Archiv: atomic bombs / nuclear weapons / explosions / tests / sites / storage / control / technology / nuclear weapons programs


15.11.2024 - 18:00 [ AtlanticCouncil.org ]

JCPOA: A New Gold Standard for Non-Proliferation Agreements

(June 7, 2017)

The established pattern of constraints on Iran’s nuclear program could be held as the gold standard for the rest of the international community. This option is readily available to the United States and the partners with which it negotiated the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The international community should draw on that agreement and turn its standards into general, global ones, applying them to all countries seeking to enrich uranium or attempting to use plutonium for any purpose.

14.10.2024 - 18:08 [ Middle East Eye ]

Germany‘s Holocaust guilt does not justify support for Israeli fascism

The heavy historical burden has compelled Germany to support Israel unconditionally in all international forums. While such support might be understandable in the context of historical relations, using it as a pretext to overlook Israel’s ongoing human rights violations in Gaza is both ethically and politically unjustifiable.

14.10.2024 - 17:44 [ Japan Times ]

Israeli envoy criticizes Japanese atomic survivor‘s Gaza comparison

Nagasaki decided not to invite Cohen to mark this year‘s 79th anniversary of the bombing, citing security reasons to avoid possible protests.

That decision prompted the ambassadors of the United States, Britain and the European Union, among others, to skip the ceremony and send lower-level officials instead.

14.10.2024 - 17:35 [ Democracy Now! ]

Atomic Bomb Survivors Win Nobel Peace Prize, Say Gaza Today Is Like Japan 80 Years Ago

(October 11, 2024)

AMY GOODMAN: After the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, Toshiyuki Mimaki, spoke to reporters in Tokyo.

TOSHIYUKI MIMAKI: [translated] What? Nihon Hidankyo? How did Nihon Hidankyo? It can’t be real. It can’t be real. … We will appeal to the world, as we always have done, for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the achievement of an everlasting peace. … Why Nihon Hidankyo? I thought for sure it would be the people working so hard in Gaza, as we’ve seen.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize today. He wept as he spoke. He went on to say, quote, “In Gaza, bleeding children are being held [by their parents]. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.”

14.10.2024 - 06:20 [ Newsweek ]

New NATO Member Joins First Nuclear Weapons Drill

(October 7,2024)

Finland became a member of NATO, an alliance led by the United States, in April last year. The Nordic country, which borders Russia to the east, changed its policy of military non-alignment following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.

After the completion of accession to NATO, Finland‘s Defense Ministry said it would take part in the nuclear planning and support operations of the alliance. However, the country has also decided it would not permit the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory.

14.10.2024 - 06:12 [ defence-industry.eu/ ]

NATO launches annual nuclear exercise “Steadfast Noon” across western Europe

This year’s exercise involves 2,000 military personnel from eight airbases and various aircraft, including nuclear-capable jets, bombers, and support aircraft.

Flights will mainly occur over Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the North Sea.

11.10.2024 - 22:42 [ Nobelprize.org ]

Announcement: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo.

This grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

In response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945, a global movement arose whose members have worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons. Gradually, a powerful international norm developed, stigmatising the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm has become known as “the nuclear taboo”.

The testimony of the Hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this larger context.

10.10.2024 - 06:08 [ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ]

The coming US-Saudi nuclear deal: Keep it honest

(January 5, 2024)

In 1988, the Central Intelligence Agency did discover that Riyadh bought SS-2 medium-range missiles from China but only after the deal was sealed. In 2003, when China exported DF-21 ballistic missiles to the Kingdom, the CIA again found out and was even allowed to verify the missiles were not nuclear-capable, but only after the missiles were delivered.

Several years later, when intelligence finally leaked out that China secretly built missile factories for the Saudis, the Trump administration was mum on whether there was an intelligence failure and allowed speculation that it had blessed the transaction. Then, in 2020, when US intelligence confirmed China was helping the Kingdom mill uranium domestically, it did so, again only after the mining and milling were well underway.

This track record of studied inadvertence, then, brings us to the next worry: MBS wants Washington to green-light the Kingdom enriching uranium…

10.10.2024 - 05:12 [ Institute for National Security Studies - INSS.org.il ]

Normalization for Proliferation? The Saudi Nuclear Strategy and the Price of Peace with Israel

(March 19, 2023)

In general, the Saudis wish to present themselves as Iran’s equals, and if Iran can enrich uranium, say the Saudis, then so can we. In addition, the Saudis want to keep all their nuclear options open, even if they are not intending to work on the development of nuclear weapons immediately.

