Saudi Arabia’s Long-Term Goal of Going Nuclear – With U.S. Backing

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Trump administration’s increasingly cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia has led to widespread speculation that the United States may be assisting the Saudis – directly or indirectly – to achieve their long term goal of acquiring nuclear weapons.

The speculation has been triggered by ongoing secret negotiations between the two countries to help Saudi Arabia gain access to nuclear energy in a proposed deal estimated at over a hefty $80 billion, according to a front-page story in the New York Times November 23. [P 15] ARABIC | GERMAN |  JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | MALAY

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Saudi Arabia’s Long-Term Goal of Going Nuclear – With U.S. Backing

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Trump administration’s increasingly cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia has led to widespread speculation that the United States may be assisting the Saudis – directly or indirectly – to achieve their long term goal of acquiring nuclear weapons.

The speculation has been triggered by ongoing secret negotiations between the two countries to help Saudi Arabia gain access to nuclear energy in a proposed deal estimated at over a hefty $80 billion, according to a front-page story in the New York Times November 23. [P 15] ARABIC | GERMAN |  JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | MALAY

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Ensuring Energy Sustainability for Future Generations in Saudi Arabia

By K A CARE

The following is sourced from the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy website.

RIYADH (IDN-INPS) – Saudi Arabia is a dynamic nation facing high rates of demand for energy and desalinated water as the nation’s population grows and the utilization of low-priced electricity and desalinated water accelerates.

According to government estimates, the anticipated demand for electricity in the Kingdom is expected to exceed 120 GW in 2032. Unless alternative energy and energy conservation measures are implemented, the overall demand for fossil fuels for power, industry, transportation and desalination is estimated to grow from 3.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010 to 8.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2028.

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Keeping Saudi Arabia Nuclear-Free

Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson

The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security and author of ‘Empire and the Bomb’.

NEW YORK (IDN) – There is growing concern over the ruthless Crown Prince’s campaign to purchase $80 billion of U.S. nuclear power plant designs and technologies from the U.S. and his reported insistence on producing Saudi Arabia’s own nuclear fuel – a potential path to nuclear weapons development.

Concerns that Saudi Arabia aspires to become a nuclear power need to be seen in the larger context of the dangerous ambitions and delusions of power hungry elites, nuclear and otherwise.

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Disarmament in Uncertain Times Discussed in Reykjavik – Swedish

Nedrustning i osäkra tider diskuterades i Reykjavik

Av Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Med en snabbt ökande spänning mellan USA och Ryssland – och för den delen mellan dessa länder och andra – låg ett seminarie om nedrustning som hölls parallellt med Den 14:e NATO-konferensen om massförstörelsevapen på Island lämpligt i tiden.

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Disarmament in Uncertain Times Discussed in Reykjavik – Norwegian

Nedrustning i usikre tider diskutert i Reykjavik

Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Med dagens raskt voksende spenning mellom USA og Russland – og ikke minst mellom disse landene og andre – var det et passende tidspunkt for et seminar om nedrustning, som ble holdt parallell med NATOs 14. Konferanse om masseødeleggelsesvåpen.

Ideen til seminaret, som har tittelen ‘Praktiske tilnærminger til nedrustning i usikre tider’, kom opp i juli da Islands statsminister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, var i Brüssel på en NATO-konferanse. Da hun inviterte NATO-tjenestemenn til Reykjavik sa Jakobsdottir at fokuset ville være på nedrustning. “Nedrustning diskuteres ikke nok på NATO-møter, sa hun til IDN.

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The Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Violates the Right to Life, Warns a UN Committee

By Alyn Ware

The author is Coordinator of the World Future Council Peace and Disarmament Program, Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, and International Representative of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace (the New Zealand affiliate of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms).

GENEVA (IDN) – The threat or use of nuclear weapons is “incompatible with respect for the right to life” and “may amount to a crime under international law,” warns the UN Human Rights Committee’s new General comment No. 36 (2018) on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), on the right to life, adopted on October 30, 2018. [P 14] BHASA | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH

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The Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Violates the Right to Life, Warns a UN Committee

By Alyn Ware

The author is Coordinator of the World Future Council Peace and Disarmament Program, Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, and International Representative of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace (the New Zealand affiliate of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms).

GENEVA (IDN) – The threat or use of nuclear weapons is “incompatible with respect for the right to life” and “may amount to a crime under international law,” warns the UN Human Rights Committee’s new General comment No. 36 (2018) on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), on the right to life, adopted on October 30, 2018. [P 14] BHASA | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH

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Combative Politics and Hostile Discourse Mark UN Disarmament Initiatives

今年の第一委員会を特徴づけた政治的対立と敵対的言説

【ニューヨークIDN＝ジャヤ・ラマチャンドラン】

「リーチング・クリティカル・ウィル」のレイ・アチソン代表は、『第一委員会モニター２０１８（１１月５日号）』の中で、「もし今年の第一委員会を表す単語をひとつ選べと言われたら、『Contentious（争い・論争）』が候補の上位に挙がってくるだろう。言葉のあらゆる意味において、非難と拒絶の度合いが増し、外交の場におけるただの罵りあいに近くなってきている」と述べている。

アチソン氏が語っているのは、１０月８日から１１月９日にかけて開かれた第７３回国連総会第一委員会（軍縮・安全保障問題）のことである。

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Verification is Key to Denuclearization of North Korea

 Viewpoint by Lassina Zerbo

“The CTBTO and its technological tools are uniquely placed to provide adequate verification and to monitor an end to nuclear tests in North Korea,” writes Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. This article first appeared on Arms Control Association website on November 1, 2018. – The Editor

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