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FIFA-Backed “Board of Peace” Plan for Gaza Stadium Ignores Needs of Palestinians

By Dalia Abu Ramadan, May 7, 2026, https://scheerpost.com/2026/05/07/fifa-backed-board-of-peace-plan-for-gaza-stadium-ignores-needs-of-palestinians/

How can recreational projects be proposed when even the most basic foundations of life have not yet been rebuilt?

In February, Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” struck a $50 million agreement with the football-governing body FIFA, with grand promises to build a national stadium, sports academy, and over 50 “mini-pitches.” The initiative seeks to redirect global attention away from Gaza through so-called “peace agreements” that do not exist on the ground — mere labels placed over unremoved ruins.

How can more than 50 football fields be planned while no real effort is made to establish peace first? How can sports projects be discussed in a place still under daily bombardment, where infrastructure has collapsed and conditions continue to worsen with every passing season?

The only change is that the intensity of the fighting has slightly decreased, but life has not become any easier. It is not simple to live while constantly expecting death — your own or that of your loved ones — at any moment.       

On April 28, I went out with my mother to shop when we suddenly heard a heavy bombardment. I called my father, who was also outside, and the sound was very close to us. He told us he had heard the same intense bombardment. Minutes later, people in the street began saying that a car had been targeted and completely burned, killing civilians nearby. Among the victims were four people, including Khaled Naeem Abu Nahl, a child who was killed at the door of his home.

This is one of many stories that followed the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza.

On April 29, we had an appointment with a seamstress, but we found her shop closed. My mother called her to ask where she was. The answer came as a shock: Her husband, from the Al-Shawa family in the Al-Saha area, had been killed the day before. “Didn’t you hear?” she asked. My mother hung up in disbelief. How can a simple seamstress, trying to earn a living, suddenly become a widow responsible for an entire family?

In March, a story spread that caused widespread fear, revealing a part of the tragedy we are living through in Gaza away from the rest of the world’s eyes: A father said the screams of his newborn son woke him up one night, and he found the 28-day-old baby’s face covered in blood after a large rat had bitten him on the cheek.

Since the beginning of 2026, some of the most severe crises we have been facing are the spread of rodents amid the continued failure to remove rubble, and the fact that many people are still trapped beneath the debris. Imagine life in a city reduced to ruins — a place turned into a dumping ground for waste and destroyed homes, where we struggle to survive. Rats consume whatever little furniture remains, while we live in tents surrounded by destruction, with sewage seeping from beneath them.

The World Health Organization has reported more than 17,000 cases of disease among displaced people in Gaza linked to rodents and external parasites since the beginning of this year, amid a severe deterioration in health and humanitarian conditions as a result of Israel’s ongoing aggression.

How can a life that resembles hell, deprived of the most basic necessities, be reduced to discussions about building football stadiums, while Gaza’s entire infrastructure has been destroyed? How can recreational projects be proposed in a place where even the most basic foundations of life have not yet been rebuilt?

Trump, together with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, promote projects presented as symbols of peace and prosperity, while the basic needs of people are being ignored.

Imagine building stadiums amid rubble, disease, and a toxic and dangerous environment, while this is being framed as a vision of peace and development.

“It is strange how everything has been set aside in favor of building stadiums. What about stopping the bombardment first? What about the basics?” my friend Lama said.

She points out that some things have slightly improved, such as the entry of food compared to before, yet daily shortages remain — basic items like eggs are still not consistently available. She says the image presented to the world suggests that famine has ended, while the reality on the ground is different.

Lama asks: Do they believe that building stadiums will give the world the impression that Gaza has been rebuilt and is now living in peace?

One day, I was speaking with my friend Ahed, who is about to graduate, and asked her about Trump’s idea. She laughed sarcastically and said, “Instead of building stadiums, focus on securing students in schools and universities — and provide them with transportation first.”

For a moment, and through Ahed’s words, I realized how much we have lost the true meaning of life. I was speaking about the diseases we are facing — dehydration, severe diarrhea, hepatitis, and meningitis — caused by the spread of rodents and the weakened immunity resulting from famine, effects that we are still suffering from today.

Suddenly, Ahed brought me back to another reality that is no less harsh: the destruction of universities, schools, and transportation — as if we are living between two layers of suffering at the same time.

We have forgotten the meaning of luxury; it no longer even crosses our minds. We ask for nothing more than a warm home and genuine safety. But who can truly understand how we feel, if they have not lived our reality?

This article was originally published by Truthout and is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

May 10, 2026 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza | Leave a comment

Infant mortality rates in San Luis Obispo County in proximity to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA, April 29, 2026


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The two Diablo Canyon nuclear reactors in San Luis Obispo County CA began operations in 1984
and 1985. They have generated enormous amounts of highly radioactive waste. Most is stored at
the site, but some is routinely released into the environment – and into humans through breathing,
food, and water. However, no studies on health effects to the local population have been done.

