Media News | People's Decade for Nuclear Abolition

May 26, 2013

Hans Blix urges Britain to relinquish Trident nuclear programme

The Guardian
Shiv Malik
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said it is time for Britain to relinquish its Trident nuclear programme. Speaking at the Hay literary festival, the Swedish international lawyer who led the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the Iraq war, said he did not see how the UK would be any more protected if it extended the life of the nuclear programme – at an estimated cost of £100bn.

May 26, 2013

North Korea sends signals to rejoin disarmament talks

The News International
After months of strained relations and provocations, North Korea sent signals this week that it wants to reengage with its longtime ally China and possibly resume international negotiations on ending its nuclear weapons programme. However, South Korea’s press on Saturday expressed scepticism over an apparent offer by North Korea that it was willing to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

May 25, 2013

North Korea: Nucleur disarmament talks issue raised

Scotsman.com
A NORTH Korean envoy visiting China said yesterday that North Korea is prepared to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks – an apparent victory in China’s effort to lower tensions in the Korean peninsula. Vice-Marshal Choe Ryong Hae’s three-day visit was seen as a diplomatic mission after Pyongyang angered Beijing with snubs and moves to develop its nuclear programme.

May 23, 2013

China says North Korea will return to nuclear disarmament talks

Honolulu Star-Advertiser.com
Associated Press
A North Korean envoy, on the second day of his fence-mending visit to ally China, heeded Beijing's wishes by offering to renew nuclear disarmament talks, Chinese state media said. The accounts depicted today's meeting between North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae and Chinese Communist Party leader Liu Yunshan as paying Beijing the deference it sought after months of rising friction between the long-estranged allies.

May 22, 2013

Heightened Missile Activity In The Pacific Region

DefenseWorld.net
Bindiya Thomas
In the last five months, the Asia Pacific region has seen increased missile activity brought on by North Korea’s heightened missile testing. Countries such as Japan, China and India are either testing their own ballistic missiles or are setting up missile batteries.

May 21, 2013

Clear or nuclear: Will Saudi Arabia get the bomb?

Al-Arabiya
Dr. Naser al-Tamimi
As the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear program worsens, those most likely to be directly affected by an Iranian bomb are showing greater alarm. While the media fixates on Israel and its possible reaction, other regional players have no less at stake.

May 21, 2013

U.N. mulls excluding nuclear accidents from disaster prevention plan

Global Post
Kyodo News International
The United Nations is considering excluding measures to prevent a nuclear accident caused by earthquake and tsunami from a new framework on disaster risk reduction expected to be adopted at the next world conference in 2015, U.N. sources said.

May 21, 2013

The Silent Outlier: India and the Nonproliferation Regime

CSIS Center for Strategic and International Studies
Meggaen Neely
For all of its violations of the nonproliferation regime as codified in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), India has managed to stay “below the radar.” That is, until India wanted to become an exporter of nuclear technology, most recently and ironically with its attempts to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a consortium that began in response to India’s first nuclear test.

May 19, 2013

Ending Nuke Testing Critical for Humanitarian Reasons

Blogcritics
William Lamberg
One trillion dollars. Where would you rather see this amount of money spent? Would you rather end global hunger or throw this sum into thousands upon thousands of nuclear weapons? Would you rather see every child in the world receive school meals and improve their education? Or would you rather see nuclear test explosions and new designs of warheads?

May 18, 2013

Nuclear Iran Unlikely to Tilt Regional Power Balance – Report

TOWARD A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD | IPS
Jim Lobe and Joe Hitchon
A nuclear-armed Iran would not pose a fundamental threat to the United States and its regional allies like Israel and the Gulf Arab monarchies, according to a new report released here on May 17 by the Rand Corporation.

May 17, 2013

What U.S. Could Do if Pakistan Loses Control Over Nuclear Weapons

Global Security Newswire
Elaine M. Grossman
A longtime expert on terrorism and nuclear arms is calling on the United States and others to identify fresh responses to a potential crisis in which a nation such as Pakistan or North Korea loses control over nuclear weapons or fissile material, without the West necessarily intervening by force.

May 17, 2013

UK to reduce number of nuclear weapons by 2020's

Information Daily
The Government has promised to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the UK by the mid 2020's, in accordance with the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT).

May 17, 2013

U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arsenals Cling to Bygone Era

TOWARD A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD | IPS
George Gao
In the late 19th century, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov famously touted one golden rule for dramatic productions: if you show your audience a loaded gun in the first act, that gun must go off by the last. But Chekhov’s storytelling trope is troubling if applied to the world’s weapons technology today, which include an estimated 17,300 nukes – used primarily by nations as props to leverage international power.

May 17, 2013

Should South Korea pursue its own nuclear strategy?

The Nation Multimedia.com Thailand
Bennett Ramberg
Following North Korea's February 12 nuclear weapons test, the UN Security Council adopted tough penalties on Pyongyang. Along with a new round of financial sanctions, the council beefed up inspections of suspect cargo to and from the country and took steps to halt illegal activities by Pyongyang diplomats - all intended to squeeze North's nuclear and missile programmes

May 16, 2013

Increased pressure on Iran could lead to nuclear non-proliferation

BioPrepWatch
A strategy that increases financial pressure on Iran while offering the country a way out could contribute to Iran’s cooperation with international obligations for nonproliferation, a high-ranking Treasury Department official said.