By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 29 April 2026 (IDN) — Not long ago, U.S. Strategic Command—the branch responsible for nuclear weapons—issued a stark warning: conflict conditions could “very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.” That sober assessment captures a growing unease. President Joe Biden’s decision to send […]
IRAN: Sustainable Peace Takes Time
By David L. Phillips* OXFORD, UK | 29 April 2026 (IDN) — I spent hours with Ambassador Javad Zarif, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN and Foreign Minister in 2015. Rather convincingly, he maintained that Iran was not seeking a nuclear weapon but merely insisting on its right to enrichment. He called Iran’s nuclear program a […]
The Big Bomb Questions
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 22 April 2026 (IDN) — Rightly, the debate over how to end the Iranian nuclear (bomb?) crisis is now the number one issue in Western foreign policy. Compared with that, the civil war in Ukraine seems almost trivial—one that could be resolved in a week if only the West made […]
Life in a Lawless Nuclear World
Radiological Consequences of Military Attacks on Bushehr and Barakah Atomic Power Plants By Tariq Rauf The writer is a former Head of Verification and Security Policy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). VIENNA | 30 March 2026 (IDN) — In 1975, the US-based RAND Corporation published a seminal report entitled “Moving Toward Life in […]
Trump’s Nuclear Diplomacy
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 4 March 2026 (IDN) — Besides President Donald Trump’s conviction that Iran is very close to building nuclear weapons (which the CIA disputes), there is a next crisis looming on Trump’s agenda. It might well be North Korea, which openly has the bomb, many of them. (Due to a […]
Europe Confronts a World Without Guarantees
The Merz Doctrine, and the Cost of Strategic Adulthood This article first appeared on https://rjaura.substack.com By Ramesh Jaura* BERLIN | 1 March 2026 (IDN) — For nearly eight decades, Europe thrived under the sturdy canopy of a security order that felt immovable. The United States was the bedrock of NATO, its power a shield against […]
Iran Crisis Exposes the Impotence of America’s Neoliberal War Machine
By Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK | 20 February 2026 (IDN) — After some delays, the United States is dispatching a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and threaten Iran. This is the third Atlantic crossing […]
After New START: Ban the Bomb
Why nuclear abolition must replace deterrence and treaty illusion By Ramesh Jaura* This article first appeared on rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 14 February 2026 (IDN) — The New START treaty expired on 4 February 2026, marking what many see as a dangerous shift in global security. The last accord limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals—together nearly 90 […]
Will Trump Break International Law Over Iran?
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 10 February 2026 (IDN) — We are heading toward a potential collision between President Donald Trump and international law. Anyone listening carefully to his rhetoric about Iran and its alleged nuclear weapons programme can sense it coming. Trump has spoken in tones I would describe as “fire and brimstone.” That […]
The New START Treaty Expired — Ending Nuclear Restraint
By Somar Wijayadasa* NEW YORK | 7 February 2026 (IDN) — On 5 February 2026, the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)—the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia—expired. For the first time since 1972, there are no legally binding limits on strategic nuclear weapons between Washington and Moscow. This marks […]