Exposure to radiation is especially harmful to the fetus and infant. This report analyzes trends and
current patterns of newborn and infant health in San Luis Obispo County, compared to the state of
California. Results show that county rates have shifted from below to above the state:

Infant Deaths. Before Diablo Canyon opened (1968-1984), the county death rate under one year
was 16% below the state. Most recently (2010-2024), the county was 1% above the state, including
11% and 23% higher for white non-Hispanics and white Hispanics.

Premature Births. In the earliest period available (1995-1999), the county rate of premature births
(<36 weeks gestation) was 21% below the state. Most recently (2020-2024), the rate was 3% above
the state (8% and 31% higher for white non-Hispanics and white Hispanics).


Birth Defects. In the period 2016-2024, the county rate of 12 types of birth defects was 114%
greater than (more than double) the state, 3rd highest among the 35 largest California counties.


Other Newborn Health Measures. In addition, the county also has higher current (2016-2024) rates
of common newborn risk factors, including those requiring assisted ventilation, those with low
five-minute Apgar scores (a measure of infant health), and newborns transferred to another facility.

Child Cancer. Child cancer is believed to often be an adverse outcome that began in pregnancy.
Early in Diablo Canyon’s operation (1988-1992), county cancer incidence 0-19 was 26% below
the state; in the 30 years since then (1993-2022), the county rate was just 2% below the state.

No explanation for these findings is apparent, as risk factors in the county are not elevated.
Compared to the state, the county has low rates of minorities, uninsured, foreign born, and
languages other than English spoken at home; and similar rates of income, education, and poverty.
The county rate of the most common maternal birth risk factors are below the state
(overweight/obese mothers, mothers <20 or >35, mothers on WIC or Medicaid, and previous
Cesarean section).


Further review of county health patterns is warranted to assess what role exposures to radioactivity
from Diablo Canyon has played in these trends. Results should be made available to officials and
the public. No major decision on the future of the plant should be made without a thorough
understanding of the impact exposures have had on local health………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………https://radiation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Diablo-Canyon-report-November-2025.pdf

May 10, 2026 Posted by | radiation, USA | Leave a comment

Epic Nonsense: Trump Shelves Project Freedom

8 May 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark , https://theaimn.net/epic-nonsense-trump-shelves-project-freedom/

The waxwork figures of the Pentagon recently glowed with excitement with the announcement that the US military would be finally called upon to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. With the ceasefire between Teheran and Washington barely holding, President Donald Trump, as far as his attention span would allow, gingerly put Operation Epic Fury to the side in favour of a new mission. The effort to protect and navigate stranded and blocked vessels with US armed might would be dubbed Project Freedom.

As with everything in this cerebrally cloudy and foolish conflict, descriptions and names are untethered to a discernible reality. Was Project Freedom separate from the blockade of Iran? Yes, said certain administration officials. Was it an annex to Operation Epic Fury? No one quite knew.

Some details were provided on May 5 by the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, at a press briefing. “To be clear [Project Freedom] is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury. Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration, with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression.” Iran had been “the clear aggressor” in the Strait, “harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately and weaponizing a critical chokepoint for its own financial benefit, or at least trying to.” No mention, naturally, on why Iran had resorted to such measures in the first place.

Much of Hegseth’s press address was a bleat, a complaint that the Iranians had simply not played by the rules, rules happily broken by the Trump administration and their Israeli allies when they felt necessary. Iran had attempted to “impose a tolling system,” using “a form of international extortion.” Project Freedom was the celebrated antidote. “Two US commercial ships, along with American destroyers, have already transited the strait, showing the lane is clear.”

The account untethered to reality followed on cue. Iran had been “embarrassed” by the successful transit of these two vessels. “They say they control the strait. They do not. So, American ships led the way, commercial and military shouldering the initial risk from the front, as Americans always do.  And right now, hundreds more ships from nations around the world are lining up to transit.” With lavish immodesty, the Secretary noted that US Central Command (CENTCOM) had, along with partner nations, “been in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies and insurers.” The US had provided a “direct gift” to the world in the form of “a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait.”

With the counterfeit, grubby appeal of an advertiser’s pitch, Hegseth went on to declare Project Freedom “humanitarian” in nature. “By breaking Iran’s illegal stranglehold, we’re protecting the lives and livelihoods of sailors from dozens of countries, securing global energy routes and preventing shortages that hit the world’s poorest people the hardest.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine was also on hand to explain that CENTCOM had “established an enhanced security area on the southern side of the strait that is now protected by US land, naval and air assets to help defeat further Iranian aggression against commercial shipping.” He noted that Iranian fast boats and attack drones had been defeated. And how could they not be, given the presence of “more than 100 fighters, attack aircraft and other manned and unmanned aircraft, synchronized by the 82nd Airborne Division” engaged in the air for 24 hours a day guarding “the enhanced security area and its approaches.”

