CND's Press Round-Up - 4th August 2021
Posted: 4th August 2021
Please find our daily press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.
Nuclear Weapons
Discussion between North and South Korea raise the spectre of sanctions relief whilst parts of the old Mapai-supporting Israeli press signal dissent with the country’s longer-term approach to Iran.
North Korea Sanctions
The Guardian reports that the North Korean leadership is demanding the easing of sanctions as the price to be paid for returning to denuclearisation talks. The South Korean intelligence agency claims that the North is distributing rice supplies which it has stored for years in the expectation of war. Descalation hotlines allowing senior officials from the two countries, which had been inactive for more than a year, were restarted last week. The U.S. State Department has said that it is willing to hold discussions with North Korea ‘anytime, anywhere, without preconditions’. North Korea last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2017.
Israel – Iran Relations
The Israeli paper Ha’retz carries an opinion piece examining how Iranian strategy has responded to what the columnist views as extremely belligerent Israeli actions. Zvi Bar’el argues that direct Iranian attacks on Israeli maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean mark a strategic departure from the past. He points to no fewer than five major instances of Israeli sabotage against nuclear and engineering facilities in Iran since the start of the year as having provoked the change. The author concludes by saying that the Israeli sabotage campaign ‘did not and cannot destroy the tremendous know-how that Iran has accumulated, the enriched uranium and the motivation to develop nuclear weapons. The only guarantee we have at the moment for postponing the Iranian nuclear threat is a renewal of the original nuclear treaty, on which the United States and the signatory countries are working’.
Anti-war
Intense fighting continues in Afghanistan.
War in Afghanistan
The Afghan national army has launched a counter-offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province, according to Al Jazeera. The action might point to greater resilience on the part of the Afghan security forces, which are larger and better armed than the Taliban but have been consistently out-fought since the latter launched an offensive in May. Bombings in Kabul remain a part of the Taliban’s tactics, forcing the national government to concentrate resources in the capital.
Nuclear Power
Elements of the U.S. military-industrial complex want Joe Biden to invest more in nuclear research technology.
Nuclear Power – USA
In an article for the U.S. conservative intellectual journal The National Interest, a retired senior general and a retired senior diplomat argue that the U.S. must invest heavily in the development of the Versatile Test Reactor, if it is to claim ‘the mantle of global leadership in advanced nuclear technologies’. They suggest that, at present, Russia is poised to develop a competitive advantage in the commercialisation and export of advanced nuclear technologies. They point out that if the U.S. loses its market dominant role, it ‘will lose its ability to influence global nuclear safety and nonproliferation standards’. The early stages of Joe Biden’s presidency have been marked by attempts to onshore sensitive technological production, with the shadow of perceived Chinese competition frequently invoked as its rationale.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Discussion between North and South Korea raise the spectre of sanctions relief whilst parts of the old Mapai-supporting Israeli press signal dissent with the country’s longer-term approach to Iran.
North Korea Sanctions
The Guardian reports that the North Korean leadership is demanding the easing of sanctions as the price to be paid for returning to denuclearisation talks. The South Korean intelligence agency claims that the North is distributing rice supplies which it has stored for years in the expectation of war. Descalation hotlines allowing senior officials from the two countries, which had been inactive for more than a year, were restarted last week. The U.S. State Department has said that it is willing to hold discussions with North Korea ‘anytime, anywhere, without preconditions’. North Korea last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2017.
Israel – Iran Relations
The Israeli paper Ha’retz carries an opinion piece examining how Iranian strategy has responded to what the columnist views as extremely belligerent Israeli actions. Zvi Bar’el argues that direct Iranian attacks on Israeli maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean mark a strategic departure from the past. He points to no fewer than five major instances of Israeli sabotage against nuclear and engineering facilities in Iran since the start of the year as having provoked the change. The author concludes by saying that the Israeli sabotage campaign ‘did not and cannot destroy the tremendous know-how that Iran has accumulated, the enriched uranium and the motivation to develop nuclear weapons. The only guarantee we have at the moment for postponing the Iranian nuclear threat is a renewal of the original nuclear treaty, on which the United States and the signatory countries are working’.
Anti-war
Intense fighting continues in Afghanistan.
War in Afghanistan
The Afghan national army has launched a counter-offensive against the Taliban in Helmand province, according to Al Jazeera. The action might point to greater resilience on the part of the Afghan security forces, which are larger and better armed than the Taliban but have been consistently out-fought since the latter launched an offensive in May. Bombings in Kabul remain a part of the Taliban’s tactics, forcing the national government to concentrate resources in the capital.
Nuclear Power
Elements of the U.S. military-industrial complex want Joe Biden to invest more in nuclear research technology.
Nuclear Power – USA
In an article for the U.S. conservative intellectual journal The National Interest, a retired senior general and a retired senior diplomat argue that the U.S. must invest heavily in the development of the Versatile Test Reactor, if it is to claim ‘the mantle of global leadership in advanced nuclear technologies’. They suggest that, at present, Russia is poised to develop a competitive advantage in the commercialisation and export of advanced nuclear technologies. They point out that if the U.S. loses its market dominant role, it ‘will lose its ability to influence global nuclear safety and nonproliferation standards’. The early stages of Joe Biden’s presidency have been marked by attempts to onshore sensitive technological production, with the shadow of perceived Chinese competition frequently invoked as its rationale.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament