The Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review

August 10, 2009 - Defense officials are writing a new U.S. nuclear policy that could blow up President Obama's declared agenda. The White House must reassert its control.

The Nuclear Posture Review, or NPR, will be issued at the end of the year, but Obama's defense officials are briefing others in the administration this week, hoping to lock in their policies before the end of the month.
Why should you care? Joan Rohlfing, vice-president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative headed by Sam Nunn and Ted Turner, explained in a speech before the Arms Control Association on May 20: Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-cirincione/the-pentagons-nuclear-pos_b_255517.html

A World Without Nuclear Weapons

Keeping Iran Honest. By Scott Ritter

Iran's secret nuclear plant will spark a new round of IAEA inspections and lead to a period of even greater transparency

September 27, 209 "The Guardian" -- It was very much a moment of high drama. Barack Obama, fresh from his history-making stint hosting the UN security council, took a break from his duties at the G20 economic summit in Pittsburgh to announce the existence of a secret, undeclared nuclear facility in Iran which was inconsistent with a peaceful nuclear programme, underscoring the president's conclusion that "Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow".

Obama, backed by Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, threatened tough sanctions against Iran if it did not fully comply with its obligations concerning the international monitoring of its nuclear programme, which at the present time is being defined by the US, Britain and France as requiring an immediate suspension of all nuclear-enrichment activity.

The facility in question, said to be located on a secret Iranian military installation outside of the holy city of Qom and capable of housing up to 3,000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium, had been monitored by the intelligence services of the US and other nations for some time.
But it wasn't until Monday that the IAEA found out about its existence, based not on any intelligence "scoop" provided by the US, but rather Iran's own voluntary declaration. Iran's actions forced the hand of the US, leading to Obama's hurried press conference Friday morning. More >>>

Prominent nuclear disarmament organization welcomes UN nuclear-free call

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Global Zero, a prominent organization for international nuclear disarmament, on Thursday hailed a new United Nations resolution that aims at nuclear-free world.

The UN resolution, endorsing calls by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to eliminate all nuclear weapons, "indicates a global consensus for this goal has been achieved," Global Zero said in a press release.

Global Zero, a group of more than 200 political and military leaders from around the world, will hold a plenary session in February for strategy talks on the phased elimination of arsenals and launch of global public campaign, the release said. The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in a bid to seek a safer world for all and to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons. More >>>

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Climate Change Risks Could Cost Developing Countries Up to 19% of GDP by 2030

Climate Change Risks Could Cost Developing Countries Up to 19% of GDP by 2030 Report says action on climate adaptation may significantly reduce losses and increase economic sustainability.

NEW YORK, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- (WORLD-WIRE) A report from the Economics of Climate Adaptation Working Group released today indicates that climate risks could cost nations up to 19% of their GDP by 2030, with developing countries most vulnerable. The report concludes, however, that cost effective adaptation measures already exist that can prevent between 40 and 68 percent of the expected economic loss with even higher levels of prevention possible in highly target geographies.

The report, titled "Shaping Climate-Resilient Development", offers a comprehensive and replicable methodology to determine the risks that climate change imposes on economies. It provides a set of tools for decision makers to adopt a tailored approach for estimating these costs based on local climate conditions, and for building more resilient economies. These tools do not include estimates or measures for emissions reduction, which would need to be examined separately. More >>>

UN chief makes appeal for disarmament on International Day of Peace

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday called on nations to intensify efforts to reduce stockpiles of weapons capable of inflicting large-scale devastation and death as the United Nations held a series of events worldwide to observe the annual International Day of Peace.

"As long as such weapons exist, no one is safe," Ban said after ringing the UN Peace Bell in a ceremony at the UN Headquarters in New York. "On this International Day of Peace, I have a simple message for all: We Must Disarm! We must have peace." More >>>

Human-made Crises 'Outrunning Our Ability To Deal With Them,' Scientists Warn

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2009) — The world faces a compounding series of crises driven by human activity, which existing governments and institutions are increasingly powerless to cope with, a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists has warned.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say that nations alone are unable to resolve the sorts of planet-wide challenges now arising.
Pointing to global action on ozone depletion (the Montreal Protocol), high seas fisheries and antibiotic drug resistance as examples, they call for a new order of cooperative international institutions capable of dealing with issues like climate change – and enforcing compliance where necessary. More >>>

Jordan signs deal for first nuclear power plant

AMMAN, Jordan - Jordan signed a $12 million deal Saturday with a Belgium-based company as it pushes forward with a plan to build the first nuclear power plant for the oil-barren desert kingdom.

The head of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission, Khaled Toukan, signed the deal in Amman with Georges Cornet, the head of Tractebel Engineering, a French-Belgian company.
Toukan said the company would first carry out a two-year environmental impact study to determine whether the planned location -- a desert area near the Saudi border about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of the Red Sea port of Aqaba -- is in fact the best location for protecting "both public health and the environment."
In January 2007, the country's ruler, King Abdullah II, announced his intention to develop a peaceful nuclear program, a plan that has U.S. backing. More >>>

Disarmament: Assessing the Prospects for an FM(C)T

The May 29 adoption of a program of work by the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva marked the first time in 11 years that the 65-member body had taken such action.

That step was a cause for celebration as it appeared to open the door to the negotiation of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
The White House was quick to applaud the development with a statement by President Barack Obama welcoming “today’s important agreement at the Conference on Disarmament to begin negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, which will end production of fissile materials for use in atomic bombs.”[1] Regrettably, the applause now seems premature as events since May 29 suggest that hopes for rapid progress in the CD are unrealistic. More >>>