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Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *
HIROSHIMA (IDN) —August 6 and August 9 will mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No sentient human being who has met or seen the hibakusha (survivors), or visited the hypocentres in the two cities, or seen the photographic evidence of the destruction of these two Japanese cities, can avoid being shocked and horrified by the devastation that nuclear weapons inflicted.
By Bernhard Schell
ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – With the international community persistently striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, verification systems and methods are crucial to understanding the complex challenges of accurately monitoring and verifying future nuclear disarmament activities which will likely subject countries to more intrusive verification than ever before.
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
By Taro Ichikawa
TOKYO (IDN) – Climate action and nuclear weapons abolition, with a focus on the individual lives and suffering often hidden behind macroeconomic indices, is the main theme of the 38th annual peace proposal by Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network.
Titled 'Toward Our Shared Future: Constructing an Era of Human Solidarity', the proposals were released on January 26 marking the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Soka Gakkai and the 45th anniversary of the founding of SGI.
By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Russian officials repeated in late December and early January President Vladimir Putin’s call for extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) as soon as possible, though Washington continues to remain silent on the future of the accord, which is scheduled to expire in just over 12 months.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – Since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA, also known as the "Iran nuclear deal", in May 2018, a widespread view is that the regime in Tehran is yearning for an atomic bomb.
Washington experts, however, maintain that while Iran’s violations of the JCPOA “are serious, they are reversible and they do not suggest, as some have alleged, that Iran is dashing to acquire a nuclear bomb“.
By Jamshed Baruah
GENEVA (IDN) – Two Nobel Peace laureates – IPPNW and Pugwash – have vehemently censured the killing of Gen. Qassem Suleimani on January 3. Suleimani was Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and, from 1998 until his death, commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations.
In a statement on January 8, IPPNW – the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – “condemned the deliberate and calculated murder” of Iranian Major General Qassim Suleimani by U.S. forces in Iraq.
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball
The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in January/February 2020 issue of Arms Control Today.
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – This year, the world will mark the 75th anniversary of the catastrophic atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the indispensable but imperfect nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.