How the Arts Play a Role in the Fight for Nuclear Disarmament

This week countries and communities converge in New York for the 3rd Meeting of State Parties on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), with multiple side events to address the social, political and cultural impact of nuclear abolition across different sectors.

Nuclear Weapons, Far from Diminishing, Keep Rising

The United Nations, whose primary mandate is to maintain international peace and security, has been one of the longstanding leaders in the global campaign for a world without nuclear weapons. But the progress has been relatively slow – despite the growing number of anti-nuclear treaties. Perhaps the only consolation is the absence of a nuclear attack or a nuclear war in over 80 years.

Belarus: A Sham Election That Fools No One

Alexander Lukashenko will soon begin his seventh term as president of Belarus. The official result of the 26 January election gave him 86.8 per cent of the vote, following an election held in a climate of fear. Only token opposition candidates were allowed, most of who came out in support of Lukashenko. Anyone who might have offered a credible challenge is in jail or in exile.

Nobel Peace Prize Forum Breaks Down Nuclear Risks and Solutions

The existential threat that nuclear weapons present remains as pertinent as ever, even when they have not been deployed in war for nearly 80 years. As some countries seek out nuclear weapons or to upgrade and modernize their existing warheads, global voices in nuclear politics and disarmament warn of the potential risk of a new nuclear arms race amid the weakening of nuclear treaties that prohibit the proliferation and use of nuclear arms.

Reviving the Spirit of the Steppe: Kazakhstan Has Hosted the 5th World Nomad Games

In a vibrant display of culture and tradition, Kazakhstan recently hosted the 5th World Nomad Games in Astana, celebrating the enduring spirit of nomadic heritage against a backdrop of modernity and globalization. This biennial event, which drew competitors and spectators from around the globe, served not only as a showcase of traditional sports but also as a poignant reminder of the resilience of a culture that faced near extinction under Soviet rule.

Guterres Congratulates Nihon Hidankyo For Nobel Prize For Efforts To Rid Humanity of Nuclear Weapons

The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres congratulated grassroots Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo on being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Playing Nuclear Games: Tickling the Tail of the Promethean Nuclear Fire Dragon

In recent years, the rhetoric, strategy and practice of nuclear deterrence has grown riskier, more urgent, more dangerous, less stable, and increasingly in the hands of deficient leaders and policymakers.

A Growing New Battle: Nuclear Weapons vs Conventional Arms

The warnings from the United Nations and from anti-nuclear activists are increasingly ominous: the world is closer to a nuclear war—by design or by accident—more than ever before. The current conflicts—and the intense war of words—between nuclear and non-nuclear states—Russia vs. Ukraine, Israel vs. Palestine and North Korea vs. South Korea—are adding fuel to a slow-burning fire.

“Escalation Dominance” . . . and the Prospect of More Than 1,000 Holocausts

Everything is at stake. Everything is at stake with nuclear weapons. While working as a nuclear war planner for the Kennedy administration, Daniel Ellsberg was shown a document calculating that a U.S. nuclear attack on communist countries would result in 600 million dead. As he put it later: “A hundred Holocausts.”

Nuclear Annihilation Threatened by Revival of 20h Century McCarthy Era Cold War & Red Scare

The world may have dodged an immediate bullet when the US intelligence agencies warned, this week, that by giving in to Ukraine’s pleading for long range missiles that could attack targets deep into Russia, we would be poking the Russian bear beyond its patience without even influencing the outcome of the war in Ukraine’s favor.

Summit of the Future: Youth Driven Action Needed to Tackle Nuclear and Climate Crises

Driving the Summit of the Future’s core messages of international solidarity and decisive action are young people who are determined to address the intersecting issues that the world contends with today.

Are the World’s Ongoing Conflicts in Danger of Going Nuclear?

The constant drumbeat of nuclear threats seems never ending—emanating primarily from the Russians, Israeli right-wing politicians and North Koreans. The threats also prompt one lingering question: Can there be a World War III without the use of nuclear weapons?

60 Years After Lyndon Johnson’s “Daisy Ad,” the Silence on Nuclear War Is Dangerous

One evening in early September 1964, a frightening commercial jolted 50 million Americans who were partway through watching “Monday Night at the Movies” on NBC. The ad began with an adorable three-year-old girl counting petals as she pulled them from a daisy. Then came a man’s somber voiceover, counting down from ten to zero. Then an ominous roar and a mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb explosion.

The Time to End Nuclear Tests is Now

Today, the General Assembly convenes – for the fifteenth consecutive occasion – to observe the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, which is commemorated annually on 29 August.

Enough is Enough: End Nuclear Testing Once and For All

In 2009 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 29 August the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. This date recalled the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today’s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991; that one site alone having seen 456 nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989.

Kazakhstan Takes Lead in Global Push for Nuclear Disarmament Amid Heightened Tensions

In a world increasingly shadowed by the threat of nuclear conflict, Kazakhstan is stepping up its efforts in the global disarmament movement. On August 27-28, 2024, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Kazakhstan will host a critical workshop in Astana. This gathering, the first of its kind in five years, is set to reinvigorate the five existing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs) and enhance cooperation and consultation among them.

79 Years After Hiroshima & Nagasaki: A Grim Reminder of Nuclear Annihilation

The upcoming 79th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which took place on August 6 and 9, 1945, remains a grim reminder of the destructive consequences of nuclear weapons. The US bombings killed an estimated 90,000 to 210,000, with roughly half of the deaths occurring on the first day in Hiroshima.

Will the New Triumvirate—Russia, China & North Korea—Force the South To Go Nuclear?

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a pact last month to revive a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge between two of the world’s nuclear powers, it also had the implicit support a third nuclear power standing in the shadows: China.

The US Election & the Dangers of Nuclear Weapons

Today, we are facing a growing and unprecedented array of nuclear weapons dangers. At the same time, this year’s presidential election is also unprecedented, unpredictable, and extremely consequential.

New Military Alliances Forming in the Pacific

On the heels of a new alliance announced this summer by Russia and North Korea for a pact pledging mutual defense, with the support of China, it is now shockingly being suggested in South Korea that it review its security policy with the US and end its reliance on the US guarantee, to employ on South Koreas’ behalf, US nuclear weapons as part of its “nuclear umbrella”.

Nuclear Coercion: Dangerous and Illegal

Our three organizations-- Western States Legal Foundation, Peace Depot, and Basel Peace Office-- all dedicated to the elimination of nuclear weapons, have consistently expressed our concern about the risk of nuclear war escalating during armed conflicts and times of high tension, when nuclear-armed states often make veiled or even explicit threats to use nuclear weapons and prepare for such use.