Tag Archives: nuclear arms

Rehearsal for ‘Armageddon’ Underway as NATO and Russia Hold Nuclear Exercises

Leave a reply

“All nuclear exercises imply willingness to mass murder civilians, wipe out entire cities, and risk all-out nuclear war,” said ICAN. “They also risk accidents and escalation, and will legitimize Russia’s dangerous nuclear rhetoric.”

By Brett Wilkins  Published 10-17-2022 by Common Dreams

A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress leads a formation of aircraft including American, Polish, German, and Swedish fighter aircraft over the Baltic Sea on June 9, 2016. (Photo: U.S. Air Force)

As NATO on Monday began its annual rehearsal for nuclear war in Europe and Russia prepared to conduct its own nuclear drill amid Cold War-like tensions inflamed by the invasion of Ukraine, peace advocates underscored the imperative for de-escalation in order to avert catastrophe.

“All nuclear exercises imply willingness to mass murder civilians, wipe out entire cities, and risk all-out nuclear war,” the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) warned ahead of the NATO drill. “They also risk accidents and escalation, and will legitimize Russia’s dangerous nuclear rhetoric.” Continue reading →

Share Button

US and Russian Physicians Warn War in Ukraine Risks Global Nuclear ‘Catastrophe’

Leave a reply

“No matter the genesis, the cause, or who started what, the reality remains that there are 15 operating nuclear reactors in Ukraine that, if conflict breaks out there, could be in peril.”

By Jake Johnson.  Published 2-23-2022 by Common Dreams

Sign for Pripyat Town with Radiation Warning – Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – Northern Ukraine Photo: Adam Jones/flickr/CC

A renowned organization comprised of U.S. and Russian physicians warned late Tuesday that a military conflict involving the two powers in Ukraine risks a nuclear “catastrophe” that could have horrific effects on all of Europe—and potentially the entire planet.

In a new statement, nuclear energy specialists joined members of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)—a coalition of medical groups that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for its non-proliferation work—in noting that while Ukraine does not possess nuclear weapons, it does maintain more than a dozen nuclear power reactors that could be in the line of fire should the current situation descend into all-out war. Continue reading →

Share Button

Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Tied to ‘Historic Shift’ Away From ‘Perilous Profiteering’

Leave a reply

“Financial institutions that continue investing in companies building nuclear weapons face regulatory risks as more countries join the treaty. They also face an increased reputational risk.”

By Jessica Corbett.  Published 11-11-2021 by Common Dreams

ICAN action against investments in nuclear weapons. April 2012, Melbourne. Photo: ICAN (Tim Wright)/flickr/CC

The latest Don’t Bank on the Bomb report, released Thursday, sheds light on the early impacts of a global treaty banning nuclear weapons worldwide while also exposing the companies and financial institutions responsible for continuing to build up governments’ arsenals.

The new report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and PAX comes as the world nears the one-year mark of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entering into force after opening for signature in September 2017. Continue reading →

Share Button

US Air Force Plans to Buy More Bombs ‘Better-Suited for Operations in the Pacific’

Leave a reply

“The new Cold War with China currently being pushed in Washington does not serve the millions of people demanding change across this country nor the billions of people affected by U.S. foreign policy abroad.”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-2-2021

The guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) launches an SM-2 missile during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2020. Photo: U.S. Navy/flickr/CC

Soon after President Joe Biden called for a gargantuan $753 billion military budget for fiscal year 2022, the U.S. Air Force indicated that it plans to buy fewer small-diameter bombs in favor of spending heavily on “state-of-the-art, long-range weapons that are better-suited for operations in the Pacific,” Military.com reported Tuesday.

The Air Force’s proposal is consistent with other investments outlined in Biden’s Pentagon budget request, including billions of dollars for U.S. nuclear weapon modernization and the so-called Pacific Deterrence Initiative, which is purportedly aimed at “countering China’s military build-up in Asia.” Continue reading →

Share Button

Progressives Applaud Rob Malley, Key Nuclear Deal Negotiator, as Biden’s Special Envoy for Iran

Leave a reply

“Malley should be celebrated for his ability to understand how adversaries see problems and find common ground, for this is the art of diplomacy.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-29-2021

Image: CODEPINK

Progressives on Friday welcomed the addition of Robert Malley, a Middle East expert and Iran nuclear deal negotiator, to the Biden administration as a positive step away from the previous U.S. administration’s hostile rhetoric and policies toward Tehran, which often generated fears of a hot war.

