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Image: President of the 10th RevCon Gustavo Zlauvinen opening the Conference in the UN General Assembly Hall on August 1, 2022. Credit: UN

The NPT Review Cycle in Wartime

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is Ambassador and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

“Recalling that States must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State and that the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security are to be promoted with the least diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources..” (From the Preamble of the NPT)

: Sergio Duarte; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 February 2023

Image: US Air Force Staff performing a simulated missile reduction in accordance with the New START on Minot Air Force Base, N.D., 2011. Credit: Flickr/US Air

New START Noncompliance Highlights Need for Nuclear Abolition

By Ariana Smith

The writer is the Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy

NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent US allegation of Russian noncompliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) cannot be adequately understood outside of the context of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine.

The Russian invasion, initiated nearly one year ago, was marked early on by insistent and illegal threats of nuclear use, intended to dissuade Western nuclear and nuclear-allied states from "interference" in Ukraine.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 February 2023

Image: Pope Francis kneels at the feet of South Sudan President Salva Kiir at the conclusion of a two-day retreat for the African nation's political leaders, at the Vatican in this April 11, 2019, file photo.

Of Love, Of Selfishness and a World

By Ramu Damodaran

The author is the first Director of UN Academic Impact and a Senior Fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).

NEW YORK (IDN) — It was in the final weeks of 2020, during the annually familiar, even at times festive, reaffirmation and celebration of faith, from Eid-e-Milad to Gurpurab, Diwali to Hanukkah, Christmas to Kwanzaa, that I heard a conversation between two religious peacemakers in South Sudan, themselves distinguished scholars.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 07 February 2023

Image: Clash of Civilizations. (2023, January 17). Wikipedia

New Evidence Against the War on Civilizations

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — War of civilizations? Violence-prone Muslims living out the inheritance of their prophet, Mohammed who, in marked contrast to Jesus Christ, established his creed on earth by a vigorous use of the sword. It's all there in Princeton professor Bernard Lewis' book, "From Babel to Dragomans".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 07 February 2023

Image: 'Cobalt Red', A book by Siddharth Kara, Macmillan (cropped), reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

'Cobalt Red' Portrays the Degradation of Congolese Miners' Life

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Some might call it a vision of hell.

To others, the cobalt mines, where thousands of miners toil in vast open pits, are “a hellscape of craters and tunnels, patrolled by maniacs with guns.”

“It was a “lunar wasteland,” a “devastated landscape” that “resembled a battlefield after an aerial bombardment.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 February 2023

Image: Ghanaian soldiers. Source: Military Africa

Ghana To Establish A ‘War College’ As Fears of Terrorism Grow

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Ghanaian Armed Forces (GAF) is looking to establish a War College to train future military strategists and leaders.

President Nana Akufo-Addo revealed the plans at the Ghanaian Armed Forces end-of-year West African Soldiers Social Activities (WASSA) celebrations in Accra.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 February 2023

Image: US President Barrack Obama (left) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) signing the New START Treaty on 8 April 2020 in Prague. Source: White House

US-Russia Nuclear Treaty in Danger of Breaking Down

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The growing nuclear threats from Russia—the last one from President Vladimir Putin himself—have resulted in a negative fallout for a landmark treaty between two of the world’s major nuclear powers.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1) between the US and the then Soviet Union—on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive weapons—was signed on 31 July 1991, entered into force on 5 December 1994 and later extended through 4 February 2026 heralding a New START Treaty.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 07 February 2023

Image: Congolese carrying signs reading “Saints at Once”. Source: Vatican News

Pope Ends African Journey Calling for End to Gun Violence

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Pope Francis departed from South Sudan along with over 70 journalists aboard the papal plane bound for Rome, marking the conclusion of his 6-day Apostolic Journey to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His first public words in DR Congo set the tone for his visit.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 February 2023

Image: Cameroonian President Paul Biya. Credit: Ghana Business News

Africa Confronts an Aged Leadership Unwilling to Retire

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — African leaders serving 20 or more years in office are drawing the attention of critics who question their ability to run a country after so many years.

Suspicions about the stability of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, age 89, were raised in a recent issue of Ghana Business News. According to some observers, Biya, seen in a video at the US-Africa Leadership Summit in Washington DC, appeared listless, absent-minded, confused and unaware of his environment.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 February 2023

Image: Eritrean refugees detained in Libya. Source: Eritrea Hub.

New Study Reveals Awful Human Trafficking Trails to Libya

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — Eritrean refugees are trafficked and enslaved in Libya, where they are tortured, abused and raped by slave traders to force family members to pay ransom for their release. If they escape and make it to the Mediterranean Sea, they risk being intercepted and sent back to Libya or dying at sea.