UN Determined to Counter Cyber Crime and Ensure Peace and Security
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) — As digital advances continue to revolutionize human life, the United Nations has called for remaining "vigilant" about malicious technologies that "could imperil the security of future generations". Currently, there are over 4.6 billion internet users around the world. [2021-07-19 | 09] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
US Should Commit to A No-First-Use Nuclear Policy
Viewpoint by Van Jackson*
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (IDN) — It was one of the most potent lessons of the Cold War—nukes are good for deterring others from using nukes, but not much else. Weapons capable only of spasmodic mass violence are too crude as a credible tool of coercion in most circumstances. [2021-07-10 | 08] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Sixteen States Urge the Nuclear-Weapon States to Take Decisive Steps Towards Disarmament
By Aar Jay Persius
BERLIN (IDN) — "A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought." On June 16, at their meeting in Geneva, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin re-affirmed this fundamental truth, famously coined by their predecessors, Reagan and Gorbachev, at the last peak of the cold war, write the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Germany (Heiko Maas), Spain (Arancha González Laya) and Sweden (Ann Linde) in an article published in the German newspaper Rheinische Post on July 5. [2021-07-09 | 07] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWEDISH
Miles to Go Before the U.S. and Russia Move the World Further from the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe
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”. [2021-07-01 | 06] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Belgium Banks Ban the Bomb
By ICAN
BRUSSELS (IDN) — Belgian financial institutions led the way against investments in cluster munitions, now they are poised to do the same on nuclear weapons. Three major Belgian financial institutions—KBC Bank, VDK Bank and De Groof Petercam Asset Management—have cited the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as the reason for ending investments in companies associated with the production of nuclear weapons. [2021-06-29]
The US Builds A 'Systemic' Pact to Counter China's Growing Influence
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. [2021-06-27 | 05] CHINESE | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Hersey Helped Hiroshima Survivors Tell and Preserve Their Stories
Viewpoint by John Loretz
This book review was originally published in IPPNW’s designated journal, Medicine, Conflict and Survival.
MALDEN, Massachusetts, USA (IDN) — In 1946, John Hersey wrote a magazine article that changed the world. On the 75th anniversary of the events he described so vividly in Hiroshima, journalist Lesley M. M. Blume has given us Fallout, a timely reminder that Hersey’s courageous and influential reporting is as important today as it was when the facts about nuclear weapons were still shrouded in secrecy. [2021-06-23]
Nuclear Risks: Reduction or Elimination?
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. [2021-06-23]
A Seismic Event in US-Russia Relations
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.
Even during the rancorous Cold War years, the two countries engaged in many noteworthy projects on global issues, nuclear disarmament, scientific advancements, and to promote foreign investment and trade that were mutually beneficial to both nations. [2021-06-17]
Canadian and French Nuclear Weapons Policies Challenged for Violating the Right to Life
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. [2021-06-07 | 04] ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN
