Politics

On June 5, 2010, thousands of people across the world will take part in coordinated local events to mark Nuclear Abolition Day. The message is simple: it’s time for governments to begin negotiating a Nuclear Weapons Convention to ban all nuclear weapons.
In some countries, protests will take place outside government buildings or at nuclear facilities.

UN Secretary-General remarks to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament:
“Ten years ago, the NPT Review Conference described the total elimination of nuclear arsenals as “the only guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons”. Ten years on, I urge you to help to make disarmament a truly global cause”.

The Frente Nacional de Prefeitos (FNP) joined Mayors for Peace during their General Meeting held in Florianopolis, south of Brazil, on April 26 and 27th. In the motion adopted by the FNP the Brazilian Association of Local Governments encourages its members to join individually. During the conference 29 Brazilian Mayors were welcomed as new members.

The leader of the Colombian Green Party, Antanas Mockus, reached a technical tie in popularity rating with his most dangerous rival in the presidential race, and stated his goal is to win in first electoral round. A poll by the National Consultancy Center and CM News revealed that Mockus has climbed considerably in voting intentions.

Call it perfect timing or a sheer historical coincidence; be it because they feel caught between the Israeli nuclear hammer and the Iranian might-be atomic anvil or just because they truly want it, the fact is that the leaders of 22 Arab countries have launched an unprecedented massive and pressing call to free the world from nuclear weapons.

“If we talk about deactivating something that has already expired, it makes no sense. I have a medicine cabinet at home from which I remove expired medicines. Unless we talk seriously about disarmament we cannot accept that there are countries that are armed to the teeth and others that are unarmed”, said the President of Brazil regarding the new USA and Russia agreement.

Now that nuclear arsenals reduction is much in the news, the US and Russia have agreed to downsize their stockpiles by 30% and 22 Arab countries called for a nuke-free world, it’s time to ask how many countries have decided to eliminate the threat of a devastating nuclear war and consequently managed to liberate themselves from the most atrocious weapons of mass destruction.

Two Hollywood film-makers joined a queen from the Middle East and a computer multimillionaire along with diplomats from the United States in order to demand from world leaders meeting next week in the United States a world without nuclear weapons. The promoters of the film say “our only choice is eradicating every last missile”

The victory of the right in last elections in Chile has stirred reflections on the crisis of the left. Of the 15 countries in Europe that had leftist governments in 1992, only 5 do today, and of these 3
-Portugal, Spain, and Greece- presently find themselves in grave financial and social difficulty. For people under 50 it is hard to grasp how deep the roots of this crisis go.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament described today’s United States’ Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) as timid, with the modest advances not living up to the ambitious goals the Obama administration has set itself.
“We had hoped this review would mark a sea-change in US nuclear policy. The result is markedly disappointing”, Kate Hudson, Chair of the CND, said.