10.10.2024 - 04:33 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Saudi nuclear program can be secretly managed – top Israeli sources

(September 14, 2023)

Top Israeli sources have told the Jerusalem Post that there are secret technological ways to ensure that the Saudis do not misuse civilian nuclear items, which the US may give them as part of a three-way normalization deal, for military purposes.

Although there are no guarantees, because the issue is highly technical and there are issues to address regarding the Palestinians and highly complex politics, these technological fixes could be key to locking in a normalization deal between Riyadh and Jerusalem, under Washington’s auspices.

10.10.2024 - 03:10 [ Reuters ]

U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia

(March 27, 2019)

Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)

Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.

02.10.2024 - 22:32 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel censors reporting on military sites hit by Iran, obscuring extent of damage

Several missiles were also located near the Dead Sea, near where Israeli nuclear facilities are located. It wasn‘t clear whether they were intercepted by Israel or the US, according to the report.

One missile hit in the vicinity of a school in the town of Gedera, with photos of the aftermath showing a massive crater in the ground and major structural damage to the nearby buildings.

14.09.2024 - 18:20 [ Washington Post ]

U.S. concerned about Ukraine strikes on Russian nuclear radar stations

(May 29, 2024)

The drone that targeted the radar station near Orsk, in Russia’s Orenburg region along Kazakhstan’s northern border, traveled more than 1,100 miles, making it one of the deepest attempted strikes into Russian territory. The Ukrainian official declined to say whether the strike, on May 26, caused any damage.

14.09.2024 - 18:11 [ Newsweek ]

Map Shows Ukraine‘s Record-Breaking Hits on Russian Nuclear Warning Sites

(May 28, 2024)

Ukraine began its nascent campaign against Russia‘s early warning radar network in April, with successive drone strikes on the 590th separate radio engineering center of military unit 84680 in the city of Kovylkino, in the Mordovia Republic around 360 miles from the Ukrainian border.

14.09.2024 - 16:48 [ Reuters ]

Putin‘s options for Ukraine missiles response include nuclear test, experts say

As East-West tensions over Ukraine enter a new and dangerous phase, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Joe Biden are holding talks in Washington on Friday on whether to allow Kyiv to use long-range U.S. ATACMS or British Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia.

12.04.2024 - 00:10 [ Times of Israel ]

As Iran vows revenge, Israel worries it could get even by going nuclear

After a week of being very careful regarding statements directed at Iran, the US gave Israel something to be satisfied about on Wednesday. US President Joe Biden said America’s commitment to Israel’s security, amid the threats from Iran and its proxies, is “ironclad.”

Biden’s statements are aimed directly at Iran, and it’s certainly possible that they’re the result of a worrying intelligence assessment Israel presented to the US.

13.03.2024 - 17:39 [ DeccanHerald.com ]

Putin says Russia will deploy troops to Finland‘s border now it is in NATO, RIA reports

„We didn‘t have troops there (at the Finnish border), now they will be there. There were no systems of destruction there, now they will appear,“ he said.

28.02.2024 - 05:03 [ France24.com ]

‚Not at war with Russia‘: European, US allies taken aback by Macron‘s comments on troops in Ukraine

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, accused by critics of being too cosy with Moscow, said after the meeting that there was disunity on the issue among European leaders.

„There are countries that are ready to send their own soldiers to Ukraine, there are countries that say never – Slovakia is among them – and there are countries that say that this proposal should be considered,“ he said.

28.02.2024 - 04:51 [ CNN ]

Macron says ‘nothing ruled out,’ including using Western troops, to stop Russia winning Ukraine war

rench President Emmanuel Macron has openly discussed the possibility of sending European troops to Ukraine to help Kyiv win the war against Russia, a potential major escalation to the largest ground war Europe has seen since World War II.

21.02.2024 - 16:53 [ BBC News / Mastodon.bot ]

News at 3PM: MPs will vote on a #Gaza ceasefire following a debate. A Trident missile test has failed once more. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is responding to queries at PMQs. MSF reports Israeli shelling of its #Gaza shelter. Syrian outlets report three deaths in Damascus due to Israeli missiles. Julian #Assange contests US extradition. #JulianAssange #BBC #News

15.02.2024 - 17:43 [ RT.com ]

Kremlin responds to rumors of Russian space nukes

Western media reports claiming that Russia could place nuclear weapons in space are nothing more than a ploy by the White House to convince US lawmakers to approve further military aid to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Citing sources, several US media outlets reported this week that American intelligence had obtained information on purported Russian plans to deploy a nuclear anti-satellite system in space, although the idea supposedly remains at the developmental stage.

