nuclear-news

107 nations pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons, but snubbed by nuclear nations

Looking back on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference, May 2015

ICAN Campaign Update, June 2015: 107 nations pledge to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons

By the end of the month-long Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in New York, 107 governments had endorsed an Austrian-sponsored pledge “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”. Although this high-level conference, which concluded on 22 May, could not adopt a consensus outcome document, the preferred course of action for the majority of nations was clear: it is time to begin negotiations on a new treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons outright and establish a framework for their elimination. …

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/a6e5567f81275b06aabcfd87e/files/June2015Update_ICAN.pdf

Nuclear disarmament? Forget it.

• More than 100 countries snubbed by nuclear powers
• UK defence budget – nuclear v conventional

The latest nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference did not make waves. There was hardly a word in the mainstream media.

Perhaps it was not surprising. What is there newsworthy in hundreds of diplomats and scores of NGOs over a period of four weeks calling for nuclear disarmament, in effect praising motherhood and apple pie?

Yet the UN-sponsored conference in New York did not end in bland consensus. Far from it. It ended in disarray and angry exchanges.  http://www.theguardian.com/news/defence-and-security-blog/2015/jun/02/nuclear-disarmament-forget-it

July 10, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general