Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
 Photo: Bruce Blair. Credit: Matt Stanley, mattstanleyphoto.com
LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Bruce Blair, one of the great unsung heroes of the nuclear bomb age, died on July 19 at the age of 72. In his twenties he had been an intercontinental nuclear rocket launch officer, spending his days or nights deep down in a below-ground bunker waiting for the signal to fire and obliterate the cities and their people, the workers of all classes, pensioners and the totally innocent children of western Russia. [2020–07-28 | 10] ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI
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By Xanthe Hall
The writer belongs to IPPNW Germany. This article first appeared on IPPNW Peace & Health Blog. Please click here for the original link.
Photo: Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joe Dunford, at NATO HQ in Brussels, 2018. Credit: Dominique Pineiro / public domain
BERLIN (IDN) – You could be excused for having missed the fact that NATO is in the process of updating its nuclear strategy, including substantial and significant steps. These include technologically more ambitious weapons that can be used more easily. This is the implementation of a decision made at the NATO Warsaw Summit in 2016 to revise nuclear strategy. [2020–07-17]
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By UNODA
Photo: Northeast Asian youth leaders from the “Perspectives for Dialogues in Northeast Asia”, organized in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in June 2019. Credit: UNODA
NEW YORK (IDN) – The nine-member youth Steering Committee for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in Northeast Asia engaged with United Nations staff earlier in July on a range of pressing international security challenges.
Their webinar discussions were part of a wider learning series organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) to help the young leaders prepare for an upcoming meeting in the Republic of Korea on disarmament and non-proliferation topics. [2020–07-10]
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By Angelika Claussen
Image credit: ICAN
Dr. Claussen, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy, is IPPNW’s Regional Vice President for Europe. This article first appeared on IPPNW Peace & Health Blog. Please click here for the original link.
BERLIN (IDN) – The global COVID-19 pandemic is making it clear that governments must rethink security. Our future challenges lie in establishing a good healthcare system in every country of our planet, in fighting climate change and in achieving the sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations. [2020–07-07]
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By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Governor Denny Tamaki of Okinawa district has rejected the U.S. plans to base on the island missiles capable of threatening China – apparently as part of President Donald Trump's move to challenge Beijing and upgrade the importance of Taiwan, 500 kilometres away from the island. If a plan for Okinawa to host such missiles were to develop, Tamaki said: "I can easily imagine fierce opposition from Okinawa residents." [2020–06-27 | 08] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | RUSSIAN
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Viewpoint by Dr J. Enkhsaikhan

The writer is former Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations, and Chairman of Blue Banner NGO.
ULAANBAATAR (IDN) – The first half of 2020 has demonstrated once again that the world has indeed become closely interconnected and that cooperation of states and other stakeholders is imperative to deal with the current three existential threats that know no borders: the existence of weapons of mass destruction, the climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. [2020–06-26 | 07] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN
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Viewpoint by Lawrence Wittner, IPPNW *
Image: A common hypersonic glide body launched from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, on March 19, 2020, during a flight experiment. (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
NEW YORK (IDN) – In late May of this year, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for arms control bragged before a Washington think tank that the US government was prepared to outspend Russia and China to win a new nuclear arms race. “The president has made clear that we have a tried and true practice here,” he remarked. “We know how to win these races and we know how to spend the adversary into oblivion.” [2020–06-18]
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Viewpoint by Alice Slater
Photo: Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking against the Vietnam War, St. Paul Campus, the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, April 27, 1967. CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.
The writer serves on the Board of 'World Beyond War', and represents the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation at the United Nations.
NEW YORK (IDN) –The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) just issued its 2020 Yearbook, reporting on developments in armaments, disarmament, and international security. In light of the drumbeat of frightening news about growing hostility between the dominant nuclear-armed states vying for power, SIPRI describes a bleak outlook for arms control. [2020–06-15 | 06] HINDI | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
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By Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) High Representative
Image credit: UNODA
NEW YORK (IDN) – Since my previous update on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the work of disarmament, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs has continued working to fulfil its mandates while supporting the Member States as they respond to the rapidly evolving global health emergency. [2020–06-06]
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