10.01.2024 - 10:20 [ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ]

The coming US-Saudi nuclear deal: Keep it honest

(January 5, 2024)

In 1988, the Central Intelligence Agency did discover that Riyadh bought SS-2 medium-range missiles from China but only after the deal was sealed. In 2003, when China exported DF-21 ballistic missiles to the Kingdom, the CIA again found out and was even allowed to verify the missiles were not nuclear-capable, but only after the missiles were delivered.

Several years later, when intelligence finally leaked out that China secretly built missile factories for the Saudis, the Trump administration was mum on whether there was an intelligence failure and allowed speculation that it had blessed the transaction. Then, in 2020, when US intelligence confirmed China was helping the Kingdom mill uranium domestically, it did so, again only after the mining and milling were well underway.

This track record of studied inadvertence, then, brings us to the next worry: MBS wants Washington to green-light the Kingdom enriching uranium…

10.01.2024 - 09:57 [ European Leadership Network ]

After Hamas: Rationales and dilemmas for US-Saudi nuclear agreement persist

(19 October 2023)

The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have for over a decade negotiated without success the terms of an agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation. These negotiations have intensified recently in the context of US efforts to broker a normalisation agreement between the KSA and Israel, which have included discussions about how the US could solidify its own support for Saudi Arabia. On the 7th of October 2023, Hamas terrorists appeared to drive a stake through the heart of the US effort to broker Israel-KSA normalisation. This has sent shockwaves through the region, and the full implications remain uncertain. However, it seems likely that in the longer run, rationales for normalisation and for US nuclear engagement with Riyadh will remain, reflecting the fact that the Hamas attacks underscored that a future nuclear-armed Iran would be a yet more formidable adversary for both Israel and the KSA.

06.01.2024 - 22:49 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel minister calls for ‚ways more painful than death‘ for Palestinians

Eliyahu expressed, in statements to Israeli radio station 103 FM, that Israel must decide the battle by breaking the morale of the Palestinians in Gaza and causing them pain involving their land, destroying homes, breaking their national dream and voluntary immigration. When the presenter interrupted him, saying this was not possible, Eliyahu replied that it was, similar to what happened during the Arab Spring when large numbers of the region’s population immigrated to Germany.

06.01.2024 - 22:46 [ Dimitri Lascaris / Twitter ]

Yesterday, Israel’s Heritage Minister publicly declared that “we must find ways for Gazans that are more painful than death.” This is the same psychopath who was allowed by Netanyahu to remain a government Minister after he said nuking Gaza was “an option”.

#Gaza #genocide

31.12.2023 - 14:47 [ Reuters ]

North Korea to launch new satellites, build drones, calling war inevitable

Kim lashed out at Washington in lengthy remarks wrapping up five days of ruling party meetings that set economic, military and foreign policy goals for the coming year.

„Because of reckless moves by the enemies to invade us, it is a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean peninsula,“ he said, according to state news agency KCNA.

12.11.2023 - 23:05 [ Times of Israel ]

PM warns ministers to pipe down after comments on new ‘Nakba’ and nuking Gaza

“Every word has meaning when it comes to diplomacy. If you don’t know — don’t speak,” the prime minister said during Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

“We must be sensitive,” he added.

The prime minister was referring to recent comments by ministers that are viewed as having caused damage to Israel’s international legitimacy.

06.11.2023 - 20:22 [ ArabNews.com ]

‘Absolute Recklessness’: Saudi Arabia slams Israeli suggestion of “nuking Gaza”

The Israeli minister’s comments showed the penetration of “extremism and brutality” among members of the Israeli government, a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said.

“Moreover, not dismissing the minister and only freezing his membership constitutes the utmost disregard for all human standards and values,” it added.

