Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By R. NASTRANIS

BERLIN (IDN) - The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global grassroots organisation, has thrown a virtual bombshell: In a trailblazing report, it reveals the funders and manufacturers of 20,000 nuclear weapons in the possession of nine nuke-armed nations, which have a collective destructive force equivalent to 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By JULIO GODOY

PARIS (IDN) – If you ask the French ministry for foreign affairs about the country's position on a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, the spokesperson will surely refer you to the statements by the French ambassadors before the UN both in New York and Geneva, and will repeat that France supports the global application of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). [P] GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION | NORWEGIAN

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS

By JOHN FEFFER

WASHINGTON (IPS) - After three years of frozen relations between North Korea and the United States, the two longstanding adversaries are on the verge of a thaw.

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

Viewpoint by ULRICH KÜHN*

HAMBURG (IDN) - Middle East: The year is 2022. A growing need for energy is putting strain on three major actors in the region. There is Muslim Brotherhood-ruled Egypt, democratic but turmoil-plagued post-Assad Syria, and the military junta reigning in Saudi Arabia. Back in 2012, these states had started to realign their national energy policies. The common goal was to add a nuclear component to the mix within the next decade. Their motivations range from the general need to foster sustainable growth and to satisfy the thirst for energy of fast growing populations, to specific desalination needs.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS - Tierramérica

EMILIO GODOY interviews GIOCONDA UBEDA, secretary general of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean*

MEXICO CITY (IPS | Tierramérica) - Latin America and the Caribbean celebrated their 45th anniversary as a nuclear-weapon-free zone amidst allegations of British deployment of nuclear weapons to the South Atlantic and with no specific regime for the transport of radioactive waste. ARABIC

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN
By JAMSHED BARUAH

BERLIN (IDN) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed to revitalize "the global disarmament and non-proliferation agenda in the field of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction" when he spelt out beginning of the year his vision for the second term at the world body's helm. He is now doing his utmost to turn the vision into reality.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
By EMILIO GODOY

MEXICO CITY (IPS) - Latin America and the Caribbean are discussing ways to step up supervision of the use of nuclear materials in the region and contribute to the creation of more nuclear weapon free zones around the world, on the 45th anniversary of the treaty that banned nuclear arms in the region. [P] GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION | SPANISH

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
By THALIF DEEN

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - A coalition of anti-nuclear peace activists and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) is launching a global campaign for a summit meeting of world leaders calling for the total elimination of one of the world's most devastating weapons of mass destruction: the nuclear bomb. [P] ARABIC | GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION | SPANISH

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN
By JAMSHED BARUAH

BERLIN (IDN) - If you are 'sane', you are mentally sound. U.S. Congressman Edward J. Markey has lent a new dimension to that word by introducing the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act of 2012 that cuts $100 billion over the next decade on outdated nuclear weapons programmes.

Markey, who is Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), took to the House floor on February 8, 2012 to decry the wasteful spending in America's nuclear weapons programmes. SANE has 34 co-sponsors. [P] CHINESE TEXT VERSION | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION | NORWEGIAN | SPANISH

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS
Analysis by PIERRE KLOCHENDLER

JERUSALEM (IPS) - Will Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities this spring? That is a question dominating the international agenda. Meanwhile, the grand project of a nuclear weapon-free Middle East is relegated to the utopian "day after" a solution is found to the Islamic republic’s atomic programme.

Strangely enough, Israeli public opinion has no clear opinion on the subject, and relies on ‘those who know best’. ‘Those who know best’, like Defence Minister Ehud Barak, say: "Should sanctions fail to stop Iran's nuclear programme, there’ll be a need to consider taking action." "Whoever says 'later', could find that it’s too late," he told an international conference in Herzliya, Israel, on Feb 2. [P] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION