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By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos*
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — As the Biden administration prepares to initiate a review of U.S. nuclear weapons policy, its first budget request proposes to continue every part of the unnecessary and unsustainable nuclear weapons spending plans it inherited from the Trump administration. This includes the controversial additions made by President Trump to the Obama-era program, such as additional, more usable lower-yield nuclear capabilities.
By Asia Pacific Report newsdesk
SUVA (IDN) — The French government has denied any cover-up over radiation levels in the Pacific following its nuclear testing in the region, as state-backed discussions took place in Paris about the legacy of the explosions, reports France 24.
A two-day meeting called by French President Emmanuel Macron was held following fresh allegations that the testing from 1966 to 1996 caused hidden atmospheric and ground radiation.
By Daryl G. Kimball*
The writer is the Executive Director of the Arms Control Association.
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — After an unusually contentious process that lasted for months, representatives from the member states of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) finally agreed to appoint Robert Floyd of Australia to serve as its executive secretary.
Viewpoint by Van Jackson*
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (IDN) — It was one of the most potent lessons of the Cold War—nukes are good for deterring others from using nukes, but not much else. Weapons capable only of spasmodic mass violence are too crude as a credible tool of coercion in most circumstances.
If the United States seeks only deterrence, but not political advantage from nuclear weapons, then adopting a no first use nuclear policy is not just low-risk—it’s necessary.
By Aar Jay Persius
BERLIN (IDN) — "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." On June 16, at their meeting in Geneva, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin re-affirmed this fundamental truth, famously coined by their predecessors, Reagan and Gorbachev, at the last peak of the cold war, write the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Germany (Heiko Maas), Spain (Arancha González Laya) and Sweden (Ann Linde) in an article published in the German newspaper Rheinische Post on July 5.
“History is written by the victors. Thus, the heinous massacre that was Hiroshima has been handed down to us as a perfectly justified act of war.... It is clear that the use of nuclear weapons, which cause indiscriminate mass murder that leaves survivors to suffer for decades, is a violation of international law.”– Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka before the International Court of Justice, Nov. 7, 1995
Viewpoint by Jacqueline Cabasso*
OAKLAND, California, USA (IDN) — July 8, 2021, marks the 25th anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) Advisory Opinion on the legal status of nuclear weapons.
By Aar Jay Persius
BERLIN (IDN) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed at their June 16 summit in Geneva the principle agreed on by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. They also decided to engage in a robust “strategic stability” dialogue to “lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures”.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — While Africa has moved to center stage as a Russian foreign policy priority, questions are being raised about the record of human rights abuses by Russian mercenaries in Chad and the Central African Republic, among other countries.
United Nations investigators are examining allegations of atrocities outlined in a report for the UN Security Council that was obtained by the New York Times.
![Photo: Deputy Secretary of State Antony "Tony" Blinken meets with Chinese Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, on February 11, 2015. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](/images/Dy_Sec_Blinken_Meets_With_Chinese_Vice_FM_Yesui.jpg)
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) — Nearly five months after the termination of Donald Trump's erratic presidency, US President Joe Biden has triggered a sort of 'systemic' pact against China—with partners in the Group of Seven (G-7), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union (EU) at the June 11-15 summits.
Thirty NATO allies agreed that “[we] will engage China with a view to defending the security interests of the Alliance. … China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to Alliance security.”
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte
Ambassador, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
NEW YORK (IDN) — “We escaped the Cold War without a nuclear holocaust by some combination of skill, luck and divine intervention—probably the latter in greatest proportion.”[1]
— Gen. Lee Butler, former commander of U.S. nuclear forces.
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.