With twenty-four hours, this elaborate, exaggerated, purplish vision of American deliverance from Iranian control to an anxious world had collapsed. On May 6, Trump announced that he would be halting Project Freedom. Another round of proposals had been placed on the carousel of confusing diplomacy that might negate the need to resume bombing under Operation Epic Fury. Claiming that Pakistan and other specified countries had wished so, and given “the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with the Representatives of Iran,” the blockade would remain in place but “Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed.”

Later that day, Trump posted another message. “Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption,” he declared on Truth Social, “the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran.” The inevitable, clownish threat followed: “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

The rapid demise of Project Freedom, more aborted than halted, had less to do with the emergence of a new desire to pursue negotiations so much as logistical inconvenience. The Gulf States, by and large, have not been impressed by the impulsive measure, given the potential resumption of hostilities. Tehran was always going to blunt US efforts to break the blockade of the Strait, a point demonstrated by attacks on the United Arab Emirates on May 4 that left an oil refinery in the eastern emirate of Fujairah ablaze and three Indian nationals wounded.

According to a report from NBC News, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was disgruntled enough by the American initiative in the Strait to inform Washington that it would deny the US military any use of the Prince Sultan Airbase to enforce the mission or permit US aircraft to use Saudi airspace to that end. This was despite a call taking place between Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

An unnamed Saudi source was cited as saying that Saudi Arabia was “very supportive of the diplomatic efforts” led by Pakistan in aiding Iran and the US terminate the conflict, while a US official put it in simple terms as to why Project Freedom could only dissipate in impotence: “Because of geography, you need cooperation from regional partners to utilize their airspace along their borders.”

From the embers of the Trump administration’s latest bungle emerged a one-page memorandum of understanding Washington has reportedly drawn up for further discussions with Tehran. It reportedly contains 14 points, covering, for instance, a declaration ending the war and the commencement of a 30-day period of negotiations on a detailed agreement that would see Iran reopen the Strait over that duration. This would be complemented by the lifting of the US naval blockade. Restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of US sanctions also feature.  Failing all that, the blockade or a resumption of military operations could take place. How chillingly close this is to those remarks of T. S. Eliot in the Four Quartets: “What we call the beginning is often the end/And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” This war was a beginning, and an end, we never needed.

May 10, 2026 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Sweden generates 99% of electricity from clean sources. So why is wind power under attack?

 Sweden generates 99% of electricity from clean sources. So why is wind
power under attack? Thousands of anti-wind social media posts have been
analysed, as researchers warn that Europe’s energy security could be
threatened. Sweden has been hit the hardest by a coordinated attack on wind
power, according to a new analysis.

 Euro News 6th May 2026, https://www.euronews.com/2026/05/06/sweden-generates-99-of-electricity-from-clean-sources-so-why-is-wind-power-under-attack

May 10, 2026 Posted by | EUROPE, spinbuster | Leave a comment

A small northern Ontario town refused radioactive waste. It’s gone to Sarnia instead

Decades-old mine tailings in Nipissing First Nation sparked outrage after the province tried to move the material to another community without consultation, but it has quietly moved them again

the Narwhal By Leah Borts-Kuperman (Local Journalism Initiative Reporter), May 6, 2026

Summary

  • The Ontario government intended to move radioactive waste from the shore of Lake Nipissing to a former mine site outside Sudbury, Ont.
  • A lack of consultation around the new location led to strong local opposition, and delayed the remediation project conducted by Nipissing First Nation.
  • The waste has now been moved to a disposal site outside Sarnia, Ont., and Aamjiwnaang First Nation, where emissions from the industrial area known as Chemical Valley have affected local air quality.

For decades, radioactive waste sat near the shore of Lake Nipissing. It looked like an innocuous pile of gravel in what was otherwise a stretch of forest. People began using it to backfill lots, fill spaces under decks and build fire pits. In the 1970s and ’80s, Nipissing First Nation began using it to build roads. 

It wasn’t normal gravel, though. It was mine tailings, containing the metal niobium, left there when the Nova Beaucage mine shuttered in 1956 after just seven months of operation. 

“The company just walked away and left it with no remediation at all,” Geneviève Couchie, business operations manager at Nipissing First Nation, said. Couchie led a project to clean up the tailings, which first started in 2019. After being interrupted by COVID-19 shutdowns, the remediation resumed in spring 2024 and lasted almost two years.

