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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”.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — While Africa has moved to center stage as a Russian foreign policy priority, questions are being raised about the record of human rights abuses by Russian mercenaries in Chad and the Central African Republic, among other countries.
United Nations investigators are examining allegations of atrocities outlined in a report for the UN Security Council that was obtained by the New York Times.
![Photo: Deputy Secretary of State Antony "Tony" Blinken meets with Chinese Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, on February 11, 2015. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](/images/Dy_Sec_Blinken_Meets_With_Chinese_Vice_FM_Yesui.jpg)
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) — Nearly five months after the termination of Donald Trump's erratic presidency, US President Joe Biden has triggered a sort of 'systemic' pact against China—with partners in the Group of Seven (G-7), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union (EU) at the June 11-15 summits.
Thirty NATO allies agreed that “[we] will engage China with a view to defending the security interests of the Alliance. … China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to Alliance security.”
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte
Ambassador, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
NEW YORK (IDN) — “We escaped the Cold War without a nuclear holocaust by some combination of skill, luck and divine intervention—probably the latter in greatest proportion.”[1]
— Gen. Lee Butler, former commander of U.S. nuclear forces.
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
NEW YORK (IDN) — The President of the United States Joseph Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met on June 16 in Geneva at a time when the two countries are engrossed in an antagonistic confrontation over many issues—historically, the worst ever relations between the two countries.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA (IDN) — Spurred by civil society organisations, the UN Human Rights Committee has challenged the nuclear weapons policies of Canada and France as being in violation of the Right to Life, a right enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.
In addition to Canada and France, civil society organisations have also challenged the nuclear policies of Iceland, North Korea, Russia and the United States. The nuclear weapons policies of Denmark have been challenged as part of the periodic review of their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf*
“And so … ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”, President John Kennedy, 20 January 1961.
VIENNA (IDN) — For the better part of a year, diplomats from more than 180 countries have been feuding over the appointment of the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) located in Vienna, alongside the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans nuclear explosions “by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground”.
Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Izumi Nakamitsu
Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka Executive Director of UN Women and Ms Nakamitsu is UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. This OpEd was first published on May 6.
NEW YORK (IDN) — For all of us, but especially women, the pandemic is a reminder that traditional notions of “security” that fuel the weapons industry cannot protect us from dangers and challenges we routinely face.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (IDN) — “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,” French President Emmanuel Macron declared in a blunt interview with The Economist in November 2019. Europe stands on “the edge of a precipice”, he said, and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power; otherwise, we will “no longer be in control of our destiny.”
Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball
The writer is the executive director of Arms Control Association and publisher of Arms Control Today since 2001. The following is the text of Mr Kimball's Foreword to 2021 Joint Media Project Report of the Non-Profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as flagship agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — An informed and mobilized public is essential to human survival in the nuclear age—and effective and independent journalism is essential to revealing the hard truths, the consequences, and the choices that nuclear weapons pose for all of us.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.