A Bold Move Toward A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – The United Nations General Assembly will consider during the period October 24 to November 2 a resolution to launch formal, multilateral negotiations in 2017 on a “legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

Sponsored by Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa, the resolution has been submitted on September 28. “It will likely be approved with more than 120 states in support”, said Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). “The proposal may allow for consideration of several options and proposals, including a ban treaty,” he added.

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Next US President Has a Nuclear Option: Scrap the Program

Viewpoint by David Hall and Leonard Eiger

David Hall, of Lopez Island, and Leonard Eiger, of North Bend, are active members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

SEATTLE (IDN | The Seattle Times) – Have you seen the Seattle bus ads? They read: “20 miles west of Seattle is the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the U.S.”

In light of recent media attention on who should have their finger on the nuclear button, this statement seems to beg the question: With so many nuclear weapons, what would happen should the president order their use?

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DPRK Nuclear Test Calls For Dumping Cold War Responses – Chinese

破解朝核问题需要抛弃冷战思维

 【曼谷IDN＝Kalinga Seneviratne】

东亚峰会于9月8日在老挝万象举行，但在与会国家就朝核问题签署了“不扩散”声明后不久，朝鲜便宣布成功进行第五次核试验。东北亚区域军事化的危险再次引起各界的关注。

就在东亚峰会各方达成一致，敦促朝鲜放弃核武器以及弹道导弹项目之后一天，朝鲜进行了第五次核试验。然而，这次峰会是包括美，中，俄，日等18个区域主体首次就朝核问题达成一致。

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DPRK Nuclear Test Calls For Dumping Cold War Responses – Japanese

北朝鮮の核実験、冷戦時代式反応の放棄を求める

 【バンコクIDN＝カリンガ・セネビラトネ】

ラオスの首都ビエンチャンで開かれた「東アジアサミット」で採択された不拡散に関する特別声明のインクも乾かぬうちに、北朝鮮が核実験の成功を発表した。こうして北朝鮮の核問題は、軍事化が一層強まっている域内の現実に対して関係諸国の関心を引き寄せる結果となった。

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Security Council Resolution Hailed as Step Closer to Nuclear Disarmament

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fcsJPgyd2I

Top UN officials in nuclear disarmament affairs have welcomed the adoption, today by the Security Council, of a resolution that they hope, will “strengthen the norm against” nuclear testing. Mr. Kim Won-soo, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), were speaking to the press at the UN headquarters, shortly after the Council voted on a resolution urging countries to refrain from any nuclear testing, and those that have not signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty – which was adopted 20 years ago – to do so.

UN Security Council Bans Nuke Tests But Not Bombs

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – One day ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the United Nations Security Council adopted a Resolution reinforcing the de facto global ban on nuclear weapons testing established 20 years ago. (See Video)

The 15-member body – comprising the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as permanent (P5) members with the right to veto and 10 non-permanent members elected by rotation for a period of two years – adopted the Resolution after extensive discussions on September 23 by a vote of 14 in favour and none against but one abstention by Egypt on the ground that the text of the Resolution did not stress on the need for nuclear disarmament. [P23] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | GERMAN

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UN Security Council Bans Nuke Tests But Not Bombs

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – One day ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the United Nations Security Council adopted a Resolution reinforcing the de facto global ban on nuclear weapons testing established 20 years ago. (See Video)

The 15-member body – comprising the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as permanent (P5) members with the right to veto and 10 non-permanent members elected by rotation for a period of two years – adopted the Resolution after extensive discussions on September 23 by a vote of 14 in favour and none against but one abstention by Egypt on the ground that the text of the Resolution did not stress on the need for nuclear disarmament. [P23] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | GERMAN

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CTBT 20 Years On: Finishing the ‘Unfinished Business’

Analysis by Tariq Rauf

Tariq Rauf is Director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), formerly the Head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

STOCKHOLM (IDN) –On September 21, three days before the 20thanniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s (CTBT), several foreign ministers and other high-level representatives of UN Member States met in New York and united in a call for the prompt entry-into-force of the treaty.

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Kazakhstan Leads the Way to a Nuclear-Weapon Free World – Japanese

 非核世界への道をリードするカザフスタン

 【アスタナIDN＝ラメシュ・ジャウラ、浅霧勝浩】

核軍縮の達成方法に関する国家間の見解の相違が大きくなる中、カザフスタンのような国が、共通の基盤と包摂的な対話に向けた道をリードしなくてはならない。そうしたリーダーシップこそが、私たちの世界を真に安全なものにしていくために緊急に求められている、と国連の潘基文事務総長が、「核兵器のない世界の構築」を目指す核軍縮国際会議に寄せた声明の中で各国に訴えた。

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Nuke Tests Don’t Qualify North Korea as a ‘Nuclear Power’

By Rodney Reynolds

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – Despite five nuclear tests by a defiant North Korea, the United States continues to maintain it will not recognize the belligerent and reclusive nation as a legitimate “nuclear power”.

Elizabeth Trudeau, U.S. State Department spokesperson and Director of the Press Office, reiterated the U.S. stance when she told reporters September 9: “We’ve been consistently clear we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state, nor will we accept North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons.”

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