In the meantime, Couchie told The Narwhal, she fielded concerns about groundwater and lake contamination from residents living close to the site or to a nearby property owned by Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation that also stored the low-level radioactive tailings. Couchie said she struggled to get satisfactory answers from government agencies.

“The workers wore hazmat suits, and I remember saying from the beginning, ‘How can I tell people they have nothing to worry about when these guys are in full on suits?’ They’re literally 20 feet from someone’s window,” Couchie said. The majority of the workers remediating the site were from the nation, and dressed in protective gear so as not to carry radioactive dust home on their clothes. 

The plan was to load the waste into trucks to be transported to a tailings management area at Agnew Lake, in Sudbury District. It is the decommissioned site of a former mine, near the Township of Nairn and Hyman, and about 150 kilometres from Nipissing First Nation. The nation first had to excavate nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of the radioactive material — enough to build the Statue of Liberty, twice.

But the project faced another unexpected delay. The province had attempted to relocate the waste without consulting the Nairn community, sparking public outcry. Locals organized public meetings to raise awareness and ultimately stop the transfer. 

Eventually, in July 2025 — after nearly a year of advocacy in Nairn, and delay for Nipissing First Nation — the province capitulated, finding another place for the waste to go. This was welcome news for Nipissing First Nation, which is now hoping to transform the scarred land into a lakeside green space for the community to enjoy after years of worry.

“We just wanted to see this material moved off [Nipissing First Nation] lands, and so it was an unexpected disappointment that things were delayed like they were,” Couchie said. “We were pleased that they did end up finding another disposal site.”

“But,” Couchie said, it was “eye opening as well, that there was only one other facility in Ontario that was prepared to accept this.”

That facility is close to another Indigenous community — Aamjiwnaang First Nation, in the Sarnia region, where emissions from refineries and petrochemical plants have earned the area the moniker “Chemical Valley.” 

Sarnia facility accepting radioactive waste from Nipissing

The new destination for the radioactive tailings is Clean Harbors, a hazardous waste facility in Corunna, Ont. — 645 kilometres from its original dumping ground. It’s close to both Aamjiwnaang and Sarnia, which have experienced persistent air quality issues related to nearby industry.

Clean Harbors is the only government-licensed hazardous waste management complex in Ontario, and is “uniquely positioned,” its website reads, to offer safe disposal of naturally occurring radioactive material like the niobium tailings. 

But the facility’s history is dotted with dust-ups over environmental safety. In 2013, neighbours of the Clean Harbors site won a civil lawsuit over the impact of the waste facility’s emissions on their health and daily lives.

In 2019 the company was fined $100,000 for discharging contaminated smoke after a filter cloth soaked with coolant, oils and metal particles caught fire.

When the province conducted a study on environmental stressors in the Sarnia area in 2023, it found that while the majority of the 870 reports from residents about industrial pollution were related to petrochemical industries and refineries, a significant minority — 219 — were “related to the waste incineration facility in the area (Clean Harbors).”

And in 2025, the Ministry of Environment fined Clean Harbors $100,000 for failing to comply with an equipment requirement for monitoring the excavation of a waste-holding basin. 

Clean Harbors did not respond to The Narwhal’s questions about these claims and findings.

In a section of their 2025 annual report on legal, environmental and regulatory compliance risks, Clean Harbors asserted: “We are now, and may in the future be, a defendant in lawsuits brought by parties alleging environmental damage, personal injury and/or property damage, which may result in our payment of significant amounts.”

Aamjiwnaang First Nation Chief Janelle Nahmabin told The Narwhal she had not received any information about the niobium waste that was trucked to Clean Harbors nearly a year ago. Other environmental groups The Narwhal reached out to, including Climate Action Sarnia-Lambton, had not heard of this waste transfer, either.

“The plan now has been executed in a very different way,” said Brennain Lloyd, project coordinator at Northwatch, a northeastern Ontario environmental advocacy group. “It’s moving the waste into the territory of another First Nation that is already heavily impacted by all of the industrial activities.”

‘Under a real nuclear shadow’: radioactive waste in northern Ontario

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://thenarwhal.ca/northern-ontario-radioactive-waste-sarnia/

May 10, 2026 Posted by | Canada, wastes | Leave a comment

  Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere just hit a ‘depressing’ new record

These data come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Mauna Loa Observatory, which may soon be shut down
because of proposed government budget cuts. The amount of carbon dioxide
detected in the atmosphere hit a record high in April. CO2 levels averaged
about 431 parts per million (ppm) over that month, according to data
collected at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mauna
Loa Observatory in Hawaii.


