USA and Canada

Photo: An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test on February 20, 2016, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Credit: Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center Public Affairs.

U.S. to Test Launch an Unarmed Minuteman III ICBM

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) - At a time of extraordinary tension between the U.S. and North Korea, with each side flexing its military muscle and making implicit and explicit threats, the U.S. has announced the test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 26.

Commenting the announcement, David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), said: “When it comes to missile testing, the U.S. is operating with a clear double standard: It views its own tests as justified and useful, while it views the tests of North Korea as threatening and destabilizing.”

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 24 April 2017

Photo: Veterans for Peace members at January 2009 protest vs. Israeli attacks on Gaza. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Accused of 'Blithely Ignoring' NPT Obligations

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Veterans For Peace (VFP) has strongly criticised the U.S. refusal to take part in negotiations at the United Nations to ban nuclear weapons and accused it of "efforts to derail the ongoing" talks to "reach an agreement on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons."

VFP believes that it would be "diplomatically more prudent" to use the UN talks "as an opportunity to engage Iran and North Korea in discussions to determine if there is some common ground on which to proceed and lessen tensions in the Middle East and the Far East."

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 21 April 2017

Photo: Anti-war protest against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. on April 24, 1971. The Vietnam War had already been going on for a number of years when President Lyndon Johnson decided he wanted to ratchet up the fighting. In August 1964 a fictitious event was manufactured. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Administrations' Long List of Distortions and Lies

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Are our governments economical with the truth, if not maliciously misleading? Do governments the world over lie? Of course yes, because there are always occasions when realpolitik appears to demand it.

Most recently, many are arguing, we have seen an attempt to obfuscate the truth when President Donald Trump ordered missiles to be fired at an airbase in Syria in, he said, retaliation for an attack using sarin gas by the Syrian government on unarmed civilians. Critics blame the rebels.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 11 April 2017

Photo: An U.S Air Force KC-10 Extender refuels an F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft prior to strike operations in Syria, Sept. 26, 2014. These aircraft were part of a strike package that was engaging ISIL targets in Syria. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Russ Scalf)

Trump Shows His Muscles

Analysis by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

LISBON (IDN) – Not knowing what will happen next, commenting in the immediate wake of the U.S. missile attack on the Shayrat airbase in Syria on the night of April 7 is risky but not sterile, at least to try to understand a bit more than the pre-packaged "petty lessons" of the mouthpieces of the United States, in Italy and elsewhere, were quick to recite.

Coincidentally, the muscular display of [U.S. President Donald] Trump comes shortly after the publication by IDN of an article the essence of which was the substantial uselessness of international law, given that the great powers violate it continually

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 11 April 2017

Photo: President Donald Trump (right) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) at joint press conference on February 15. 2017. Credit: Whitehouse.gov

How U.S. Policies Are Perpetuating Wars

Viewpoint by Ann Wright*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - Fourteen years ago on March 19, 2003, I resigned from the U.S. government in opposition to President George W. Bush’s decision to invade and occupy Iraq, an oil-rich Arab/Muslim country that had nothing to do with the events of September 11, 2001, and that the Bush Administration knew did not have weapons of mass destruction.

In my letter of resignation, I wrote of my deep concerns about Bush’s decision to attack Iraq and the predictable large number of civilian casualties from that military attack. But I also detailed my concerns on other issues: the lack of U.S. effort on resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. failure to engage North Korea to curb nuclear and missile development, and the curtailment of civil liberties in the United States through the Patriot Act.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 April 2017

Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump signing the "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States" order, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence (left) and Secretary of Defense James Mattis (right). Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Peace Is Possible Without Perpetuating Militarization

Viewpoint by Veterans For Peace

Veterans for Peace, an international organization made up of military veterans, military family members, and allies, calls for a reduction in the Pentagon budget and an increase in spending to meet human needs at home and abroad. This statement originally appeared on the organization's website.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (IDN-INPS) - As military veterans from WWII to the current era of conflicts, who have trained for, and in many cases, fought in U.S. wars, we know that current U.S. policies have not only failed to bring peace but are morally bankrupt.

Veterans For Peace has called for a different approach than war to demonstrate power and strength and prevent and end violent conflict. For the past thirty-two years, we have called for the abolishment of war as an instrument of national policy.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 April 2017

Photo: A view of United Nations Headquarters complex in New York City as seen from the Visitors’ Entrance. Credit: UN Photo | Yubi Hoffmann.

UN Is Committed to Reform But Warns of Abrupt Funding Cuts

By J Nastranis

This is the first in a series of reports analysing U.S. policy towards multilateralism in general and the UN in particular. - The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – While United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed strong disapproval of President Donald Trump's plans to slash funding to the world Organization, an eminent Jewish leader has warned that the budget proposal embodies "dangerous bias against diplomacy, hurts Americans and Israelis".

The scathing criticism comes from Jeremy Ben-Ami, President of 'J Street', "the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans who want Israel to be secure, democratic and the national home of the Jewish people".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 16 March 2017

Photo: Rex Tillerson at his confirmation hearing on January 11, 2017. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Trump Administration May Downgrade Human Rights Issues

By Rodney Reynolds

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) - There is widespread speculation in the U.S. capital that the Trump administration may play down human rights violations worldwide and even withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The speculation has been prompted by several factors, including a proposed 37 percent cut in the annual State Department budget, a low-profiled release of the annual U.S. human Rights Report on March 3 (with no briefings, breaking traditions, by the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) and his refusal to condemn the civilian killings ordered by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duarte, during Senate confirmation hearings.

: Rodney Reynolds; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 13 March 2017

Graphic: Created 20 November 2005 the graphic shows relative sizes of various types of nuclear weapons. Clockwise from upper left: a Fat Man (MK-IV) bomb similar to the type dropped on Nagasaki, Japan; a MK-17 hydrogen bomb of the sort detonated at the Castle Bravo test; a W-87 warhead inside its re-entry vehicle (see MIRV, LGM-118A Peacekeeper); and a W-59 warhead used on the early Minuteman missiles. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Key to Realizing Trump’s Nuclear Dream is the CTBT

Viewpoint by Brenna Gautam

Note: Brenna Gautam, a J.D. Candidate at Georgetown University Law Center, is a member of the CTBTO Youth Group. This article appears in cooperation with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), as part of the initiative ‘Youth for CTBTO’. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the CTBTO. - Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) - "It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes,” President Donald Trump announced, “but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack."

The announcement can be neatly split in two. The first, wistful for nuclear disarmament, falls in line with the history of Republican successes in arms reductions: while Democrats since Kennedy have frequently proposed reductions, it has been Republican administrations that ultimately put these into effect.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 10 March 2017

Photo: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe about US President Donald Trump: "When it comes to Donald Trump ... talking of American nationalism, well America for America, America for Americans – on that we agree. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans; Give him time; Mr Trump might even re-look at the sanctions on Zimbabwe.” Credit: IDN-INPS collage.

Trump in the White House Worries Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) – Sitting in front of a heap of damaged shoes waiting to be mended, 32-year-old Evans Tirivangani, a graduate in accountancy but forced to work as a cobbler because of lack of job opportunities, is anything but convinced that the arrival of a new president in the White House will mark a change in his, and his country’s, prospects.

“We had always had hope since the time Barrack Obama came into power in the United States about a decade ago; we thought he was going to make so much noise about the dictatorship that has damaged our country, but 37 years after our country gained independence, we are still suffering and as you can see, I’m a cobbler even with my degree,” Tirivangani, who plies his trade in a makeshift shed by the roadside in Mabvuku, a high density suburb of Harare, told IDN.