Nuclear Weapons

About Football-, Pandemic-, Kremlin- and Military Experts

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

A satirical essay that skewers the age of instant experts

BONN (IDN) — A glance at the analyses and conclusions of just about any major newspaper or news website will confirm: the self-proclaimed military experts are in charge, ready to explain to us what "heavy weapons", "no-fly zones", "anti-aircraft guns", "flagships" etc. are. And why not? They’ve been dealing with the matter for quite some time now, a whole two months since February 24, 2022.

Photo: The UN Security Council meeting on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the intercontinental ballistic missile programme (ICBM) by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). UN Photo/Kim Haughton (2017)

A Double Veto Against US Resolution on DPRK Reflects New Cold War At UN

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A US-sponsored resolution to impose additional sanctions on North Korea for its multiple missile tests since January this year failed to get off the ground because of two vetoes by China and Russia.

The double vetoes reflected a growing new Cold War in international politics—and in the UN Security Council chamber—badly in need of a ceasefire.

Image source: UK Ministry of DefenceImage source: UK Ministry of Defence

Nuclear Policies Violate Right to Life, Warn Civil Society Organisations

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — While arms control and disarmament efforts have come to a halt, civil society organisations are insisting that nuclear policies contravene the right to life. “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life,” declares Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Photo: ICAN Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2017. Credit: Ralf Schlesener

ICAN Successfully Promoting the Nuclear-Weapons Ban in Africa

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — 2017 Nobel Peace laureate, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and its partner organisations are carrying out activities across Africa to promote adherence to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to raise awareness of the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to all humanity.

Image: South Korean commuters watch TV coverage of the North Korean missile launch from a Seoul railway station. (AFP: Jung Yeon-je)

North Korea Continues to Defy UN with 17 Missile Tests in 2022

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United Nations, faced with a defiant nuclear-armed Russia in a destructive war with Ukraine now running towards the third month, is fighting an equally unsuccessful confrontation with North Korea which is openly violating multiple Security Council resolutions as it continues launching ballistic missiles threatening neighbouring countries.

Photo: Protestors at a February 2022 rally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine march past the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square in Helsinki. CC BY 2.0

Endless Wars

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

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

NEW YORK (IDN) — The Charter of the United Nations consolidated important norms of international law. Its Preamble affirms the decision to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind”. At the time of its adoption, the world was deeply shocked by two successive wars that directly involved Europe and other regions. In spite of the lofty purposes expressed in the Charter, several armed conflicts in many parts of the globe have marked the seventy-seven years of the United Nations’ existence.

Image: March 1, 1954 "Castle Bravo" Thermonuclear Explosion on Bikini Atoll. Credit: Peacecorpsonline.com

Blown to Hell: America’s Deadly Betrayal of the Marshall Islanders

Reviewed by Desmond Narain Doulatram*

The book by Walter Pincus (Diversion Books, November 2021) was reviewed in Arms Control Today.

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (IDN) — Many researchers have written extensively on the nuclear history of the Marshall Islands, but these publications have not benefited the indigenous Marshallese population justly. Ultimately, it is the Marshallese, not outsiders, who live with the consequences of these circulated narratives, which focus on the environmental and human impact of more than 60 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in their region from 1946 to 1958.¹

Photo: The Sun rises behind Long Island City skyscrapers at dawn of the first day of the general debate of the General Assembly's seventy-sixth session (2021). UN Photo/Mark Garten

Ukraine Proves UN Cannot Singlehandedly Usher in a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The devastating war in Ukraine—now moving towards the third month—has triggered several threats of the “nuclear option”.

The battle, which began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, is between one of the world’s major nuclear powers and a neighboring non-nuclear country.

Photo: Navy of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution commandos and missile boats in Great Prophet IX Maneuver in the general area of Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf. CC BY 4.0

Implications of Delisting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from Terror List

By Ghazal Vaisi

The author is an Iranian-born international affairs analyst focusing on the evolution of authoritarianism in the modern world. Her writings have appeared in the Middle East Institute, Independent Farsi, and Iran International.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Nuclear talks between Iran and the West have stalled as the US continues to refuse Iran's demand that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be removed from the Foreign Terrorist Organization's (FTO) list.

Image: President Biden speaks with the media at the conclusion of the U.S-Russia Summit in Geneva, June 2021. Credit: U.S. Embassy Bern Switzerland / Flickr, Creative Commons

Russian and US Parallel Pathways to a Nuclear Conflict

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Viewpoint by Ramesh Thakur

CANBERRA, Australia (IDN) — In the 2020 election, President Donald Trump’s supporters looked beyond manifest character flaws to domestic and foreign policy results but opponents couldn’t overlook his character to assess any policy achievements. Joe Biden became president as much because Americans voted against Trump as for Biden. The buyers’ remorse evident in opinion polls suggests that perhaps voters should have been careful what they wished for.