 Scientific American 5th May 2026, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-dioxide-levels-in-the-atmosphere-just-hit-a-depressing-record-high/

May 10, 2026 Posted by | climate change | Leave a comment

The World’s Biggest Fusion Reactor Just Hit a Milestone

By Haley Zaremba – May 06, 2026,

  • The final components of ITER’s central solenoid magnet — a 59-foot, 3,000-tonne superconducting system 15 years in the making — have arrived in France, clearing a major path toward first plasma.
  • ITER will never supply electricity to the grid; it exists purely as a research tool, and at €22 billion and counting, it’s still years from achieving its primary milestone.
  • A wave of well-funded private fusion startups is on track to hit the same technical benchmarks as ITER faster and more cheaply — raising real questions about the megaproject’s relevance even as it celebrates progress……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Worlds-Biggest-Fusion-Reactor-Just-Hit-a-Milestone.html

May 10, 2026 Posted by | EUROPE, technology | Leave a comment

Labour and SNP row over submarines at Rosyth Dockyard

 THE SNP have been accused of “scaremongering” after warning that Rosyth
has become a bigger target for terrorists and “rogue nations”. Labour
councillor Patrick Browne took aim and said the request for a public
consultation, on the prospect of Trident submarines carrying nuclear
missiles being maintained at the dockyard, was pointless and never going to
be accepted. He said: “The SNP have been scaremongering for months about
the contingent dock proposal for Rosyth. “With their latest comments they
have reached new levels of doom-mongering.”

But SNP councillor Brian
Goodall, who stated that having subs with warheads on the Forth increased
the threat of attack on Rosyth, said that response and the criticism of his
actions showed “just how right wing many in the Labour Party have become”.
The dispute has arisen due the plan for a contingent dock at Rosyth by 2029
to temporarily house the UK’s next generation of nuclear subs until a
permanent home at Faslane on the Clyde is ready in the 2030s.

 Dunfermline Press 6th May 2026, https://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/26084331.labour-snp-row-submarines-rosyth-dockyard/

May 10, 2026 Posted by | politics, UK | Leave a comment

Peter Beinart on What It Means to Be Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

SCHEERPOST, May 6, 2026 

“American Jews and Jews in general are safer in countries where everybody is treated equally under the law,” Peter Beinart tells TRNN. “The principle of Jewish supremacy, and Christian supremacy, and Hindu supremacy, and Islamic supremacy—all of those things are wrong.”

Marc Steiner TRNN,  May 6, 2026

Amid Israel’s ongoing destruction of Gaza, its illegal annexation of land in the Occupied West Bank, and belligerent warmaking in Iran and Lebanon, antisemitism around the globe is rising—but so is an international chorus of anti-Zionist Jews speaking out against Israel’s crimes. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with renowned author and commentator Peter Beinart about his new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza, and about the “civil war” within the Jewish world over Israel.

…………………………………………………………. Marc Steiner:

I was thinking many ways how to start this, but this is a very difficult time for Palestinians to survive. It’s also a very difficult time for Jews to stand up saying, “Not in our name.” And you are one of the most prominent people out there saying that and not being anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish about it. So talk a bit about that for a minute, just your whole way of approaching what we face.

Peter Beinart:

Well, Judaism is an ancient tradition, which speaks in many, many voices. But for me, when I think about what it means to be a Jew, and I start with the belief that Torah begins with the creation of human beings who are not of any religion or race or ethnicity. The first human beings that we encounter in Torah are not Jews or proto-Jews or Israelites or proto-Israelites. Adam and Eve and Noah, generation of the Tower of Babel, Cain and Abel, they’re universal human beings. And I think the lesson to that for me is that all human beings have incalculable value and that we must never lose sight of the value of all human life. And so what we see in the discourse in Israel and in many Jewish communities around the world is a support for the state of Israel that essentially trumps the value of the lives of all the people who live within that state.

And that seems to me actually something akin to idolatry. It’s essentially the worship of something human made, the creation of a state, and the elevation of it over the lives of the human beings, human beings created in the image of God who live within that state, 50% of whom are Palestinian. And so to me, I think what’s incumbent upon us as Jews is to recenter the value of all human life, including Palestinian life at the center of how we think about what it means to be Jewish……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….https://scheerpost.com/2026/05/06/peter-beinart-on-what-it-means-to-be-jewish-after-the-destruction-of-gaza/

May 10, 2026 Posted by | Religion and ethics | Leave a comment

Common Security as a credible alternative to nuclear deterrence

Statement to the 2026 NPT Review Conference on behalf of the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy


Cosponsored by Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Basel Peace Office, Global Security Institute,
Green Hope Foundation, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament,
UNFOLD ZERO and World Future Council

Presented by Kehkashan Basu
Co-President, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, and colleagues,
My name is Kehkashan Basu, and I speak as the Co-President of the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy on the topic of Common Security as a credible alternative to nuclear deterrence.


On September 22, 2025, UN Member States adopted by consensus the Pact for the Future, reaffirming that nuclear war would bring devastation to all humankind, that it can never be won and must never be fought, and that every effort must be made to prevent it. It also commits States to advance disarmament and nonproliferation, including the achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world.

