear powers in all likelihood would not join unless the ban when enacted is truly global. (There already exists the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has been joined by all but nine states as “non-nuclear weapon” parties.) Third, unanimity of accession by states would give the ban unprecedented geopolitical force for ongoing compliance by states – desirable in itself, and a crucial incentive for today’s nuclear weapon possessors to actually renounce their arsenals.
WASHINGTON (IPS) – As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed his threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, 29 former senior U.S. experts and foreign diplomats urged President Barack Obama to show greater flexibility in anticipated negotiations following the inauguration of President-elect Hassan Rouhani.
“While it will take time to secure an agreement to resolve all concerns, diplomacy will only succeed if we are prepared to leverage existing sanctions and other incentives in exchange for reciprocal Iranian concessions,” according to the letter.
It was signed by, among others, former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs Thomas Pickering and Bruno Pelleau, the former deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). [P] JAPANESE TEXT VERSIONPDF
BERLIN (IDN) – President Barack Obama’s commitment four years ago “to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” reverberated across the globe generating hope that humankind will not be annihilated by a sheer flash of light. On June 19 in Berlin he sought to build on the iconic Prague speech. But there was no magic filling the air. [P] JAPANESE TEXTPDF
NEW DELHI (IDN | IDSA) – For over two decades, a dominant section of western analysts harped on the volatilities of the India and Pakistan nuclear dyad, often overselling the ‘South Asia as a nuclear flashpoint’ axiom, and portending a potential nuclear flare-up in every major stand-off between the two countries. The turbulence in the sub-continent propelled such presages, with one crisis after another billowing towards serious confrontations, but eventually easing out on all occasions.
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – The United Nations has come under criticism from medical experts and members of civil society for what these critics consider inaccurate statements about the effects of lingering radioactivity on local populations.
Scientists and doctors met with top U.N. officials last week to discuss the effects of radioactivity in Japan and Ukraine, and the U.N. has enlisted several of its agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), to address the matter. [P] BAHASA | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSIONPDF
TOKYO – President Obama’s speech in Berlin on June 19 is a welcome reaffirmation of his commitment to achieving a world free from nuclear weapons. The readiness he expresses to pursue further reductions in the US and Russian nuclear arsenals represents a concrete step toward this goal.
‘ 핵무기 없는 세계 ’ 에 향한 열심한 활동으로 정편이 있는 ‘ 핵무기 폐절 캠페인 ’(ICAN) 이 다시 지구와 인류전체의 생존자체를 위험하게 바지게 되는 핵무기를 전폐할 수 있도록 현대 권력자들에게 주장하고 있다 . ICAN 의 열기가 있는 주장은 뉴욕에서 개최되는 ‘ 핵군축에 관한 유엔총회 정상회합 ’ 에 맞아서 실시되었다 .
Berlin (IDN) – An der nuklearen Abrüstungsfront gibt es viele Erfolge zu vermelden. Doch bis zur vollständigen Ächtung von Kernwaffen ist es noch ein langer Weg. Fast 70 Jahre nach dem Abwurf der ersten Atombomben auf Hiroshima und Nagasaki bedrohen noch 17.000 atomare Sprengköpfe das Überleben der Menschheit.
Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
Nuclear Abolition News | IDN
Von Ramesh Jaura