Nuclear Weapons

Photo: China's DF-41 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles are seen during a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 1, 2019, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Credit: Greg Baker.

China May Have Surpassed US in Number of Nuclear Warheads on ICBMs

By Bryant Harris*

WASHINGTON (IDN) — The U.S. may no longer enjoy a numerical advantage against China in certain elements of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program, according to Strategic Command (STRATCOM), which oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

STRATCOM recently sent a classified determination to Congress pursuant to a clause in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires congressional notification if China overtakes the U.S. in at least one of three components regarding its ICBM stockpile.

Photo: A woman passing by a painting on a wall of the former US embassy in Tehran in 2004 showing the US as a Satan. Credit: Behrouz Mehri/Agence France-Presse

Washington Should Offer Iran a Nuclear Deal It Cannot Decline

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The policies of Iran’s government are not set in stone, as critics interminably suggest. Only three days ago (on December 4), Iran’s prosecutor-general was reported as saying that the morality police were being disbanded. Clearly, two months of demonstrations, led mainly by women, and now with open support from Iran’s football World Cup team competing in Qatar, have made the government have a big think about its long-term policies.

"Most People Have No Idea What's Going On" - Jeffrey Sachs

[IDN-InDepthNews — 05 December 2022]

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Nuclear Risks and Technological Proliferation

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is a former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) — 60 years after the Cuban missile crisis, the spectre of the imminent use of nuclear weapons once again haunts humankind. On that occasion, however, the crisis lasted for just 13 days until John Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, in direct contact, arrived at the agreement that made possible the withdrawal of the Soviet weapons from the Caribbean Island in exchange for the non-stationing of American nuclear arms in Turkey.

Photo: US President Joe Biden. Credit: The White House

US President Biden’s Disappointing Nuclear Posture Review

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA). The following text was published in the organization’s monthly journal, Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — Since the end of the Cold War, every U.S. president has conducted an in-depth review of the nation's nuclear strategy. Each study, including President Joe Biden’s 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), has produced disappointing results. That is because they all maintain a dangerous reliance on the threat to use nuclear weapons to deter and, if necessary, respond to hostile attacks, including non-nuclear attacks, “that have a strategic effect against the United States or its allies and partners.”

Photo: India's Agni-V ballistic missile at Republic Day parade in January 2013. Source: Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

India Urged to Join the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW DELHI (IDN) — India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is confronted with an increasing demand to join the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which was adopted in January 2021 by 122 members of the UN General Assembly—a clear majority. The Treaty entered into force after ratification by 50 member-States of the UN. The number of signatories has since risen to 91. The TPNW bans the use, possession, testing, and transfer of nuclear weapons under international law.

Image: Visual illustration of the nuclear-weapon-free-zones. Source: United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs

A Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in Middle East Remains a Fantasy

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A longstanding proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free-zone (NWFZ) in the politically and militarily volatile Middle East has been kicked around the corridors—and committee rooms—of the UN since the 1960s.

A joint declaration by Egypt and Iran in 1974 resulted in a General Assembly resolution. But it never reached the stage of political reality.

Ukraine War Should Prompt Us to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — In the year 2000 President Vladimir Putin made his own contribution to solving the nuclear weapons imbroglio. Moscow, he said in a speech, was prepared to drastically reduce its stockpile of nuclear missiles. Putin's call was not just for further cuts than the U.S. suggested ceiling of 2,500 for each side but for reductions far below Moscow's previous target of 1,500. (At present Russia has around 6,000 warheads, and the U.S. has 5,400.)

Photo: A Group of 'Women Cross Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)'

Building Security in the Korean Peninsula

Pursue Fresh Diplomatic Approaches Not Military-Nuclear Posturing

Viewpoint by Dr Rebecca Johnson

LONDON (IDN) — Nuclear fears have been increasing in North-East Asia in recent months. From early November, North Korea ratcheted up its usual sabre rattling with more direct threats, ‘tactical nuclear drills’, apparent preparations for more nuclear tests, and by firing around 25 different missiles towards South Korea and Japan.

Photo: The Korean War Memorial in Pyongyang, North Korea, with the pyramidal Ryugyong Hotel in the background. C BY-SA 3.0

Religious & Civil Society Call for An End to Crisis in Korean Peninsula

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A coalition of over 700 religious and civil society organizations (CSOs) is making a collective appeal to end the crisis in the Korean peninsula and avoid "military action provoking war".

In a recently released statement, the coalition says: "We are here today in a great sense of crisis. The word 'war' feels closer than ever. Tensions are rising like never before as the military exercises of South Korea, the US, and North Korea continue for days."