As a young woman who has spent more than a decade advancing disarmament education to lift the veil ofsecrecy surrounding nuclear weapons and raise awareness of the risks they pose, I now see a growing sense of urgency – particularly among younger generations – for security approaches rooted in cooperation,accountability, and shared responsibility.


The pursuit of a nuclear-weapon-free world is grounded in international law, as affirmed by the
International Court of Justice in 1996. We call on NPT States Parties to begin a phased transition away from nuclear deterrence and to initiate negotiations on a mutual, verifiable framework for the global elimination of nuclear weapons no later than 2045.


Nuclear deterrence continues to be viewed as a source of security – including to prevent aggression – yet it sustains risk rather than removing it. Advancing alternative credible approaches to achieving security is essential. In this regard, common security offers a practical framework. It is based on the understanding that lasting security depends on addressing the concerns of all states, including adversaries. It emphasizes diplomacy, negotiation, mediation, and the application of international law to prevent conflict and resolve disputes.

There is already a foundation to build on. Civil society and policy initiatives have identified pathways to
reduce reliance on nuclear deterrence, including strengthening nuclear-weapon-free zones, advancing arms control agreements, and making more effective use of international institutions such as the United Nationsand the International Court of Justice.


Recent global developments underscore the urgency of acting on these approaches. Across multiple
regions, senseless wars and escalating conflicts continue to take lives and deepen insecurity. These
situations persist while diplomatic and legal mechanisms remain underutilized. The UN Charter provides clear avenues for peaceful resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and adjudication. Strengthening these mechanisms, including broader acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, is essential to reinforcing a rules-based international order.


In this short presentation I can merely touch on the comprehensive common security ‘tool kit’ available to States to assure security without nuclear deterrence. We will explore this tool kit in more depth in a side event on May 5 entitled Can Common Security replace Nuclear Deterrence? All delegations are invited.

May 10, 2026 Posted by | politics international | Leave a comment

Has the US accepted Iran’s demand to settle Hormuz first, nuclear later?

The US pauses Hormuz escorts after Pakistan-led mediation gains traction, signalling a shift towards a limited framework deal.

Aljazeera, By Abid Hussain 6 May 2026

Islamabad, Pakistan – On Monday morning, the United States Navy began escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. By Tuesday afternoon, the operation had been paused.

President Donald Trump announced the reversal on Truth Social, citing the “request of Pakistan and other Countries” and “great progress” towards a “complete and final agreement” with Iran.

Earlier on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that Operation Epic Fury, the air and naval campaign launched on February 28, was “concluded”.

What Washington now sought, he said, was a “memorandum of understanding for future negotiations”.

For weeks, that is precisely what Iran has been demanding.

In proposals passed on to the US through Pakistan, Iran has in recent weeks sought multistage negotiations, with a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war, and negotiations on the White House’s demands that Tehran end its nuclear programme pushed for later.

Trump and his administration resisted, with the US president insisting that getting Iran to give up its nuclear programme was central to any deal with Tehran.

Now, the US appears to have come around to accepting Iran’s demand, say experts. On Wednesday, the Reuters news agency and the US publication Axios reported that the US and Iran were close to agreeing to a one-page MoU to end the war, even though there have been no detailed negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Seyed Mojtaba Jalalzadeh, an international relations analyst based in Tehran, said the week’s diplomatic signals reflected a sober reassessment in Washington of what was achievable.

“Moving towards a memorandum of understanding, a framework for future talks, is a good, viable and important first step to solve the immediate problem,” he told Al Jazeera.

Shift amid fraying ceasefire

Pakistani officials close to the country’s efforts to mediate peace between the US and Iran told Al Jazeera that Islamabad’s role as an intermediary had intensified in recent days, with senior officials in direct communication with both sides. Details of those exchanges remain closely held.

On Wednesday afternoon in Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded to Trump’s announcement of the pause in the operation to open the Strait of Hormuz, naming Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a partner who prodded the US president to suspend the military mission in the waterway.

Pakistan, Sharif wrote on social media, was “very hopeful that the current momentum will lead to a lasting agreement that secures durable peace and stability for the region and beyond”.

Just 24 hours earlier, that optimism would have appeared misplaced.

Since the weekend, an already fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran appeared to be fraying.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates on Monday and Tuesday, the first such attacks since the April 8 truce. An oil facility in Fujairah was struck, wounding three Indian workers. Iran denied involvement.

The US and Iran each claimed they had hit the other’s ships, and each denied the other’s claims of success.

Washington, however, declined to escalate. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine said the incidents remained “all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations”. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the ceasefire “certainly holds”.

Has Washington blinked?

