USA and Canada

Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office

Will U.S. Congress Legally Restrain a Nuclear World War III?

By Shanta Roy

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – U.S. President Donald Trump's highly erratic behavior on nuclear weapons – and his public threats to "totally destroy" North Korea – have triggered a strong political backlash from anti-nuclear and anti-war activists.

"A central problem is that Donald Trump seems ignorant about what nuclear weapons really are, and the humanitarian catastrophe that would be unleashed if he fired even one at North Korea – or anywhere," said Dr. Rebecca Johnson of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, a founding co-Chair of the International Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Laureate.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 16 October 2017

Photo: Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, 16 March 2017. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Yemen War Brings Saudi Policies under International Scrutiny

Analysis by Emad Mekay

CAIRO (IDN) – As the then 29-year old young prince Mohammed bin Salman started to prepare himself for the eventual ascension to the throne of Saudi Arabia, his retainers advised him to give TV interviews to win public support. When he did, many Saudis were disappointed. Instead of reigniting pride, the young prince came out bland and unimpressive. His retainers had to find a way to re-catapult him. The Yemen war was hatched.

The young Salman's self-styled “liberal” marketers came up with the idea of a war that the young prince would win quickly. They tried to sell the young royal as a gallant fighter who does not flinch on using Saudi military muscle, buttressed by decades of costly Western arms purchases that former senile rulers balked at using. So, with much fanfare at the time, they chose to introduce a war on – of all countries – Yemen, the region's weakest and poorest nation.

: Emad Mekay; ARMAMENTS; Arms Trade; 11 October 2017

Nuclear Strike No Longer an All-Encompassing Taboo

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - In the Cold War days, some of us used to say, “Better red than dead” – to rebuff those who believed in nuclear deterrence as a way of political life that gave them security. Now those of us who are frightened that Trump could start a nuclear war over Iran or North Korea should coin a new phrase. How about: “Better alive than going to the grave with Kim Jong-un”? Admittedly that doesn’t have the same snappy ring, but get my point?

At the UN recently, President Donald Trump (aka Fire and Fury) threatened to “totally” destroy North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 10 October 2017

Photo: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, signed 20 September 2017 by 50 United Nations member states. Credit: UN Photo / Paulo Filgueiras

Trump Should Reaffirm That "A Nuclear War Must Never Be Fought"

By Daryl G. Kimball

Daryl G. Kimball is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared with the headline 'Prohibit, Do Not Promote, Nuclear Weapons Use'.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) - At an emergency UN Security Council briefing on September 4 following North Korea's sixth and largest nuclear test explosion, Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, lectured Pyongyang's leaders that "being a nuclear power is not about using those terrible weapons to threaten others. Nuclear powers understand their responsibilities."

Days later, in his inaugural address to the UN General Assembly on September 19, U.S. President Donald Trump called North Korea's leader "rocket man" on "a suicide mission." Trump warned, "We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea" if it threatens U.S. allies in the region. North Korea's foreign minister replied by saying Trump's insult makes "our rockets' visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more."

: Daryl G. Kimball; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 02 October 2017

Trump’s Foreign Policy: A Reawakening of Nations

By Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) - The President of the United States, Donald Trump, made an unprecedented speech to the UN General Assembly endorsing nationalism around the world, and called for a "great reawakening of nations, for the revival of their spirits, their pride, their people and their patriotism".

Trump told the UN delegates on September 19 that he was going to put America First and that "sovereign nation-states should also put the interests of their own citizens first". He suggested that governments should cooperate within the UN to make the world better, and to deal with certain rogue regimes.

: Somar Wijayadasa; UN INSIDER; 29 September 2017

Photo (left to right): Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the sidelines of the US-Islamic World summit in Riyadh in May 2017. Credit: Axar.az

U.S. State Secretary Lauds Kazakh Decision to Renounce Nukes

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – "The Republic of Kazakhstan is a particularly illustrative example of the wisdom of relinquishing nuclear weapons," according to Rex W. Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State. He was addressing the United Nations Security Council Session on Nuclear Non-Proliferation on September 21, 2017.

"In partnership with the United States, and aided by the Cooperative Threat Reduction Act spearheaded by U.S. Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, Kazakhstan opted to remove from its territory former Soviet weapons and related nuclear technologies, and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-weapons state," Tillerson added.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; NEWSBRIEFS; 22 September 2017

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers welcome remarks to State Department employees in the main lobby of the Department's Harry S. Truman building on his first day as Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on February 2, 2017. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

The Threat of a Nuclear Attack Remains a Grim Reality

By Rex W. Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State

Following are extensive excerpts from remarks by the U.S. Secretary of State during the United Nations Security Council Session on Nuclear Non-Proliferation on September 21, 2017. The complete text is available on https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/09/274362.htm – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - At a time when stabbings, crudely constructed bombs, and trucks driven into crowds of innocent men, women, and children are often our enemies’ weapons of choice to attack us, it is easy to become complacent and see the threat of nuclear attacks as a relic of the Cold War.

The threat of a nuclear attack remains a grim reality. Those who would trigger such a horrific scenario pose a unique threat to the security of peace-loving nations.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 22 September 2017

Photo: U.S. President Donald J. Trump, addresses the 72nd General Assembly’s annual general debate 19 September 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Trump's UN Speech Arouses Fear of a 'Dark and Difficult Phase' in Reducing Nuclear Threat

By Devendra Kamarajan

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) –"Trust within and among countries is being driven down by those who demonize and divide. We are a world in pieces. We need to be a world at peace," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his address to the General Assembly on September 19.

In contrast, the U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea: "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea." He also threatened Iran and Venezuela.

Reacting to these threats, the Arms Control Association criticised Trump's address as a failure of nuclear leadership. "Trump’s address is yet another sign that we are entering a dark and difficult phase in the long-running effort to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons," said Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the organization based in Washington, D.C.

: Devendra Kamarajan; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 19 September 2017

Photo: The Twin Towers ablaze after the second plane crashed in to the Twin Towers. Credit: Dr Palitha Kohona, former Sri Lankan Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

9/11 – The Morning That Changed The World I Knew

By Dr Palitha Kohona*

COLOMBO (IDN) - It was another sunny September morning. The sky was a brilliant blue. As I gazed out of my kitchen window while having breakfast, in Mid Town Manhattan, the twin towers were glistening in the morning sun. I noted, as I often had, that they were still there, a familiar reassuring sight. The cute young blonde in the apartment across the street was drying her wet hair, as usual, by her plate glass window. The walk to the UN and my office on the 32nd floor of the Secretariat was uneventful. Not that I expected anything untoward to happen. A pre-scheduled closed-door management meeting began on time.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 11 September 2017

Photo: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in the East Room of the White House on December 8, 1987. Credit: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

New U.S. Budget Threatens Nuclear Restraint Agreements

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – As the U.S. Congress prepares to enact legislation "that could further imperil the global nuclear order," a disarmament expert has urged the lawmakers "to seek to preserve and strengthen the existing architecture of arms control and non-proliferation agreements" – instead of rushing to hasten their demise.

The "key pillars" of the agreements "have their origin in the vision of President Ronald Reagan," says Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association (ACA).