Nuclear Weapons

Photo: A view of the sculpture – Good Defeats Evil – on the UN Headquarters grounds, presented to the UN by the Soviet Union, predecessor of the Russian Federation, on the occasion of the Organization’s 45th anniversary. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

Middle Eastern States Are Back on The Path to A WMD Free Zone

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in the region of the Middle East has been one of the most frustrating undertakings in the field of arms control and non-proliferation at the United Nations. Over the past few decades it has been possible for States in other regions of the globe to successfully negotiate and adopt treaties that establish nuclear weapon free zones that greatly enhance peace and security.

Photo: Former Titan II Missile in its silo, Sahuarita, Arizona. Source: The Titan Missile Museum.

How Nuclear False Warning Could Have Unleashed a Catastrophe

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – Forty years ago, on November 9, the U.S. Defense Department detected an imminent nuclear attack against the United States through the early-warning system of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). U.S. bomber and missile forces went on full alert, and the emergency command post, known as the “doomsday plane,” took to the air.

Photo (L-R): Quit Nukes Director Margaret Peril, Australian Ethical Acting CEO Steve Gibbs, ICAN Australia Director Gem Romuld. Source: Quit Nukes.

Australia’s ‘Quit Nukes’ Campaign Targets Superannuation Funds

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – A new campaign is encouraging Australians to urge their superannuation funds to exclude nuclear weapons producers from their investments, consistent with the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which has been ratified by 33 states and needs another 17 ratifications to become enforceable under international law – 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification.

Image: Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (Blue); Nuclear weapons states (Red); Nuclear sharing (Orange); Neither, but NPT (Lime green). CC BY-SA 3.0

Anxiety Looms Over the 10th NPT Review Conference Next Year

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

The writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The contentious start of the 74th Session of the First Committee of the General Assembly last October in New York was a harbinger of the difficulties to be faced in the run-up to the forthcoming 2020 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and in United Nations multilateral organs devoted to disarmament.

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressing a nonproliferation conference in Moscow on 8 November 2019. Source: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia Frustrated About U.S. Stance on New START

By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos*

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Top Russian Foreign Ministry officials have issued a fresh set of warnings about the future of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) because, they say, the Trump administration continues to refuse to engage in talks on extending the treaty.

Washington “is evading any serious discussion, making public discouraging signals regarding the future of this treaty,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov November 8 at a nonproliferation conference in Moscow.

Photo: U.S: President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev after signing the "New START" treaty on 8 April 2010 in Prague. CC BY 4.0.

New START Vital to Halt Unconstrained Nuclear Arms Race

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Since 2017, the Trump administration has sought to expand the role and capability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal while withdrawing the United States from key agreements designed to reduce nuclear dangers.

Argentine Diplomat Is New Head of the UN Nuclear Agency IAEA

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK | VIENNA (IDN) – Nearly three months after the death of Yukiya Amano of Japan, Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the sixth Director General of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). His election by the majority of the Agency’s board on October 29 nearly coincides with the election of the Centre-left opposition candidate Alberto Fernández as president of Argentina.

Photo: Sculpture depicting St. George slaying the dragon. The dragon is created from fragments of Soviet SS-20 and United States Pershing nuclear missiles. UN Photo/Milton Grant.

Growing Anxiety About the Crucial 2020 NPT Review Conference

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The survivors of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Mayors of the two Japanese cities whose inhabitants have experienced first-hand the mind boggling cruelty of nuclear weapons, representatives of other civil society organizations as well as the United Nations are increasingly concerned about the fate of non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament.

IAEA LEU Bank in Kazakhstan Becomes Operational

By Reinhardt Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – The new low enriched uranium (LEU) Bank is operational now, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is operational now. The LEU Bank will provide countries investing in nuclear power an assured supply of fuel to use for peaceful purposes without incurring the significant costs of building their own enrichment facilities and without adding to global proliferation risks.

Photo: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s 74th session on 24 September 2019 at the United Nations in New York. UN Photo/Cia Pak

President Erdogan Muses Over Turkey Owning Nuclear Weapons

By Shannon Bugos, Arms Control TODAY *

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Complaining that nuclear-armed nations retain an unacceptable monopoly on nuclear weapons, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a recent Turkish holiday to seemingly suggest that his nation acquire its own nuclear arsenal.

“Several countries have missiles with nuclear warheads, not one or two. But [they tell us that] we can’t have them. This I cannot accept,” Erdogan said on the centennial of the Turkish independence movement. “There is no developed nation in the world that doesn’t have them.”