The central question is whether the US has, implicitly, accepted Iran’s core demand: end the war and settle the Strait of Hormuz first, with the nuclear programme to follow.

Rubio’s Tuesday briefing suggests a sharp departure from Washington’s initial position.

At the outset, the US outlined four objectives: destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, dismantle its navy, sever support for armed proxies, and ensure Iran never obtained a nuclear weapon.

A 15-point proposal delivered to Tehran via Pakistan in late March went further. It called for dismantling nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, handing over highly enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and permanently prohibiting nuclear weapons development.

By contrast, Rubio declared the military phase over. Nuclear material, he said, “has to be addressed” and is “being addressed in the negotiation”, but he declined to elaborate.

What Washington now seeks is an MoU, a framework defining “the topics that they’ve agreed to negotiate on” and “the concessions they are willing to make at the front end”.

That marks a significant shift from March.

In early April, he warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran did not yield. This week, he called for an agreement to be “finalised and signed”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/6/has-the-us-accepted-irans-demand-to-settle-hormuz-first-nuclear-later

May 9, 2026 Posted by | politics international | Leave a comment

Korean A-Bomb Victims U.S. Speaking Tour & NPT Engagement Highlights

6 May 26. https://abombtribunal.campaignus.me/34/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=171136567&t=board

The Korean Atomic Bomb Victims U.S. Speaking Tour was successfully held from April 20 to May 2, 2026

First- and second-generation Korean atomic bomb survivors visited major cities across the United States in connection with the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), where they shared their long-overlooked experiences and called for an official apology and compensation for the 1945 atomic bombings. Through powerful testimonies, the speakers highlighted the reality that, although victims exist, responsibility has yet to be fully acknowledged. Their accounts underscored the ongoing, intergenerational suffering that has continued for more than 80 years since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From April 20 to May 2, 2026, first- and second-generation Korean atomic bomb survivors carried out a nationwide speaking tour across the United States. Held in conjunction with the 11th NPT Review Conference, the tour brought long-overlooked histories of Korean victims into international nuclear discourse.

Throughout the tour, survivors raised international awareness about the more than 70,000 Korean victims of the atomic bombings—many of whose stories have remained largely unheard globally. They also emphasized that Korean survivors have neither disappeared from history nor remained silent, but have continuously struggled for recognition and redress.

The tour was jointly organized by SPARK (Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea), the International Organizing Committee of the A-Bomb Tribunal, and Korean atomic bomb victims. It brought renewed attention to the need for accountability, including an official apology and reparations from the United States for the historical injustice and prolonged suffering endured by Korean survivors.

As part of the program, the delegation visited major cities including Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York, with events held at institutions such as San Francisco State University, California State University, Sacramento, UCLA, and CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. They also engaged with local civil society organizations and Korean American communities in each city, delivering testimonies on the enduring impacts of nuclear violence and their lifelong efforts toward justice and compensation.

Through this speaking tour, the issue of Korean atomic bomb victims was brought more prominently to the attention of the international community, and significant support, interest, and participation were secured for the upcoming International People’s Tribunal. The success of the tour was made possible by the generous moral and material support of partners in each region, and in particular by the dedicated efforts of the members of the International Organizing Committee.

Building on this momentum, organizers called on global civil society to participate in the upcoming International People’s Tribunal on the 1945 Atomic Bombings (A-Bomb Tribunal), scheduled to be held in Seoul from November 13 to 15, 2026.

Selected photos from each event are included below. [on original]

May 9, 2026 Posted by | Events, South Korea, USA | Leave a comment

Trump claims his mass murder in the Caribbean saved a million American lives…real number 0

Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition Glen Ellyn IL, 6 May 26

President Trump sure loves committing mass murder worldwide. Gaza, Iran, Somalia, Niger, Iraq, Yemen, Venezuela are among nations he’s victimized with violent murder. Add in countries like Cuba where he’s essentially murdering innocents with life suffocating sanctions, he’s racked up tens if not over a hundred thousand deaths in 6 years exercising his presidential License To Kill.

While bombing innocents worldwide was practiced by all presidents since at least Bill Clinton, Trump is unique in ordering mass murder bombing of small boats in the Caribbean. He ghoulishly lunched Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean last September. In the past 8 months Trump, playing Long John Silver instead of a decent world leader, has blasted 54 little boats to smithereens, sending 185 innocents to Davy Jones Locker.  

His justification? ‘Oh they’re certainly running fentanyl and cocaine to the Homeland killing millions of Americans.’ Trump claims the boats were all part of 24 narco terrorist cartels but couldn’t name a single one. When a couple of Trump’s targets survived the bombing, Trump’s military polished them off with another murderous salvo. ‘Can’t let these stinkin’ narco terrorists floating around gathering up the drug packages floating nearby’ was the justification for instant execution.