06.11.2023 - 20:19 [ BigNewsNetwork.com ]

Arab states condemn Israeli minister‘s nuke Gaza threat

„These statements constitute a violation of international law, as well as incitement to commit grave violations of International Humanitarian Law, such as war crimes, and raise grave concerns of an intent to commit genocide,“ the UAE said. Jordan released a similar statement describing Eliyahu‘s comments as a „call for genocide and a hate crime that cannot be ignored,“ while the Qatari Foreign Ministry said that it „strongly condemns the threat made by an Israeli minister to strike Gaza with a nuclear bomb and considers it a serious incitement to a war crime.“

06.11.2023 - 20:03 [ Ragıp Soylu / Twitter ]

Netanyahu wanted to fire “let’s nuke Gaza” minister Eliyahu, but his extremist coalition partner Ben Gvir refused it, saying that it would be an “excessive” measure

06.11.2023 - 19:59 [ New York Times ]

Netanyahu Suspends Israeli Minister Who Said Dropping a Nuclear Bomb on Gaza Was an Option

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took the highly unusual step on Sunday of suspending a far-right minister from his government, after the minister said that dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza and killing everyone there was “one way” of dealing with the threat from Hamas.

06.11.2023 - 19:46 [ Middle East Monitir ]

Rights group: Israel dropped equivalent to 2 nuclear bombs on Gaza

(November 3, 2023)

Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that the weight of the nuclear bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II in August 1945 was estimated at about 15,000 tonnes, adding that due to technological developments affecting the potency of bombs, the explosives dropped on Gaza may be twice as powerful as a nuclear bomb.

“This means that the destructive power of the explosives dropped on Gaza exceeds that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima,” Euro-Med Monitor said.

06.11.2023 - 05:02 [ Hindustan Times ]

Israeli minister says dropping atomic bomb on Gaza ‚an option’; PM Netanyahu reacts

During the interview, Eliyahu raised his objection to allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza. “We wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid… there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza,” the minister was quoted as saying.

Eliyahu also backed retaking the Gaza Strip’s territory and restoring the settlements there, the report added. Asked about the fate of Palestinian civilians Eliyahu said, “They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”

06.11.2023 - 04:51 [ Irish Times ]

Palestinians should ‘go to Ireland or deserts’ and using nuclear bomb on Gaza an option, says Israeli minister

Heritage minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit party is quoted by the Times of Israel as saying in an interview that the Palestinian people “can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves”, adding that those who wave a Palestinian or Hamas flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth”.

It quotes him saying that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip “is one of the possibilities”, and that humanitarian aid to the population should be restricted, saying “we wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid. There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.”

06.10.2023 - 17:00 [ AtlanticCouncil.org ]

JCPOA: A New Gold Standard for Non-Proliferation Agreements

(June 7, 2017)

The established pattern of constraints on Iran’s nuclear program could be held as the gold standard for the rest of the international community. This option is readily available to the United States and the partners with which it negotiated the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The international community should draw on that agreement and turn its standards into general, global ones, applying them to all countries seeking to enrich uranium or attempting to use plutonium for any purpose.

06.10.2023 - 15:00 [ Haaretz ]

‚Sensitive‘ Israeli Intelligence on Iranian Nuke Program Shifting the Tide, Israeli Official Says

(12.09.2022)

According to a diplomatic source, Prime Minister Yair Lapid presented the Germans with intelligence that ‚proves the Iranians are cheating as we speak,‘ claiming the Americans‘ hardened their stance in response to the information

06.10.2023 - 14:51 [ Alon Pinkas / Haaretz ]

A Saudi Deal Could Set the Mideast Nuclear Domino Effect in Motion

(Oct 5, 2023)

For many years, the United States, Israel, Middle East analysts and nuclear experts have all warned that the region could be on the brink of a nuclear domino effect.

06.10.2023 - 11:55 [ AsiaTimes.com ]

Saudi nuclear weapon talk is no empty threat

(October 5, 2023)

Fitzpatrick notes Saudi Arabia acquired more advanced DF-21 missiles from China in 2007, although Riyadh has never acknowledged the purchase. He also says that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) approved Saudi Arabia’s acquisition because they were modified not to carry nuclear warheads.

However, the inaccuracy of those missiles means that they are only suitable for large targets such as cities and would be ineffective with anything less than a nuclear warhead.

06.10.2023 - 10:02 [ Reuters ]

U.S. approved secret nuclear power work for Saudi Arabia

(March 27, 2019)

Many U.S. lawmakers are concerned that sharing nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia could eventually lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. (…)

Last month, Democratic House members alleged in a report that top White House aides ignored warnings they could be breaking the law as they worked with former U.S. officials in a group called IP3 International to advance a multibillion-dollar plan to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.