Study Finds Congressional Attention on Nuclear Security Waning as Nuclear Terrorism Threat Persists

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – A new report reveals an alarming diminution of U.S. congressional engagement and interest in critical efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism and proposed “action items” for lawmakers in enhancing nuclear security efforts and reducing global stockpiles of nuclear materials.

Titled Empowering Congress on Nuclear Security: Blueprints for a New Generation, the report from Partnership for a Secure America and the Arms Control Association also assesses current congressional staff attitudes about nuclear security and explores the role of Congress and case studies in congressional leadership on this issue.

Study Finds Congressional Attention on Nuclear Security Waning as Nuclear Terrorism Threat PersistsRead More »

A U.S.-Russia Summit That Left Trump In The Hot Seat

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) – In a historic bilateral summit, the United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018. The summit took place notwithstanding myriad objections, conjectures and apprehensions from many U.S. political leaders who oppose rapprochement with Russia over a plethora of issues: Crimea, East Ukraine, Syria, and Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

A U.S.-Russia Summit That Left Trump In The Hot SeatRead More »

Nuclear Disarmament Is Crucial For Global Security – It Shouldn’t Have To Wait

Viewpoint by Dan Plesch, SOAS, University of London

LONDON (IDN-INPS) – A network of global institutions were created in 1945 to try and avert another global conflict. They have been gradually undermined over the last 20 years, and now we see them being trashed wholesale. The world leaders responsible are perhaps best described by General Jack D. Ripper in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove: “They have neither the time nor inclination for strategic thought.” The latest round of top-level summits and meetings have duly been coloured by a very real fear of war – but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Nuclear Disarmament Is Crucial For Global Security – It Shouldn’t Have To WaitRead More »

UN Nuclear Watchdog Promotes Global Development Agenda

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – At the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, concluding on July 18 in New York, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has highlighted its contributions to promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.

Capacity building to ‘ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’ as envisaged by SDG 7 was the focus of a training course organized by the IAEA, the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field.

UN Nuclear Watchdog Promotes Global Development AgendaRead More »

The Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty One Year On

Viewpoint by Tilman Ruff AM

Associate Professor Tilman Ruff AM is co-founder and founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. This article has been published on the website of Australian Institute of International Affairs and in Pearls and Irritations on 12 July 2018. 

SYDNEY (IDN-INPS) – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons filled a gaping hole in international law by declaring the last weapons of mass destruction illegal. On the first anniversary of its adoption, how is the treaty faring?

The Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty One Year OnRead More »

Iran Sandwiched Between ‘Regime Change’ Threat and Menacing Discontent Within

By Mortezagholi Raissi

BERLIN (IDN) – Plagued by domestic turmoil and the Trump Administration threatening regime change, not only the government in Iran but the entire theocratic regime too are faced with a far from envious situation, according to political observers.

Iran Sandwiched Between ‘Regime Change’ Threat and Menacing Discontent WithinRead More »

Trump-Putin Summit A New Opportunity To Ban The Bomb

Viewpoint by Alice Slater, World BEYOND War

The writer serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War. Following is the text of her article first published with the caption Watch Out World: Peace May be Breaking Out!! https://worldbeyondwar.org/watch-out-world-peace-may-be-breaking-out/

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Less than a week or so before Donald Trump’s groundbreaking meeting planned with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, to take place after the July 11-12 NATO summit, the new Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons celebrated its first birthday on July 7 when 122 nations voted a year ago in the UN General Assembly to ban the bomb, just as we have banned biological and chemical weapons.

Trump-Putin Summit A New Opportunity To Ban The BombRead More »

L’agenda per il disarmo del capo delle Nazioni Unite incontra delle difficoltà

Di Jayantha Dhanapala

La nuova agenda per il disarmo del Segretario generale delle Nazioni Unite denominata “Garantire il nostro futuro comune”, “non sembra in grado di assicurare il nostro futuro comune con gli attuali attori,” scrive Jayantha Dhanapala, ambasciatore in pensione dello Sri Lanka ed ex Sottosegretario generale delle Nazioni Unite per il disarmo. “Dobbiamo attendere un cambio degli attori oppure cercare fra le macerie dei negoziati falliti per una nuova partenza. Ma ciò dipende dagli imprevedibili Trump e Kim Jong Un,” aggiunge.

L’agenda per il disarmo del capo delle Nazioni Unite incontra delle difficoltàRead More »

Diplomacy With North Korea Crucial To Denuclearization

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

Contrary to President Donald Trump’s claim that there is “no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea” following his June 12 summit meeting with Kim Jong Un, the mission of achieving denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula is clearly not yet accomplished, writes Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in the July/August issue of Arms Control Today. The editorial appeared with the caption ‘After the Singapore Summit‘.

Diplomacy With North Korea Crucial To DenuclearizationRead More »

NPT Proves To Be An Exercise In Bad Faith As It Turns 50

Viewpoint by Alice Slater

The writer is the New York representative for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War.

NEW YORK (IDN) – On July 1, the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) turned 50. In that agreement, five nuclear weapons states – the U.S., Russia, UK, France, and China – pledged to make “good faith efforts” to give up their nuclear weapons, while non-nuclear weapons states vowed not to acquire them. Every country in the world agreed to join the treaty except for India, Pakistan, and Israel which then went on to develop their own nuclear arsenals.

NPT Proves To Be An Exercise In Bad Faith As It Turns 50Read More »