Category Archives: DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Hiroshima Peace Declaration 2023

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the City of Hiroshima

Every year on August 6, the City of Hiroshima holds a Peace Memorial Ceremony to pray for the peaceful repose of the victims, for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and for lasting world peace. During that ceremony, the Mayor issues a Peace Declaration directed toward the world at large. As long as the need persists, Hiroshima’s mayor will continue to issue these declarations calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. This is part of Hiroshima’s effort to build a world of genuine and lasting world peace where no population will ever again experience the cruel devastation suffered by Hiroshima and Nagasaki.


Video de la Declaration par mayor Matsui

Peace Declaration (2023)

“I want the leaders of all countries with nuclear weapons to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, using their own eyes and ears, learn the realities of the atomic bombings―the lives lost in an instant, the bodies charred by heat rays; lives lost in agony from burns and radiation, tended to by no one. I want them standing here to feel the full weight of the countless lives lost.” The hibakusha making this plea was eight years old when the bomb exploded 78 years ago. He always remembered that day as a living hell.

The heads of state who attended the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May this year visited the Peace Memorial Museum, spoke with hibakusha, and wrote messages in the guestbook. Their messages provide proof that hibakusha pleas have reached them. As they stood before the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, I conveyed the Spirit of Hiroshima underlying its inscription. Enduring past grief, overcoming hatred, we yearn for genuine world peace with all humanity living in harmony and prosperity. I believe our spirit is now engraved in their hearts. And in this spirit, the first G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament reaffirms their “commitment to the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all,” and declares that their “security policies are based on the understanding that nuclear weapons, for as long as they exist, should serve defensive purposes….”

However, leaders around the world must confront the reality that nuclear threats now being voiced by certain policymakers reveal the folly of nuclear deterrence theory. They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world. In civil society, each of us must embrace the generosity and love for humanity embodied in the hibakusha message, “No one else should ever suffer as we have.” It will be increasingly important for us to urge policymakers to abandon nuclear deterrence in favor of a peaceful world that refuses to compromise individual dignity and security.

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(Click here for a version in French.)

Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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Mahatma Gandhi, who pursued independence for his native India through absolute nonviolence, asserted, “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.” The Un General Assembly has adopted, as a formal document, a Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. To end the current war as quickly as possible, the leaders of nations should act in accordance with Gandhi’s assertion and the Programme of Action, with civil society rising up in response.

To that end, it will be vital to build a social environment in which our dreams and hopes come alive in our daily lives through contact with or participation in music, art, sports, and other activities that transcend language, nationality, creed, and gender. And to create that social environment, let us promote initiatives to instill the culture of peace everywhere. If we do, elected officials, who need the support of the people, will surely work with us toward a peaceful world.

The City of Hiroshima, together with more than 8,200 member cities of Mayors for Peace in 166 countries and regions, intends to promote the culture of peace globally through citizen-level exchange. Our goal is an environment in which our united desire for peace can reach the hearts of policymakers, helping to build an international community that maintains peace without relying on military force. We will continue to expand our programs to convey the realities of the atomic bombings to young people around the world so they can acquire the hibakusha’s passion for peace, spread it beyond national borders, and pass it on to future generations.

I ask all policymakers to follow in the footsteps of the leaders who attended the G7 Hiroshima Summit by visiting Hiroshima and sharing widely their desire for peace. I urge them to immediately cease all nuclear threats and turn toward a security regime based on trust through dialogue in pursuit of civil society ideals.

I further urge the national government to heed the wishes of the hibakusha and the peace-loving Japanese people by reconciling the differences between nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states. Japan must immediately join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Tpnw) and establish common ground for discussions on nuclear weapons abolition by attending, at least as an observer, the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Tpnw to be held in November this year. The average age of the hibakusha now exceeds 85. The lives of many are still impaired by radiation’s harmful effects on mind and body. Thus, I demand that the Japanese government alleviate their suffering through stronger support measures.

Today, at this Peace Memorial Ceremony commemorating 78 years since the bombing, we offer heartfelt condolences to the souls of the atomic bomb victims. Together with Nagasaki and likeminded people around the world, we pledge to do everything in our power to abolish nuclear weapons and light the way toward lasting world peace.

August 6, 2023
Matsui Kazumi

Mayor

The City of Hiroshima

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia

Russia-Africa Summit Held Amid Worsening Global Security Situation

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Abayomi Azikiwe of the Pan-African News Wire as published by Transcend Media Service

Despite the tremendous pressure by the western imperialist governments placed upon the African Union (AU) member-states and the Russian Federation, the second Russia-Africa Summit was held on July 27-28 in St. Petersburg. Many of the African heads-of-state present came from the leading countries across the continent of 1.4 billion people.

(Editor’s note: According to Transcend, “African Union member-states put forward their peace plan for ending the conflict in Ukraine and received a positive response from Moscow.” And according to Al Jazeera, Russian President Putin said that the African proposal could be the basis for peace in the Ukraine.


