ARMAMENTS

Photo: Dr. Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun.

Eminent Buddhist Leader Urges Halt to Nuclear Weapons and Killer Robots

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – In the run-up to the forthcoming round of crucial talks on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Buddhist philosopher, educator and a staunch advocate of nuclear disarmament, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, has called for easing tensions to halt further escalation of the conflict over nuclear weapons development.

Underlining the importance of the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) from April 29 to May 10, 2019 at UN Headquarters in New York, Dr. Ikeda has urged the need to gather the support of States parties for multilateral efforts toward nuclear disarmament. 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the accord.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 19 April 2019

Photo: ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn and Bekele Gonfa attended the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa to lobby for signature and ratification of the #TPNW. Credit: ICAN France

African Nations Can Choose Their Own Destiny

Viewpoint by Beatrice Fihn

Following are extensive excerpts from International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Executive Director Beatrice Fihn’s address to the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council on April 4, 2019 at the organization's Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA (IDN-INPS) – Across the world we have seen the devastating impacts of weapons on civilian populations. Humanitarian disarmament is a preventative approach aimed at reducing human suffering through the creation of norms and laws around weapons with indiscriminate and inhumane impact on civilians.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Photo: South African nuclear weapon. Credit: The National Interest.

South Africa a Shining Example of Dismantling Nuclear Arsenal

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel divestment campaigns gather steam, their political impact could be as powerful as the divestment campaign against South Africa in the late 20th Century, which was a critical factor in moving the South African government to end apartheid in 1994, anticipates Thies Kätow, researcher for the World Future Council.

There are hardly any signs that such an expectation will be realized and the campaign under way would persuade heavily armed nuclear states to disarm. Yet South Africa remains a shining example of a country that went from developing its own nuclear arsenal to dismantling it and being an outspoken advocate against these weapons of mass destruction.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Call for Renewed U.S.-Russian Strategic Dialogue

By Daryl G. Kimball*

WASHINGTON , D.C. (IDN-INPS) – In the latest in a series of expert conferences and dialogues in Moscow and Washington, a group of distinguished U.S. and Russian experts released a public statement calling on U.S. and Russian officials to get back to the arms control negotiating table, with the first order of business being agreement on a five-year extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), as allowed for in Article XIV of the treaty, and talks designed to head-off new arms competition in the wake of the likely termination of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

: Arms Control Association; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 12 April 2019

Image: Reversing the financial interests in fossil fuels and the nuclear arms race. Credit: nuclearweaponsmoney.org

Moving Money for a Nuclear-Free and Eco Friendly World

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA | BASEL (IDN) – While Fridays for Future protests underline a global dissatisfaction with the continuing failure of governments and industry to protect the climate, the setting of the Doomsday Clock hands to 2 minutes to midnight in January 2019 signifies a continuing high risk of a nuclear clash with disastrous consequences for human beings and the planet Earth.

But devastating climate change and the risk of a nuclear war will not be prevented unless the international community tackles the economic and political influence of the fossil fuel and nuclear weapons industries: this is the crux of the message expected to emerge from an international conference organized by the Basel Peace Office and taking place in Basel, Switzerland on April 12-13, 2019.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 April 2019

Photo: The Ohio-class USS Nebraska submarine returns to port in Washington in 2018. The Trump administration is seeking funds to complete development of low-yield nuclear warheads for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Credit: Michael Smith/U.S. Navy.

2020 Trump Budget Aims to Boost U.S. Nuclear Capabilities

Viewpoint by Kingston A. Reif

The writer is director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at Arms Control Association (ACA). This article appeared in Volume 49: April 2019 of the Association's monthly journal 'Arms Control Today'.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – .Consistent with the recommendations of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget request would continue plans to expand U.S. nuclear weapon capabilities.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 03 April 2019

Photo: Russian President Putin with U.S. counterpart Trump during the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, 2017. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Not Collusion with Russia but Trump’s Confrontational Policies Threaten Peace

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – President Donald Trump has been exonerated of collusion with Russia. As I wrote a while back, I expected this conclusion from the investigation carried out by Robert Mueller.

The big clue lay in Trump’s anti-Russian posture. Trump has continued the expansion of NATO which Russia, more than understandably, sees as a provocative, unfriendly and dangerous move. Then there is the unwillingness to step forward to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian situation.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 26 March 2019

Photo: President Donald Trump is greeted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 27, 2019, at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, for their second summit meeting. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Beyond the U.S.-North Korean Summits in Singapore and Hanoi

By Kelsey Davenport and Alicia Sanders-Zakre

The following appeared in Volume 11, Issue 5 of the Issue Brief of the Arms Control Association. Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, and Alicia Sanders-Zakre, research assistant.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended abruptly in Hanoi without any agreement on the next steps to advance the shared goals of denuclearization and peacebuilding on the Korean peninsula. While both Trump and Kim described the meeting [February 27-28, 2019] as valuable and appeared committed to continuing dialogue, the future of the diplomatic process is unclear.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 March 2019

Photo: Heiko Mass, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, addressing the Security Council meeting on collective action to improve United Nations Peacekeeping Operations on 28 March 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

Germany Backs UN Chief in Countering Autonomous Weapons

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – Keeping humans in control of autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence is an important element of UN Secretary-General António Guterres' action plan to implement the Agenda for Disarmament, Securing Our Common Future, presented in May 2018.

"Essentially, the question is whether we are in control of technology or whether, ultimately, it controls us," said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in his remarks on March 15 at the conference '2019 Capturing Technology. Rethinking Arms Control' at the German Foreign Office in Berlin. The development of fully autonomous killer robots, cyber weapons and new biological agents has created scenarios for which there are to date almost no internationally recognised rules, he added.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 17 March 2019

Photo: The IAI Harop (or IAI Harpy 2) is a loitering munition developed by the MBT division of Israel Aerospace Industries. It is an anti-radiation drone that can autonomously home in on radio emissions. Rather than holding a separate high-explosive warhead, the drone itself is the main munition. CC BY 4.0.

New Report on Arms Control and the Convergence of Biology and Emerging Technologies

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) – A new report has warned of the risks and challenges posed by the interaction of developments in biotechnology and advances in three emerging technologies: additive manufacturing (AM or so-called 3D printing), artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

The report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) cautions that the latest advances could increase the possibilities for the development, production and use of biological weapons. The existing biological arms control and non-proliferation governance framework, therefore, needs to be adapted to address the emerging security risks, says the report.