ARMAMENTS

Photo (top) Credit: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

US Arms in Afghanistan Mostly Inoperable, but Others Maybe Battle-Ready

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — When the last of the US troops pulled out of Kabul on August 31—after a prolonged 20-year military occupation of Afghanistan—they left behind a treasure trove of weapons but most of them abandoned by retreating Afghan forces who were American allies.

These weapons, including combat helicopters, armoured vehicles, battle tanks and transport aircraft, were apparently de-activated by the departing Americans, but some reportedly remain functional and battle-ready.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Conventional & Autonomous Weapons; 12 September 2021

Photo: Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr. Robert Floyd during his visit to Astana, Kazakhstan.

UN Presses for Entry into Force of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — As the race for modernisation of cyber and nuclear technologies gains momentum, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) "the centrepiece of global efforts to eliminate nuclear tests once and for all". A statement delivered on his behalf by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu said this Treaty has the power to protect future generations from the human suffering and environmental catastrophe produced by nuclear tests.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 09 September 2021

Image: 'Youth Fusion' imposed on Youth Disarmament image.

A New Online Youth Platform Promotes Nuclear Disarmament

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — Worldwide youth are standing up for peace and nuclear disarmament and taking a wide range of innovative actions. The Youth Working Group of Abolition 2000 global network to eliminate nuclear weapons builds cooperation amongst these youth actions, brings youth voices into key UN and other disarmament processes. The group has launched a new online platform and youth action plan for a nuclear-weapons-free world: Youth Fusion.

: Jamshed Baruah; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 September 2021

Photo: Lower Manhattan skyline as seen from Governors Island in June 2017. CC BY-SA 4.0

The Ultimate Nuclear Terrorist Attack?

Viewpoint by Donald A. Collins

Donald A. Collins is a former US Navy officer, banker, venture capitalist, and a free-lance writer who has spent over 40 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas.

WASHINTON D.C. (IDN) — A nuclear attack on New York city? It can’t happen. But the question of a nuclear war has been feared since Hiroshima.

: Opinion Editor; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2021

Photo: Craters and boreholes dot the former Soviet Union nuclear test site Semipalatinsk in what is today Kazakhstan. (File) Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

Reaffirm Commitment to Ban Nuclear Tests, UN Chief Says in Message for International Day

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) — Countries which have not yet ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) are urged by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to do so without delay.

The UN chief made the appeal in his message for the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, observed on Sunday, 29 August.

The date marks the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, the largest of its kind in the former Soviet Union, where more than 450 nuclear devices were exploded over four decades.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 29 August 2021

Photo: Flags of six CSTO member states. Source: Astana Times

Eurasian Military Alliance of Post-Soviet States Marks 30th Anniversary of Closure of Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) — In a joint statement, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), comprising six member states, has highlighted the role of Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose decree shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on August 29, 1991.

The statement was published by the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 26 in the run-up to the International Day against Nuclear Tests, which this year is commemorated on the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 27 August 2021

Photo: The ministers of foreign affairs of Germany, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, France, Russia, the European Union and Iran meeting in Geneva for the interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme (November 2013). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Americans, Not the Europeans, Are Dilly-Dallying in The Iran Nuclear Deal

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The panic button on Iran is being pressed again. A report by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), suggests that Iran has taken more significant steps towards developing a nuclear weapon. At the same time the warnings from Israel are coming thick and fast, reminding us that if necessary Israel will bomb Iran's nuclear research facilities.

All this is grist for the mill for the doomsayers who say it won't be long before countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt decide to develop their own bomb.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 August 2021

Photo: Protesters. Source: Atomic Reporters.

The Role of Citizen and Science Diplomacy Interactions in Nuclear Disarmament

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The year 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semey test site, the 76th anniversary of the United Nations, Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, of the first atomic testing Trinity, 51 years of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), 25 years of the The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) which is not entered into force, collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) and extension of New START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) until February 2026.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 18 August 2021

Photo: Injured civilians, having escaped the raging inferno, gathered on a pavement west of Miyuki-bashi in Hiroshima, Japan, about 11 a.m. on 6 August 1945. UN Photo/Yoshito Matsushige

UN Notes ‘Stalled’ Progress on Nuclear Disarmament

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) — The world needs the continued moral leadership of the people of Hiroshima, the top United Nations disarmament official said, commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing that devastated the city while lamenting that after decades of momentum towards a nuclear-free world, “progress has stalled.”

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 August 2021

Image: YouTube screenshot of the Mayor of Hiroshima issuing Peace Declaration 2021.

Call for 'Immediate Signing' of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty

By MATSUI Kazumi, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima

Every year on August 6, the City of Hiroshima holds a Peace Memorial Ceremony to pray for the peaceful repose of the victims, for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and for lasting world peace. During that ceremony, the Mayor issues a Peace Declaration directed toward the world at large. This is part of Hiroshima's effort to build a world of genuine and lasting world peace where no population will ever again experience the cruel devastation suffered by Hiroshima and Nagasaki.