Frame from the officlal video of the Summit

Heads-of-state such as Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, Adel-Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, Felipe Nyusi of Mozambique, Macky Sall of Senegal, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, among others, were present and intensely engaged in the proceedings. The Summit consisted of open plenary sessions along with one-on-one meetings between African leaders and President Vladimir Putin.

Media reports in the United States made much of the fact that 17 heads-of-state attended the Russia-Africa Summit compared to 43 at the previous meeting in 2019. However, there were 49 delegations which attended representing a majority of African governments on official ministerial levels as well as regional organizations such as the African Union (AU), Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the New Development Bank (NDB), headed by former Brazil President Dilma Rousseff.

The Summit took place during an intensification of the military conflict in eastern and southern Ukraine as the United States and the European Union (EU) has pledged in excess of $100 billion to continue its efforts to maintain the dominant status of the imperialism throughout the globe. U.S. President Joe Biden has focused heavily on the foreign policy imperatives of weakening the Russian Federation through sanctions and the recruitment of Eastern European states into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In Africa, the impact of the Ukraine war is resulting in high rates of inflation triggered by the shortages in agricultural products. Rising prices and a deteriorating security crisis in several West African states has prompted military interventions in political life and the attempted realignment of domestic and foreign policy away from France and the U.S. towards Russia and China.

This is the first full meeting of the Russia-Africa Summit since the inaugural gathering in 2019. Over the last four years the world underwent a global pandemic whose magnitude has not been experienced for a century. The commencement of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 grew out of the reemergent Cold War initiated by Washington and Wall Street against Russia and the People’s Republic of China.

Over the last year-and-a-half since the beginning of the special military operation, the administration of President Joe Biden has sought to pressure AU member-states to support its position in Ukraine. U.S. Congressional figures drafted a bill designed to punish African states who maintain cordial political and economic relations with Moscow. The government in the Republic of South Africa led by the African National Congress (ANC) was accused by the U.S. ambassador of supplying arms to the Russian Federation to utilize in the Ukraine theater.

Russia has been subjected to widespread sanctions aimed at bringing about the collapse of its economy. During the Summit in St. Petersburg, Putin announced the cancellation of $23 billion in debt owed by African countries.

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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Outcomes of the Russia-Africa Summit   

Consequently, the proceeding of the recent gathering provided an opportunity for both Russia and the AU to present their views on a myriad of issues impacting the international situation. Both the host, President Vladimir Putin and the AU delegates emphasized their interests in building closer relations in the cultural, economic and political spheres.

In a report on the Summit published by Tass news agency it says:

“The global importance of the second Russia-Africa Summit, held in St. Petersburg on July 27-28, continued to reverberate over the weekend. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held meetings with several counterparts from the continent. As well, St. Petersburg native Putin hosted four African leaders at his hometown’s annual Navy Day parade on July 30 along the Neva River, Vedomosti writes. Putin said at his final press conference on July 29 that, ‘in general, the African continent is friendly and positive towards Russia.’ A 74-point declaration was the principal document to come out of the summit, where the signatories spoke out in particular against ethnic and racial discrimination and announced plans to coordinate a range of joint political activities, including within the United Nations Security Council.”

Russia and its relationship with the African continent have been mutually cooperative since the era of the imperialist conquest when the country under the monarchy provided military assistance to Ethiopia during its war against Italy in the late 19th century. During the period of the Soviet Union, the official foreign policy position of Moscow was to aid the national liberation movements struggling for freedom and independence. The post-colonial years in Africa were marked by solidarity with the newly independent states through the granting of educational opportunities, trading projects along with military training.

A continuing pledge of security assistance was made clear during the Summit. In addition, scholarships for education will be enhanced for African students in Russia.

The Russian government acknowledged the legacy of colonialism, imperialism and neo-colonialism and pledged to stand in solidarity with the African people in their struggle for genuine independence and sovereignty.

Testimony by African leaders were recorded in a Tass news report saying that:

“Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera underscored that Russia’s support helped save democracy in his country. ‘Fearing no geopolitical problems, Russia provides aid to our country, our armed forces and security agencies in their fight against terrorist organizations,’ he said. Mali was able to reinforce its armed forces and ensure its security thanks to Russia’s aid, said Interim President Assimi Goita. ‘Mali has a military partnership with Russia, and we thank it for support and friendship. […] The Malian Armed Forces are currently on the offensive; we have significantly reduced the number of [terrorist] attacks on [our] military bases, we were able to ensure security in many places,’ he noted.”

AU Leaders Emphasize Peace Plan

An underlying theme throughout the concluding phase of the Summit was the quest for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine. The withdrawal of Russia from the Black Sea Grain Deal was based on the failure of the imperialist states to lift their sanctions against Moscow.

The actual volume of grain produced and exported by Russia far exceeds that of Ukraine. Putin offered to supply grain to several African states free of charge in an effort to meet the current challenge of burgeoning food insecurity.

