| Sri Lanka Committed to Non-Proliferation and Disarmament By Jaya Ramachandran  Collage courtesy of Sri Lanka’s Daily FTGENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. [2020-01-31-27] GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDFRead More Climate and Nuclear Weapons Are the Focus of Buddhist Leader’s Peace Proposals By Taro Ichikawa  Photo: A view of participants in the UN Youth Climate Summit on 21 September 2019. Credit: UN.TOKYO (IDN) – Climate action and nuclear weapons abolition, with a focus on the individual lives and suffering often hidden behind macroeconomic indices, is the main theme of the 38th annual peace proposal by Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network. [2020-01-27]Read More Russia Exhorts US to Extend New START Without Preconditions By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos  Image credit: Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceWASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Russian officials repeated in late December and early January President Vladimir Putin’s call for extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) as soon as possible, though Washington continues to remain silent on the future of the accord, which is scheduled to expire in just over 12 months.[2020-01-23]Read More Experts Plead for Foiling Collapse of the Iran Nuclear Deal By Radwan Jakeem  Photo: The ministers of foreign affairs of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, China, the European Union and Iran meeting in Lausanne in March 2015, a few weeks ahead of the nuclear deal was struck in Vienna. Credit: U.S. Department of State.NEW YORK (IDN) – Since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA, also known as the “Iran nuclear deal”, in May 2018, a widespread view is that the regime in Tehran is yearning for an atomic bomb.Washington experts, however, maintain that while Iran’s violations of the JCPOA “are serious, they are reversible and they do not suggest, as some have alleged, that Iran is dashing to acquire a nuclear bomb“. [2020-01-15]Read More IPPNW and Pugwash Slam the Killing of Gen. Suleimani By Jamshed Baruah  GENEVA (IDN) – Two Nobel Peace laureates – IPPNW and Pugwash – have vehemently censured the killing of Gen. Qassem Suleimani on January 3. Suleimani was Iranian major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and, from 1998 until his death, commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. [2020-01-14]Read More The Future of New START and NPT Hangs in the Balance 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 January/February 2020 issue of Arms Control Today.  Photo: John R. Bolton holds a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on 23 October 2018. CC BY 4.0WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) – This year, the world will mark the 75th anniversary of the catastrophic atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the indispensable but imperfect nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). [2020-01-11]Read More The G20 Should Have Nuclear Disarmament on Their Agenda Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf*  Photo: G20 leaders pose for a group photo at the start of the G20 Osaka Summit, 28 June 2019. Source: Japan’s Public Relations Office.DUISBURG, Germany (IDN) – Right now, two critical developments are literally threatening the very existence of humankind: the climate crisis and the possibility of nuclear war. There is a broad consensus when it comes to the severity of climate change, even if there is still absolutely no sign of a solution despite the affirmations by many governments. But at least the climate debate is a lively one, accompanied by countless demonstrations against policies that are damaging to the environment. [2020-01-10-26] BAHASA | CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | RUSSIANRead More Russia Urges U.S. to Agree to Extending New START By Kester Kenn Klomegah  Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answers to questions in The Great Game show on Channel One Russia on December 22, 2019. Source: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.MOSCOW (IDN) – In a series of significant discussions and a special interview with Rossiya Segodnya, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated Russia’s plea for the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). President Vladimir Putin had clearly stated that “Russia is ready to extend it without any preconditions,” he said. As for deadlines, Putin had emphasised that “Russia is willing to immediately, as soon as possible, before the year is out, renew this Treaty,” he added. [2020-01-03]Read More |
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