ARMAMENTS

A Nuclear-Free World Begins with Young Leaders

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, 31 May 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations now believes—and perhaps rightly so—that a world free of nuclear weapons should begin primarily with young future leaders.

In pursuing this ambitious goal, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the government of Japan are calling on young people to apply for an innovative learning programme that will empower them to make their contribution to a world free of the deadly weapons.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 31 May 2023

Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) Photo Credit: SGI

Viewpoint: For the Sake of Peace, We Need a Fossil Fuel Treaty

By Tomohiko Aishima* & Shahin Ashraf**

TOKYO (IDN) — When the leaders of powerful nations meet, finding ways to maintain peace is one of their most important responsibilities. But as the G7 meeting in Hiroshima has come to an end, some of the world’s most powerful leaders have let two opportunities to further the cause of peace slip through their grasp.Their first missed opportunity is in failing to take substantive steps to enhance momentum of supporting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), despite the historic significance of the Summit being held in Hiroshima. The second is in the area of climate change.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 May 2023

Wreath-Laying at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims by G7 leaders—Italy’s PM Meloni, PM Trudeau of Canada, President Macron of France, Summit host Fumio Kishida, US President Biden, and Chancellor Scholz—flanked by European Commission president von der Leyen (right) and European Council president Michel (left). Credit: Govt. of Japan.

G7 Leaders Falter Over Nuclear Disarmament in Hiroshima

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, 22 May 2023 (IDN) — When leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) countries met in Hiroshima May 19-21, one of the issues on the agenda was nuclear disarmament.

The venue of the summit was symbolically stark because the US atomic bombings in 1945 killed over 226,000 people in the twin Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the heaviest toll in Hiroshima.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 May 2023

The Right to Life: A Missing Perspective on Nuclear Arms

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, 21 May 2023 (IDN) — The Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) has made a new submission to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in advance of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Russian Federation.

Currently, the tentative schedule of the UPR Working Group, with Russia on its agenda, is 13 November, with the adoption of the final report on 17 November.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 21 May 2023

Myanmar soldiers. Credit: Anadolu Ajansi

How Myanmar’s Arms Purchases Circumvent Sanctions

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, 18 May 2023 (IDN) — The much-maligned military regime in Myanmar, accused of genocide and human rights abuses, is being sustained by nearly a billion dollars’ worth of arms—plus raw materials to manufacture weapons—originating primarily from China and Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, along with Singapore, Thailand and India.

: Thalif Deen; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 May 2023

Senator Edward Markey picture over US Congress building. Source: markey.senate.gov

A 21st Century Freeze on Nuclear Weapons: Will it be a Reality?

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, 13 May 2023 (IDN) — US Senator Edward Markey (Democrat from Massachusetts) announced plans on May 4 to re-introduce legislation that would establish a 21st century freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons.

A former US army reservist and co-president of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), Markey will re-introduce into the US Senate the Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) Act.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 May 2023

The Climate-Nuclear Nexus. World Future Council.

Nuclear Energy: Problem and Solution

By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães Capt. (ret.) Brazilian Navy*

Climate change and a third world war are the two main threats looming over humanity today. Nuclear energy is closely linked to these two threats in a paradoxical way: in the first as a solution and in the second as a problem, says the writer.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 13 May 2023 (IDN) — Climate change endangers eco and social systems around the world.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 May 2023

Dolphin Class Submarine. Credit:Thyssen Krupp

Should We Fear Nuclear Submarine Proliferation?

Evil is in the eye of the beholder

By Leonam dos Santos Guimarães Capt. (ret.) Brazilian Navy*

RIO DE JANEIRO, 11 May 2023 (IDN) — The potential cause-effect relationship between nuclear attack submarine development and nuclear weapons production by Non-Proliferation Treaty/nonnuclear-weapons states is a subject that has been scarcely discussed in unclassified sources until the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS), announced on 15 September 2021 for the Indo-Pacific region.

: Opinion Editor; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 11 May 2023

Photo: Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

‘Settle the Ukraine Crisis, Avoid a Nuclear Confrontation’

Japanese Buddhist Leader's Urgent Appeal to G7 Hiroshima Summit

Viewpoint by Daisaku Ikeda*

TOKYO, 10 May 2023 (IDN) — The Ukraine crisis, which in addition to bringing devastation to the people of that country has had severe impacts on a global scale—even giving rise to the specter of nuclear weapons use—has entered its second year. Against this backdrop and amid urgent calls for its resolution, the G7 Summit of leading industrial nations will be held in Hiroshima, Japan, from May 19 to 21.

: Daisaku Ikeda; OPINION; 10 May 2023

A street in Kiev following Russian missile strikes on 10 October 2022. CC BY 4.0

Is Peace Possible in Ukraine?

By Sergio Duarte

The writer is a former UN High Representative for Disarmament.

NEW YORK, 9 May 2023 (IDN) — Under the inspiration of the five powers that won World War II, the United Nations Charter was adopted in 1945 with the objective of regulating international relations and preventing war. Its Preamble expresses “the determination of the peoples of the United Nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.