Nuclear Abolition News . Analysis . Features

Nuclear Abolition NewsBookReview | IDN

By MALEEHA LODHI*

KARACHI (IDN) - The title of the first book (Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb) that authoritatively chronicles Pakistan’s nuclear history comes from a famous remark by (former Prime Minister) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, architect of the country's atomic programme. In an interview with the Manchester Guardian in 1965, he said if India built the bomb, "we will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own. We have no other choice."

Nuclear Abolition NewsViewpoint | IDN

By MARTIN E. HELLMAN*

STANFORD (IDN) - At first, it might seem inconceivable that tiny Malta could lead the world in solving an issue as momentous as nuclear disarmament. To see that possibility requires recognising that nuclear disarmament is a process involving a number of steps. Malta cannot take some of the later steps in the process, but is ideal for making the first move.

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By RAMESH JAURA

BERLIN (IDN) – The Geneva UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) has been turned into a talking shop because of the vested interests of a few mighty states without whose consent no genuine nuclear disarmament, not to speak of abolition of nuclear weapons, would ever be within the realm of possibility. [P] ARABIC Text Version PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | PERSIAN

Nuclear Abolition News | IDN

By J C SURESH

TORONTO (IDN) - The two long-time South Asian rivals, India and Pakistan, are engaged in the world's most active nuclear arms race. India is estimated to have produced as many as 100 atomic weapons, and Pakistan is believed to have stockpiled a similar number if not more. [P] GERMAN | HINDI |  JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS

Viewpoint by SERGIO DUARTE *

NEW YORK (IPS) - The crisis that started a few years ago with the collapse of major financial institutions in the United States is now centred in Europe and threatens other parts of the world. Many emerging countries in Asia and Latin America that had thus far avoided contamination because of their sound economic and fiscal policies and their timely adoption of domestic consumption stimulus packages are now beginning to experience secondary effects. [P] ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Despite the current financial turmoil and uncertainty, hundreds of millions of dollars continue to be spent each day on military operations without any apparent success in solving the problems they were supposed to. Other disquieting signs loom large. Although combat operations in some troubled areas are being discontinued, the root causes of tension remain unaddressed, with unpredictable consequences.

Nuclear Abolition Newa | IDN

Viewpoint by DAVID KRIEGER*

As the world inches towards tragic anniversaries of so far the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date, it is worthwhile asking whether there was really a need to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945: In fact, there is ample evidence that the U.S. dropped 'The Little Boy' and 'Fat Man' "on a nation that had been largely defeated and was trying to surrender", says Nuclear Age Peace Foundation president David Krieger*.

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS

By HAIDER RIZVI

UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - As U.N.-led talks on disarmament resumed in Geneva on July 30, calls were growing for nuclear-armed nations to cut spending on their stockpiles and instead divert resources to development.

“The amount still being spent on nuclear arms makes no sense, just as continued reliance on the weapons themselves makes no sense,” David Kreiger, president of the U.S.-based Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, told IPS.

His remarks alluded to the fact that nine out of 193 U.N. member states continue to increase budgetary allocations for the maintenance and modernisation of nuclear weapons, despite promises to reduce their stockpiles. [P] ARABIC | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE |  SPANISH

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS

By JULIO GODOY

PARIS (IPS) - The changing international political order and a dramatic budgetary situation at home are forcing France to consider giving up the extremely expensive nuclear arsenal the country has maintained since the late 1950s.

To make this pressing necessity appear as a virtue, some French political leaders and analysts are attempting to posit the move as a step towards international efforts to update the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reduce global nuclear arsenals. [P] ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Nuclear Abolition News | IPS

By JASMIN RAMSEY*

WASHINGTON (IPS) - The one agreement that talks between Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany – produced after a “technical meeting” in Istanbul was a decision to schedule more talks.

But even while the United States and Iran engage in threatening behaviour, Iran-focused experts say that continuing meetings is the first step to advancing the diplomatic process. [P] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Nuclear Abolition NewsEssay | Arms Control Association

By SIDNEY D. DRELL and JAMES E. GOODBY*

Less than a year after the first atomic bombings, Albert Einstein warned, “Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” Despite Einstein’s warning, this drift continued over the next four decades, prior to the Reykjavik summit in October 1986.