By Shanta Roy UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), released February 2, is a dangerous departure from the past, and appears to reflect a firm U.S. commitment to readily use the world’s deadliest weapons of mass destruction – even if the United States is only a target of “significant non-nuclear strategic […]
Two Minutes to Midnight on Doomsday Clock
By the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Citing growing nuclear risks and unchecked climate dangers, the iconic Doomsday Clock is now 30 seconds closer to midnight, the closest to the symbolic point of annihilation that the Clock has been since 1953 at the height of the Cold War. The decision announced […]
ICAN Chief Shows Japan the Way From a Blind Alley
By Katsuhiro Asagiri TOKYO (IDN) – “I wish for all states, in particular Japan, to join the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. No more hibakusha,” wrote Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), on a message board at the opening of an exhibition on January 12 at […]
Successful Test Firing of India’s Agni-5 Evokes No Fury
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK (IDN) – The successful launch of the nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Agni-5 on January 18 has hardly been noticed in Asia. The western media however have given it coverage focusing on India’s ability now to strike major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai. This partly adulatory coverage is in sharp […]
Kazakh President Offers Astana as Venue for Disarmament Negotiations with North Korea
By Santo D. Banerjee UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – In the run up to the fiftieth anniversary of the UN inviting nuclear haves and have-nots to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on July 1, 1968, Kazakhstan has proposed a set of six measures aimed at the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and offered a platform […]
Iran Nuclear Deal Is Menaced by Trump’s Cynical Gambit
By Kelsey Davenport The writer is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, where it first appeared on 17 January. WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – President Donald Trump’s Jan. 12 decision to waive sanctions on Iran keeps the United States in compliance – for the time being – with its obligations under the multilateral […]
Former ICBM Launch Officer Calls for Reforming Presidential Nuclear Launch Authority
By J C Suresh TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – Cofounder of the organization Global Zero, and a former Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile launch officer has called for major changes to prevent a U.S. President from ordering the use of nuclear weapons. In a new article published in the forthcoming issue of Arms Control Today, Bruce Blair, […]
Israeli Disarmament Movement Steers Through Nuclear Ambiguity
By Bernhard Schell AMMAN (IDN) – The Israeli media ignored the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in honour of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on December 10, 2017 in Oslo. The Israeli Ambassador to Norway however attended the event. The silence of the Israeli media, according to observers, was not surprising though ICAN’s […]
‘Listen To Our Testimony. Heed Our Warning’
By Setsuko Thurlow Setsuko Thurlow is a Japanese-Canadian nuclear disarmament campaigner who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. She is a leading figure in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Thurlow accepted the prize on behalf of the campaign at a ceremony in Oslo […]
Monitoring Dismantlement Key to Eliminating Nuclear Weapons
By Jamshed Baruah NEW YORK (IDN) – Since the United Nations General Assembly adopted on July 7, 2017 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, urging the prohibition and complete elimination of the atomic arsenal, the question of verification and the dismantlement of nuclear weapons has acquired particular importance. Because there are several areas […]