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Australia Urged to Sign & Ratify the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – Australia must sign and ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), says a new report released here by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Australian-founded initiative which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

The report comes amidst growing international tension with important agreements, including the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – widely known as the Iran nuclear deal – and the 1988 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the United States and Russia, being undermined.

: Neena Bhandari; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 August 2019

Photo: Two aerial photos of atomic bomb mushroom clouds, over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 (left) and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 (right). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Hiroshima Unlearned: Time to Tell the Truth About US-Russia Relations and Finally Ban the Bomb

Viewpoint by Alice Slater

Author and nuclear disarmament advocate, Alice Slater is a member of the Board of World Beyond War, UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and a longtime member of CODEPINK.

NEW YORK (IDN) – August 6 and 9 mark 74 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where only one nuclear bomb dropped on each city caused the deaths of up to 146,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 people in Nagasaki. Today, with the U.S. decision to walk away from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) negotiated with the Soviet Union, we are once again staring into the abyss of one of the most perilous nuclear challenges since the height of the Cold War.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 August 2019

Image: The United States conducted the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests, the Castle Bravo test, at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Castle on 1 March 1954. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy.

CEND Is Creating the Conditions to ‘Never Disarm’ – 74 Years Since Hiroshima, Nagasaki

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf

The writer is a Vienna-based nuclear arms control specialist, who was Head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination, Office reporting to the Director General at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2002—2011/2012, in which capacity he was the Alternate Head of the IAEA NPT Delegation. The views expressed in this paper are purely personal.

VIENNA (IDN) – With August 6 and 9 respectively marking the 74th 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 was inflicted by nuclear weapons.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 August 2019

Photo: Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, addressing the panel on nuclear disarmament at plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament on 30 July 2019 in Geneva. Credit: Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.

Nuclear Disarmament Through the Vortex of Global Concern

Viewpoint by A.L.A. Azeez

The writer, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, is concerned about the security landscape in most regions as well as globally. He pleads for all feasible measures to resume discussions on substantive matters. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are the foremost among them, he adds. The following are extensive extracts from his remarks made in his personal capacity as a member of the panel on nuclear disarmament at plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament on 30 July 2019 in Geneva.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 04 August 2019

Photo: Chinese enthusiastically celebrate country’s successful test launch of a nuclear missile (1966). Source: UCS

China Holds Firm on No First Use of Nuclear Weapons, Misses U.S. Assurances

Viewpoint by Gregory Kulacki

The writer researches the cross-cultural aspects of nuclear arms control negotiations between the United States, China and Japan. He is China project manager and senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The following was first published at UCS's blog on July 24, 2019.

CLAREMONT, CA, USA (IDN | UCS) – Ever since I took this job 17 years ago U.S. colleagues of all political and intellectual persuasions have been telling me that sooner or later China would alter, adjust, amend or qualify the policy that China will never, under any circumstances, use nuclear weapons first.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 03 August 2019

ACP-EU Partnership Fights Poverty Across Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – From the Horn of Africa to the slums of Capetown and Johannesburg in South Africa, and even further up across West Africa, poverty has over the years reigned supreme affecting millions of Africans.

But since the sub-Saharan African countries joined the Caribbean and Pacific nations, signed the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 and established the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), they have been striving to combat poverty and encourage sustainable development, a vital objective of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 August 2019

Photo: Accompanied by their NATO counterparts, the then Soviet inspectors enter a weapons storage area to verify NATO compliance with the INF Treaty. Created on 16 August 1989. Source: Wikimedia Commons

INF Treaty’s Demise Opens Door to a Dangerous Arms Race

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his statement issued on August 2.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – The loss of the landmark INF Treaty, which helped end the Cold War nuclear arms race, is a blow to international peace and security. Russian noncompliance with the INF Treaty is unacceptable and merits a strong response. But President Trump’s decision to terminate the treaty will not eliminate Russia’s noncompliant 9M729 missiles — and is a mistake.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 02 August 2019

New Multilateralism Vital to Shift to Sustainable Tracks

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – “We need a new multilateralism to shift the world to sustainable tracks,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Liu Zhenmin, has accentuated in a conversation with the UN DESA ‘Voice’, which offers an insider's look at the world body in the area of economic, social and sustainable development policy.

It is produced by the Strategic Planning and Communications Services of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) with articles written by UN DESA staff. This is an electronic publication – no printed edition is generated.

: Santo D. Banerjee; SUSTAINABILITY; 01 August 2019

Photo: Internet has replaced the ‘Gutenberg era’, promising the horizontal system of information instead of the vertical. But that hope has been belied. Picture shows Gutenberg statue at the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz. Credit: BR-Bavaria Radio.

The World Is on a Breakneck Course Towards Barbarisation

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio*

ROME (IDN | OtherNews) – When all is said and done, it appears that Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century English philosopher who had a dire vision of man, was not totally wrong. From the frivolous to the serious, in just a week we have had four items of news which would not happen in a normal world.

An English porn beauty with 86,000 followers on social media has put bottles of the water she bathes in on sale at 30 pounds a bottle and has sold several thousand bottles.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 01 August 2019

The then Soviet inspectors and their American counterparts scrutinize Pershing II missiles in 1989. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Growing Concern about US-Russian Disarmament Treaties

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK (IDN) – In his agenda for disarmament, Securing Our Common Future, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres calls for reinvigorated dialogue, serious negotiations and a return to a common vision leading towards nuclear disarmament.

Next year, over 190 States Parties will gather in New York for the 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and mark 50 years of this cornerstone of nuclear disarmament. According to experts, there are significant challenges to be overcome if this conference is to be successful – in spite of unceasingly deteriorating international security climate which does not bode well.