Rising Concern in Russia About Spiralling Arms Race

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

Photo: More than 100 US-built missiles having the capability to strike Moscow with nuclear warheads were deployed in Italy and Turkey in 1961. In August 1963, the US joined the Soviet Union and United Kingdom in agreeing to ban nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, outer space, or under water, and places significant restrictions on detonating nuclear devices underground. The Limited Test Ban Treaty reflects concerns about the dangers of nuclear fallout. A high-speed “hotline” connecting the leaders of the Soviet and U.S. governments is established to mitigate the risk of accidental warfare. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia is convinced that proliferation risks and threats that are rampant today can be eliminated by the strict observance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), while respecting and ensuring the balance between its three components: nonproliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy. [2019-12-18-24] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN

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NPT Review Conference Should Not Repeat the ‘Sad Experience’ of 2015

Viewpoint by Sergey Lavrov

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with President Vladimir Putin. CC BY 4.0

The following are extensive excerpts from Russiaan Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference on “Foreign Policy Priorities of the Russian Federation in Arms Control and Nonproliferation in the Context of Changes in the Global Security Architecture” Moscow, 8 November 2019. [2019-12-17]

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European Support for the US Has Backed Iran into a Corner

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

Photo: The UN membership considered the 2015 Iran deal to be very fair. The Security Council gave it unanimous support. Indeed, the U.S. is now in breach of international law by opting out. Credit: UN Photo.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The Europeans have not done well in countering President Donald Trump’s onslaught on Iran. When Trump unilaterally decided that the U.S. should withdraw from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, which committed Iran to winding down its nuclear research in return for the West, Russia and China (the latter two were also part of the deal) lifting sanctions which were crippling the Iranian economy, the Europeans huffed and puffed and then did little. [2019-12-10]

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Middle Eastern States Are Back on The Path to A WMD Free Zone

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

Photo: Twenty-five years since the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize shared by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat – who negotiated and signed the Oslo Peace Accords – peace continues to evade the Middle East, Palestine-Israel relations remain tense and a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Zone in the region is nowhere in sight. The picture shows Rabin (left) shaking hands with Arafat (right) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2001 | Credit: CC BY-SA World Economic Forum.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in the region of the Middle East has been one of the most frustrating undertakings in the field of arms control and non-proliferation at the United Nations. Over the past few decades it has been possible for States in other regions of the globe to successfully negotiate and adopt treaties that establish nuclear weapon free zones that greatly enhance peace and security. [2019-12-01-23] ARABIC | GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH

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How Nuclear False Warning Could Have Unleashed a Catastrophe

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

Photo: Former Titan II Missile in its silo, Sahuarita, Arizona. Source: The Titan Missile Museum.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – Forty years ago, on November 9, the U.S. Defense Department detected an imminent nuclear attack against the United States through the early-warning system of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). U.S. bomber and missile forces went on full alert, and the emergency command post, known as the “doomsday plane,” took to the air. [2019-11-25]

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Australia’s ‘Quit Nukes’ Campaign Targets Superannuation Funds

By Neena Bhandari

Photo (L-R): Quit Nukes Director Margaret Peril, Australian Ethical Acting CEO Steve Gibbs, ICAN Australia Director Gem Romuld. Source: Quit Nukes.

SYDNEY (IDN) – A new campaign is encouraging Australians to urge their superannuation funds to exclude nuclear weapons producers from their investments, consistent with the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 33 states and needs additional 17 ratifications to become enforceable under international law – 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification. [2019-11-22 | 22] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | MALAY | THAI

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Anxiety Looms Over the 10th NPT Review Conference Next Year

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

Image: Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (Blue); Nuclear weapons states (Red); Nuclear sharing (Orange); Neither, but NPT (Lime green). CC BY-SA 3.0

NEW YORK (IDN) – The contentious start of the 74th Session of the First Committee of the General Assembly last October in New York was a harbinger of the difficulties to be faced in the run-up to the forthcoming 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and in United Nations multilateral organs devoted to disarmament. [2019-11-21 | 21] CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE

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Russia Frustrated About U.S. Stance on New START

By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos*

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressing a nonproliferation conference in Moscow on 8 November 2019. Source: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Top Russian Foreign Ministry officials have issued a fresh set of warnings about the future of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) because, they say, the Trump administration continues to refuse to engage in talks on extending the treaty. [2019-11-15]

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New START Vital to Halt Unconstrained Nuclear Arms Race

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

Photo: U.S: President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev after signing the “New START” treaty on 8 April 2010 in Prague. CC BY 4.0.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Since 2017, the Trump administration has sought to expand the role and capability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal while withdrawing the United States from key agreements designed to reduce nuclear dangers. [2019-11-06]

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Argentine Diplomat Is New Head of the UN Nuclear Agency IAEA

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK | VIENNA (IDN) – Nearly three months after the death of Yukiya Amano of Japan, Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the sixth Director General of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). His election by the majority of the Agency’s board on October 29 nearly coincides with the election of the Centre-left opposition candidate Alberto Fernández as president of Argentina. [2019-10-27]

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More Articles...

• 1. The Challenge of Nuclear Submarine Proliferation
• 2. Mayors for Peace Say the Danger of Nuclear War Is Real and Growing
• 3. Middle East Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, Long Elusive, is Making Progress, say Experts
• 4. Die Eliminierung von Interkontinentalraketen würde die Chancen eines globalen nuklearen Holocaust erheblich verringern
• 5. Elimination of ICBMs Would Greatly Reduce the Chances of a Global Nuclear Holocaust