USA and Canada

Photo: The "Baker" explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, a nuclear weapon test by the United States military at Bikini Atoll, Micronesia, on 25 July 1946. Credit: United States Department of Defense (either the U.S. Army or the U.S. Navy), Library of Congress.

From Crossroads to Godzilla: The Cinematic Legacies of The First Postwar Nuclear Tests

Viewpoint by Timothy Noël Peacock

Dr Timothy Noël Peacock FRHistS is a Lecturer in History at the University of Glasgow, founder/co-director of the Arts interdisciplinary Games and Gaming Research Lab (GGLab), and a Visiting Fellow at the British Library Eccles Centre. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

GLASGOW (IDN) — As I sat in a darkened cinema in 1998, mesmerised and unnerved by the opening nuclear bomb explosions that framed the beginning of Roland Emmerich’s Godzilla, it felt like I was watching the most expensive special effect in history.

: Opinion Editor; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 24 July 2021

Photo: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) paid an official working visit to White House and held talks with President Joe Biden (R) on July 15, 2021. Source: India Punchline

US-China Relations Face Transitional Period Ahead

Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar *

NEW DELHI (IDN) — The 'official working visit' by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House on July 15 has been most conspicuous for its subdued tone regarding the most fateful topic of her discussion with President Joe Biden—China.

Merkel's guarded remarks about China at the joint press conference with Biden came as no surprise but what took the breath away is that Biden himself treaded softly on that topic.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 19 July 2021

Photo: American Troops leaving Afghanistan. CC BY-SA 4.0

Would The US Surrender to the Taliban Bring Peace to The Region?

CORRECTED VERSION

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — It may not be as dramatic as the Vietcong tanks crashing through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon while the US airlifts its last troops by helicopter at the end to the Vietnam war, yet the US troop "withdrawal" from Afghanistan this month looks nothing but a surrender to Taliban after spending $3 trillion on the war over the past 20 years and losing 2400 of its troops.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 19 July 2021

Photo: US troops leaving Afghanistan. Source: Daily News, Sri Lanka.

New Equations in South Asian Security with High Tension in Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — A transformation in the security dynamics in South Asia is taking place at such a fast rate that experts on regional security are totally confused and puzzled about the future scenario. The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the gradual expansion of Taliban control in the country, India’s alleged secret talks with Taliban leaders in the Middle East, Pakistan’s growing concerns and the wait-and-watch attitude of China and Russia have added to the bewilderment and reluctance to forecast any possible outcome.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 17 July 2021

Photo: U.S. President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget request asks for $753 billion in national security funding, an increase of 1.6 percent that includes $715 billion for the Defense Department. Source: Defense News.

President Biden’s First Nuclear Arms Budget Is Disappointing

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.

: Arms Control Association; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 July 2021

Photo: 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines packing up gear to withdraw from Al-Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq. Wikimedia Commons.

What About Iraq and Iran Now That U.S. Afghan War Is Over?

Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies*

NEW YORK (IDN) — At Bagram air-base, Afghan scrap merchants are already picking through the graveyard of U.S. military equipment that was until recently the headquarters of America’s 20-year occupation of their country. Afghan officials say the last U.S. forces slipped away from Bagram in the dead of night, without notice or coordination.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 13 July 2021

New Efforts to Reduce Homeownership Disparity in the US

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) — The White House has announced that it will be taking new actions to build black wealth and narrow the racial wealth and homeownership gaps that currently exist in the US. The Administration has vowed to “Take action to address racial discrimination in the housing market, including by launching a first-of-its-kind interagency effort to address inequity in home appraisals, and conducting rulemaking to aggressively combat housing discrimination.”

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 10 July 2021

Image: A Trident II missile fires its first stage after an underwater launch from a Royal Navy Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

US Should Commit to A No-First-Use Nuclear Policy

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.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 July 2021

Photo: US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands at the Villa la Grange on June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: Visual China Group (VCG)

Miles to Go Before the World Moves Further from the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe

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”.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 01 July 2021

Photo: Collage of pictures of Merkel, Putin and Marcon from Wikimedia Commons.

Europe Should Be Taking the Lead to Agree on Putin Summit

Merkel and Macron Ready to Talk Despite EU Refusal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — That bar, the Red Star, on the far side of eastern Europe is closed. So why is the Black Star on this side of the street still open, and even extending its drinking hours?

Once the Warsaw Pact closed shop there was no good or honest reason for keeping NATO going. The threat that NATO was created to deter disappeared when the Soviet Union collapsed.