Security Council Joins The U.S. And EU In Removing Sanctions Against Iran

 By J. Nastranis

NEW YORK | VIENNA (IDN) – While the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the lifting of sanctions on Iran, the Security Council announced on January 17 that it has removed Iranian Bank Sepah and its international subsidiary from a sanctions list.

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Multilateral Diplomacy Triumphs As Sanctions Against Iran Are Lifted

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA (IDN) – Political will and multilateral diplomacy marked a milestone as U.S. President Barack Obama revoked a 20-year system of sanctions against Iran and Federica Mogherini, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and a Council member of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), announced the lifting of EU economic blockade against Tehran on January 16.

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A Turning Point in the Iran File: Implementation Day

By James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS)

On January 16 the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano issued a report to the UN Security Council and the IAEA’s Board of Governors that, with immediate effect, results in the termination of sanctions under all previous resolutions adopted by the Security Council on Iran’s nuclear program.

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North Korea’s Defiance Underlines The Urgency To Eradicate All Nuclear Weapons

By Somar Wijayadasa* | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis

NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea defied world powers, on January 6, by announcing that it had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen nuclear device – in contravention of the international norm against nuclear testing.

The miniaturizing allows the device to be placed on a missile thereby significantly increasing its strike capabilities not only against Japan and South Korea but also against the United States.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “This test, once again, violates numerous Security Council resolutions despite the united call by the international community to cease such activities.”

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North Korea’s Nuclear Test Escalates Military Tensions

By Rodney Reynolds

 

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As military tensions continue to rise between two of the world’s major nuclear powers – the United States and Russia – the United Nations remains strongly committed towards one of its longstanding goals: a world without nuclear weapons. READ IN JAPANESE

But North Korea’s announcement of its first hydrogen bomb – tested January 6 – is threatening to escalate the nuclear challenge even further.

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‘We Cannot Abolish Nuclear Weapons Without Abolishing War’

By James Taylor Ranney*

WILMINGTON, USA (IDN) – For some time now, the movement for abolition of nuclear weapons has been proceeding on the assumption that we can secure an abolition treaty without fundamentally altering global security arrangements. Understandably, very little if any attention has been focused upon the much larger issue of abolishing war. But it may turn out that we cannot abolish nuclear weapons without abolishing war.

Nothing logically requires this. But as a practical matter, the two things may be inextricably linked.  For one thing, the Russians will demand, if not general and complete disarmament, at least serious reductions in conventional forces.  And once we agree to that, we are halfway to a new security system – international alternative dispute resolution.

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Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons High on UN Agenda in 2016

By Jamshed Baruah

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – An open-ended working group of the United Nations General Assembly for achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world is, along with the Sustainable Development Goals, an important agenda item that the year 2015 has bequeathed to 2016. [P41] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

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Ecuador Parliament Endorses a Resolution to Ban Nuclear Weapons

By Nelsy Lizarazo*

QUITO – The National Assembly of the Republic of Ecuador approved on December 15, 2015 by a vote of 82 in favor, 1 against and 23 abstentions, a resolution that clearly underlines the urgency of driving forward an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The Resolution, presented by the Assembly Member, Maria Augusta Calle, was prepared in collaboration with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, World without Wars and Violence, and Pressenza the International News Agency for peace and nonviolence.

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New Research Stresses Need For Banning the Bomb

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

This article was originally published as Foreword to ‘Don’t Bank on the Bomb – A Global Report on the Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers’, a joint publication of PAX and ICAN.

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) – In a world of unconscionably high military expenditures which feed the conflicts that cause death, destruction and displacement of millions, we need to be constantly reminded of the wise words of President Dwight Eisenhower – a military man, who distinguished himself in World War II and then went on to be the U.S. President for two terms. Addressing his nation in a farewell address on January 17, 1961 Eisenhower – who I was privileged to meet as a student visitor to the US in 1957 – said:

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World’s Major Powers, in ‘Shameful Behaviour’, Opt out of Nuclear Resolution

By Rodney Reynolds

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When the world’s major nuclear powers express their support for nuclear disarmament, their political rhetoric usually fails to match their actions – even as they continue to modernize their arsenals. Undeterred, the UN’s Committee on Disarmament and International Security (also known as the First Committee) traditionally adopts a cluster of over 15-20 resolutions every year – mostly on arms control and nuclear disarmament. [P40] CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN

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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