ARMAMENTS

Photo: Opening session of the 2015 NPT Review Conference. Credit: UN photo/Loey Felipe

The NPT – From Promise to Reality

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador, former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs and current President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

NEW YORK (IDN) — “How can we—the non-nuclear-weapon States—be expected to enter into an interminable obligation to remain non-nuclear if the nuclear-weapon States are engaged in an interminable nuclear escalation?” (Alva Myrdal, Head of the Swedish delegation at the ENDC – Final verbatim record of the 363rd Meeting of the Conference of the 18-Nation Disarmament Committee, February 1968. ENDC/PV.363, 4-12)

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 27 March 2021

Photo: A Trident missile launched from a submerged ballistic missile submarine. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The UK Defies Nuclear Treaties and Strengthens Atomic Arsenal

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — Within three months of the UK's complete withdrawal from all institutions of the European Union and from the European Atomic Energy Community on January 31, 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to increase by 40 per cent to 260 the country's nuclear arsenal to "continue to be the leading European Ally within NATO". Disarmament activists and experts as well as world parliamentarians have criticized the decision.

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 22 March 2021

Photo: Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachev's Legacy After 30 Years of the Soviet Union's Disintegration

By Andrei Grachev

A Russian historian, political analyst and journalist, Dr Andrei Grachev, was the adviser for Mikhail Gorbachev and official Spokesman of the President of the USSR until his resignation in December 1991. InDepthNews is re-publishing this article courtesy of Other News. Original link > https://www.other-news.info/2021/03/the-time-of-gorbachev

MOSCOW (IDN) — Two books were published practically simultaneously in Great Britain and France to commemorate the forthcoming 30th anniversary of the breakup of the Soviet Union.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 05 March 2021

Photo: A possible scenario after a 10-kiloton nuclear detonation centered on Arnhem in the Netherlands. Credit: Dennis van Zuijlekom/Flickr

Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons: The Role of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands

Viewpoint by Moritz Kütt, Jan Hoekema and Tom Sauer *

The English version of this article was first published in The Toda Peace Institute's Global Outlook on February 28, 2021.**

TOKYO (IDN) — On January 22, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force. The new agreement also called the Nuclear Ban Treaty, prohibits member states from developing, producing, testing, and stockpiling nuclear weapons. It similarly restricts the use and the threat of use of these weapons.

The treaty has 54 member states; 32 more have signed the treaty. Additional states are expected to join. The treaty puts into law a prohibition of a substantial threat to the planet: the use of nuclear weapons in warfare that has catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 March 2021

UN Youth4Disarmament Recognized by 'Billion Acts of Peace'

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI (IDN) — Disarmament is at the heart of the collective security system set out in the United Nations Charter, with its goal to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". In commemoration of the United Nation's 75th anniversaries and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) established the "75 Words for Disarmament Youth Challenge", which was launched on August 12 International Youth Day and closed on September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

: Devinder Kumar; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 February 2021

Photo: The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Louisiana transits the Hood Canal in Puget Sound, Wash., Oct. 15, 2017, as it returns to its homeport following a strategic deterrent patrol. Photo By: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Smith | DOD

Nuclear Modernization Race Continues Despite New START

By J C Suresh

TORONTO | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — While independent arms control experts around the world heaved a sigh of relief at Joe Biden's signature decision to extend the New START Treaty with Russia through February 4, 2026, Pentagon officials say it is "just the beginning of a larger discussion with Russia and China about placing further limits on nuclear weapons proliferation".

The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense (DOD). As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is also often used as a metonym or synecdoche for the Department of Defense (DOD) and its leadership.

: J C Suresh; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 28 February 2021

Image: Collage of Hubble Ultra Deep Field includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colours (left) and Atomic bombings of Nagasaki.

The Creative and Destructive Aspects of Homo Sapiens

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador, former High Representative of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs and current President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

NEW YORK (IDN) — We do not know exactly how many millennia ago human beings started their ascent among other species to become dominant over the planet. We can, however, pinpoint with certainty in the Industrial Revolution the beginning of the rapid development of science, manufacturing techniques, trade and other skills that allowed unprecedented material progress particularly since the second half of last century.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 25 February 2021

Photo: SGI President Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

A Beacon of Hope from A Buddhist Leader in the Face of Crises

Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) — Like the United Nations, the global community-based Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a beacon of hope to a world shrouded by dark clouds of unprecedented crises. An international association of the Soka Gakkai and an NGO in consultative status with UN ECOSOC, SGI has members in 192 countries and territories around the world. SGI President is Daisaku Ikeda, a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder and educator.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 18 February 2021

President Biden Should Resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — General Colin Powell should know. He was chief of staff of the US military, and later secretary of state under President George W. Bush. When the Syrian civil war broke out and there was an effort in Congress and the media to persuade President Barack Obama to intervene, Powell made an observation, the one posted in pottery shops: ”If you break it you own it”. He had also made the same pithy remark before the first Gulf war but then he went along with leading the invasion.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 February 2021

Photo: Woomera Test Range. An effort to create a manual on law governing space war is named for the Woomera Test Range in South Australia. Credit: Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Defence.

Time to Negotiate for Peace in Space!

Viewpoint by Alice Slater

The writer serves on the Board of 'World Beyond War'.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The US mission to dominate and control the military use of space has been, historically and at present, a major obstacle to achieving nuclear disarmament and a peaceful path to preserve all life on earth.

Reagan rejected Gorbachev's offer to give up Star Wars as a condition for both countries to eliminate all their nuclear weapons when the wall came down and Gorbachev released all of Eastern Europe from Soviet occupation, miraculously, without a shot.