Following reporting on Thursday from multiple media outlets, both the White House and the State Department confirmed on Friday that Malley will serve as President Joe Biden’s special U.S. envoy for Iran—in spite of opposition from hawkish critics. Continue reading →

Share Button

‘Iran in the Crosshairs?’ Reports of Secret Meeting Between Netanyahu, MbS, and Pompeo Spark Fears of War Plot

Leave a reply

“It is extremely alarming that the warmongers most reliant on Trump’s blank checks are secretly meeting in the middle of the night as the clock nearly runs out on the Trump administration.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-23-2020

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, on November 18, 2020. The secretary was greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman and the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Chief of Protocol Gil Haskel. Photo: Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem/flickr

The alarming possibility of a military attack on Iran—a nation that has long been in the sights of war hawks in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel—was immediately invoked by foreign policy analysts Monday following reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in secret late Sunday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

First divulged by unnamed Israeli officials and publicly denied Monday morning by the Saudi foreign minister, the reported covert meeting in Neom, Saudi Arabia comes on the heels of news last week that U.S. President Donald Trump asked his senior advisers for options to bomb Iran’s primary nuclear energy site, prompting Iran to vow a “crushing response” to any attack. Continue reading →

Share Button

‘Victory for Humanity’: Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons to Take Effect as Honduras Becomes 50th Nation to Ratify

Leave a reply

The United States has not ratified the treaty and the Trump administration is actively urging nations to withdraw from it.

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-25-2020

“This is a new chapter for nuclear disarmament,” Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), said in a statement. (Photos: ICAN/Aude Catimel)

The global movement working to abolish nuclear weapons celebrated a “historic milestone” Saturday after Honduras became the 50th country to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, pushing the agreement over the threshold required to enter into force.

Honduras’ ratification sets the stage for the international treaty to take effect on January 22, 2021 despite the refusal of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and other powerful nuclear-armed nations to sign on to the agreement (pdf), which requires that signatories “never under any circumstances… develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” Continue reading →

Share Button

‘A Farce’: Trump Critics, European Allies Challenge Pompeo Claim About Snapback of UN Sanctions on Iran

Leave a reply

“With a track record of failure on Iran, the Trump administration’s spin machine appears to be going into overdrive heading into November.

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-20-2020

Mike Pompeo. Photo: kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons

The international community is pushing back against U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Saturday night claim that United Nations sanctions on Iran have been restored—the administration’s latest attempt to escalate tensions with the country—by noting that President Donald Trump ditched the related nuclear deal two years ago.

“With a track record of failure on Iran, the Trump administration’s spin machine appears to be going into overdrive heading into November,” Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), declared in a statement Saturday. “Whether this is mere bluster or portends a potential October surprise remains to be seen but anyone opposed to more reckless wars should be on high alert.” Continue reading →

Share Button

80 Lawmakers Demand Trump Ditch Any Thought of Resuming ‘Dangerously Provocative’ Nuclear Tests

Leave a reply

“When Americans say that they want and need tests, they weren’t talking about the nuclear kind.”

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-8-2020

A group of 80 Democratic federal lawmakers on Monday called on President Donald Trump to drop his reported consideration of atomic bomb nuclear testing, calling it an “awful” and “dangerously provocative” proposal that could give rise to “a new nuclear arms race.”

The demand came in a letter to the president—also sent to Pentagon chief Mark Esper and Energy Secretary Dan Broulliette—led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.). Continue reading →

Share Button

Arms Expert Warns of ‘Reckless and Unnecessary Escalation’ After Pentagon Tests Missile Banned by INF Treaty That Trump Ditched

Leave a reply

The move could “exacerbate tensions with Russia, China, and North Korea—all of whom would be in range of this type of missile.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 12-13-2019

The Pentagon conducted a flight test of a prototype conventionally-configured ground-launched ballistic missile at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Dec. 12. (Photo: Vandenberg Air Force Base)

Arms experts warned of negative global implications after the Pentagon on Thursday test-launched a second missile that would have been banned under a Cold War-era treaty that U.S. President Donald Trump ditched in early August.

Trump ignored concerns about the impacts on global security and formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty after suspending U.S. obligations under the deal in February and giving Russian President Vladimir Putin six months to destroy weapons that the U.S. government and NATO deemed noncompliant with the bilateral agreement. The deal outlawed land-launched missiles with a range of 500–5,500 kilometers or about 310–3,400 miles. Continue reading →

Share Button