Trump lies shamelessly about everything. But his Whoppers about the bombings dwarf anything Burger King could cook up. Trump claims “Drugs entering our country by sea are down 97 percent.” More absurd, Trump calculates each boat he obliterates saves 25,000 American lives. Both figures are so preposterous one must ponder where he pulls them from.

Funny, if drugs arrivals are down 97%, one might conclude that border drug seizures would be similarly down. Yet, Customs and Border Protection note that seizures at U.S. borders and along coasts have increased from 38,000 lbs. to 44,000 lbs. (16%) in the 7 months following Trump’s mass murder spree compared to the 7 months before it began. In drug crazed America, usage is up, prices are stable and supply is plentiful.

But with Trump steering the Ship of State, state sponsored murder is up, prices of everything legal are escalating, and display of decency, morality and common sense nowhere to be found. 

May 9, 2026 Posted by | spinbuster, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Trump’s New Iran Negotiator Is Israel Lobbyist Who Denounced Negotiations With Iran

  Max Blumenthal, May 5, 2026, https://thegrayzone.com/2026/05/05/trumps-iran-negotiator-israel-lobbyist/

Tapped to advise Steve Witkoff on Iran, Nick Stewart previously condemned dealing with any of Iran’s elected leaders. His presence consolidates military conflict as the Trump administration’s only option.

The latest addition to the Trump administration’s Iran negotiation team, Nick Stewart, has declared his absolute opposition to negotiating with the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to Stewart, “it’s important that we disabuse people of that notion” that anyone among Iran’s current leadership could serve as an “honest broker.”

Stewart aruged that even the reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian must be treated as an inveterate enemy because he is “a part of the theocratic, tyrannical, authoritarian government of Iran.” He insisted that Pezeshkian “is not a reformer and we shouldn’t buy into that narrative, because what it does is it throws us off our guard.”

Stewart made these comments while chairing a panel for the pro-war Vandenberg Coalition in Washington DC on October 4, 2024. He was seated beside Cameron Khansarinia, the Secretariat of self-proclaimed “Crown Prince” Reza Pahlavi, neoconservative ideologue and former Special Advisor for Iran Elliot Abrams, and Behnam Ben Taleblu, an operative at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).

At the time, Stewart functioned as FDD’s top Capitol Hill lobbyist.

When it was founded in 2001, FDD was named EMET, which is Hebrew for “truth.” The think tank described its mission as working to “enhance Israel’s image in North America and the public’s understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations.”

In 2017, a top Israeli military-intelligence official cited FDD as a partner in a covert Israeli campaign to spy on Americans involved in Palestine solidarity activism. Under Trump, the outfit has dictated the administration’s Iran policy to the point that the White House plagiarized its justification for attacking Iran from a document posted on FDD’s website.

Stewart was reportedly selected by Jared Kushner to advise Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul and Trump golf buddy who serves as the ironically titled Special Envoy for Peace Missions. Kushner Witkoff’s demonstrable ignorance of Iranian affairs, reflexive deference to Israel and crude profiteering helped inspire Iran’s rejection of the last round of negotiations. With Stewart on their team, it should be obvious to Tehran that there is no honest broker in Washington.

May 9, 2026 Posted by | politics international, USA | Leave a comment

Yukon and Ontario and SMRs – Memorandum of Misunderstanding? 

The Yukon public and their elected representatives may not fully understand the implications of introducing small modular nuclear reactors into their electricity mix.

The governments of Yukon and Ontario recently signed a partnership agreement to share Ontario’s expertise about energy development, which includes evaluation of small modular and micro-reactors. The Yukon wants to reduce reliance on diesel while meeting increasing electricity demand. 

There are glaring problems with this memorandum of understanding. 

First: the Ontario government cannot share what it doesn’t know. There has not been a single successful commercial SMR built worldwide. Construction of the much-touted Darlington New Nuclear Project in Ontario has barely begun.

Second: There is little private investment interest in this technology due to: 

  • the extraordinarily high cost ($7.7 billion for the first BWRX-300 SMR at Darlington), 
  • long timeline to completion (nuclear reactors have taken years longer than expected to build) 
  • risks associated with accidents

Third: The Ontario public bears the full cost of building and maintaining Ontario’s reactors, remediating environmental damage, the costs of decommissioning reactors at their end of life, and management of the radioactive waste for which there is no feasible solution. Can Yukon afford this expensive electricity source?

Fourth: Nuclear reactors are notoriously unreliable; some are offline for long periods of time, like Point Lepreau in New Brunswick (which operated only 27% of the time in the 2024-2025 fiscal year), requiring diesel or gas backup to meet electricity demands.

May 9, 2026 Posted by | Canada, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors | Leave a comment

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