Nuclear Issues
Since President Truman’s decision to detonate two atomic bombs over Japan in a show of U.S. military strength vis-à-vis the Soviets to deter them from retaliating against the Anglo-Saxons at the end of World War 2, numerous initiatives have been undertaken to dissuade Washington from replicating similar crimes. Whereas the USSR acquired its own bomb opening the door to proliferation, neutral States advocated in favour of a nuclear-free world. The international treaties in force consecrate the strategic edge gained by the big powers while depriving the smaller ones of nuclear weapons. These are exploited politically to condemn - rightly or wrongly - insubordinate States (Iran, North Korea) and to protect friendly nations (Israel, India-Pakistan). In the context of the U.S. economic crisis, Obama attempted to reopen denuclearization negotiations. However, vast regions of the planet have already been contaminated, either for having served as nuclear testing grounds or as a combat theater where depleted uranium was used.


According to the International Panel on Fissile Materials, Israel is in the process of building new facilities (approximately 140 by 50 meters) at its Dimona military nuclear power plant (Negev Nuclear Research Center).
Work reportedly started in early 2019.
Israel and Pakistan are the only two States in the “Greater Middle East” to be in possession of nuclear bombs. Saudi Arabia only has tactical nuclear bombs. No other state in the region has them, not even (...)

The UN Treaty banning nuclear weapons entered into force despite opposition from all nuclear powers and their allies.

Statement by Vladimir Putin on additional steps to de-escalate the situation in Europe after the termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty)
The Russian Federation continues to believe that the INF Treaty was an important element of the architecture ensuring international security and strategic stability. The Treaty played the most particular role in maintaining predictability and restraint in the missile sphere in the European area.
We consider the US (...)

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War and leader of the Conservative opposition after the conflict, believed that the atomic bomb should be used against several cities in the USSR to intimidate the Kremlin and keep "communism" in check.
British historian Richard Toye has discovered in the New York Times archives several pieces concerning a memorandum that Julius Ochs Adler - a former US Army officer who became the newspaper’s editor-in-chief (...)

Twenty years ago on June 30, Russia ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), one of the most important international legal documents in the field of arms control and non-proliferation.
Russia was one of the first countries to declare a moratorium on nuclear tests in 1992. That important and responsible decision was based on Russia’s firm resolve to move towards nuclear disarmament and to strengthen the non-proliferation regime and international security.
The preparation (...)

Good morning, and thanks to John Bellinger for hosting, as well as to the Council on Foreign Relations for giving me the chance to speak to you.
Let me start by giving you three data points. First, yesterday, U.S. and Russian officials met in Vienna to discuss opportunities for trilateral arms control.
Second, last night, the State Department sent to Congress the unclassified text of the 2020 edition of our Report on Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and (...)

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 2231 (2015), is an important outcome of multilateral diplomacy and a key element in the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. Preserving the Plan is conducive to safeguarding multilateralism, the international order based on international law and peace and stability in the Middle East.
In May 2018, the United States of America unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of (...)

The announcement by Iran of its withdrawal from the 5+1 nuclear agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in response to the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani will mean nothing since the United States have already cancelled their participation. It is far more worrying that Israël has its own genuine nuclear arsenal, and could be tempted to use it in case of a withdrawal of American troops from the Middle East.

“For love of my brethren and friends, I say: Peace upon you!” (Ps 122:8).
God of mercy and Lord of history, to you we lift up our eyes from this place, where death and life have met, loss and rebirth, suffering and compassion.
Here, in an incandescent burst of lightning and fire, so many men and women, so many dreams and hopes, disappeared, leaving behind only shadows and silence. In barely an instant, everything was devoured by a black hole of destruction and death. From that abyss of (...)

Like all European environmental parties, without any exception, Luigi Di Maio’s Five-Star Movement is deeply anti-nuclear. It campaigned vehemently on this theme. And like all European environmental parties, when they come to power, they defend NATO, its wars and its nuclear policy.

It’s a stale old secret. But it is also one of the most formidable denials of the Atlantic Alliance: nuclear bombs are stored in violation of international law in Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. By mistake, a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly wrote it in a report immediately withdrawn.

On August 2, six months after Washington initiated the withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by the USSR and the US in 1987, the treaty has been terminated for all parties: the US, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
This means that a key treaty for establishing the regional and global security architecture no longer exists. Under the INF Treaty, the parties eliminated two classes of nuclear armaments: land-based intermediate-range and shorter range (...)

On August 2, the United States completed the withdrawal from the INF Treaty. Accordingly, this instrument ceased to have effect.
Washington has committed a grave mistake. By launching a propaganda campaign based on deliberately misleading information on what was presented as violations of the INF Treaty by Russia, the United States intentionally plunged the Treaty into a crisis that was almost impossible to overcome. The cause is however clear: the United States wanted to free itself from (...)
