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The writer is Distinguished Associate Fellow at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
"Let me begin by saying, we were almost all wrong, and I certainly include myself here."—David Kay, Head of the Iraq Survey Group, during testimony to the US Senate on 29 January 2004.
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, 22 March 2023 (IDN) —The tripartite deal between the UK and the US to provide nuclear submarines (SSNs) to Australia—announced March 13—is threatening to have repercussions worldwide
A joint statement by the three countries (AUKUS) described it as a trilaterally-developed submarine based on the UK’s next-generation design that incorporates technology from all three nations, including cutting edge U.S. submarine technologies.
![Image: Wang Yi (center), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, with representatives from Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Jing / China Daily]](/images/saudi-china-iran.jpeg)
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, 15 March 2023 (IDN) — Saudi Arabia and Iran— two archrivals in the Middle East who severed links seven years ago—re-established diplomatic, political and economic relations last week (15 March) in a historic deal brokered by China, one of the world’s major nuclear powers.
Described as a victory for Chinese diplomacy in a volatile region which for long has been the happy hunting grounds of the United States, the rapprochement between a strong ally of the US and a longstanding ally of the Russians and the Chinese was one of the glorious uncertainties of Middle Eastern politics.
By ICAN
BERLIN, 14 March 2023 (IDN) — Nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula have remained high in the early months of 2023 with North Korea continuing missile tests and the United States and South Korea mounting joint military exercises, including one practicing how to respond to a nuclear attack and others involving nuclear-capable American aircraft.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA, 12 March 2023 (IDN) — European parliamentarians have emphasized the need for taking "concrete steps" towards nuclear disarmament so that it becomes "a priority for the year 2023". This, they said, should be "complementary to stigmatising nuclear weapons and strengthening disarmament treaties such as the TPNW", the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons., which entered into force on 22 January 2021.
By Tariq Rauf*
VIENNA, 7 March 2023 (IDN) — Coming up to the eighteen-month mark following the announcement of the AUKUS agreement on the supply of nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to struggle to deal with the challenge put up by naval nuclear propulsion to the implementation, efficacy and credibility of the Agency’s nuclear safeguards (verification) system.
By Sergio Duarte
The writer is a former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and current President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
NEW YORK, 24 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The states that signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26 1945, accepted the obligation to act in their relations with one another in accordance with the Principles set in its Article 2, which include refraining from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political Independence of any state and settling their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security are not endangered.
By Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY, 23 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Australia and Indonesia have committed to strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime and cooperating in building practical nuclear safeguard capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, even as concerns remain over Australia's push to acquire the nuclear-powered submarines.
By Norman Solomon*
SAN FRANCISCO, 22 Feb 2023 (IDN) — Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, media coverage of the war hasn’t included even the slightest mention of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Yet the war has boosted the chances that ICBMs will set off a global holocaust.
By J C Suresh
TORONTO | WASHINGTON, 21 Feb 2023 (IDN) — The Arms Control Association, an independent, membership-based organization, has strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to suspend implementation of the last remaining treaty limiting the world's two largest nuclear arsenals, the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
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