Tass summarized the discussions on the African Peace Initiative for Ukraine as follows:

“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that ‘negotiations and dialogue, as well as commitment to the UN Charter are necessary for a peaceful and fair resolution of conflicts.’

‘The African initiative deserves the greatest attention, and it should not be underestimated,’ President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso said, calling to ‘end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This conflict affected the entire world in a negative way, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said. ‘Of course, we are concerned over the grain supply issue,’ he said, adding that it is ‘necessary to immediately and promptly resolve the problem of food shipments to countries in need.’”
Putin reiterated to the African delegations that Russia has been willing to hold constructive negotiations with Ukraine. However, Moscow has been met with refusals by Kiev which is operating at the behest of Washington and the NATO states.

Overall, the Summit further revealed the escalating conflict between the proponents of western imperialist domination and those advocating for a multipolar world system. This ideological and material conflict could very well be resolved in a protracted global conflagration which would portend much for the long-term stability and sustainable development of the majority of peoples and nations of the globe.

Africa, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe,

Ukraine: Saudi Arabia, UN, 40 Other Countries Hold Peace Talk In Jeddah

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article byAbdulyassar Abdulhamid from Daily Trust

National Security Advisors of over 40 countries converged Saturday (August 5) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for consultations and exchange of opinions in order to build a common ground that will pave the way for peace in Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, as tension between the two countries escalated.

The meeting was chaired by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State and Member of the Council of Ministers, National Security Advisor Dr. Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban.

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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During the meeting Dr. Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban said the meeting was a continuation of the efforts by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, has been exerting in this regard since March 2022.

The participant countries agreed on the importance of continuing international consultations and exchanging opinions in order to build a common ground that will pave the way for peace.

They also emphasized the importance of benefiting from views and positive suggestions made during this meeting.

They also commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for calling and hosting the meeting.

The countries and organizations that participated in the meeting include Argentina, the Commonwealth of Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Comoros, Czech, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, and the European Commission.

Others are the European Council, the Finland, France, Germany, India, the Republic of Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Korea, Romania, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the United States of America.

(Editor’s note: A more detailed description of the Jeddah meeting, including Ukraine’s 10-point peace proposal, can be found in an article published by The Guardian, but we have no right to reproduce the article here. Also the Russian news agency TASS quoted the DPA News Agency as saying that Saudi Arabia presented a peace proposal differing from that of the Ukraine. We could not find the DPA source, but it was also quoted by media in Macedonia and Iran.)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, Mideast,

Russian War Opponents: The Diaspora

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An webinar report made available by Nonviolence International

David Cortright’s Notes of Webinar on Russian war opponents Nonviolence International webinar, June 26, 2023

On June 26, Nonviolent International convened a webinar to provide a space for Russians who have fled the war to speak out about the situation of war resisters and evaders today.

Moderated skillfully by American University Professor Barbara Wien, the program featured a report by NVI Ukraine Director Andre Kameshikov, who recently traveled to several of the countries to which Russian war evaders and conscientious objectors have fled.

Kameshikov has worked as a civil peacebuilding activist in conflict zones throughout the ex-USSR, including as the founder of Nonviolence International–CIS, a civil society organization operating in post-Soviet states for 22 years. Andre works from Kyiv with the local civil society sector to support peace and democratic development in Ukraine. He is now focusing on supporting the anti-war diaspora and movement in Russia.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled the war to neighboring countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany. The Russian diaspora consists of three categories: those who were temporarily abroad when the invasion started and did not return, activists in Russia who fled as repression intensified after the invasion, and a large group that left the country at the time of the September 2022 military draft mobilization announcement when hundreds of thousands fled. A conservative estimate of those who fled after the war would be 700,000.

In his travels through the Russian diaspora community, Kameshikov did not meet anyone supportive of Russia’s decision to wage war in Ukraine. Those he met who favor peace said they would like to do something to bring the war to an end.

The first Russian speaker in the webinar was Konstantin Samoilov. He studied in the United States years ago and then returned to Russia to create his own company in thermal electric power production. Now the company he helped to build for 20 years and the entire industry no longer exists. After the war started, he fled to Uzbekistan. His children and family are with him now in Tashkent.

He decided he had to do something to oppose the war. “I consider myself a patriot,” Samoilov said. In working for peace “I found a sense of purpose.”

He is host of the Inside Russia YouTube channel and the creator of the Tashkent International Breakfast Club where Russians and Ukrainians meet to heal and make amends.

There are tens of thousands of fellow Russians in Uzbekistan, Samoilov estimates. He is trying to create a sense of community among them. He has an online digital network of 225,000.

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Questions related to this article:
 
Can the peace movement help stop the war in the Ukraine?

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He and his colleagues are reaching out to Ukrainians. The goal is to have Russians and Ukrainians sitting together to speak out against the war. They want to stop Russian aggression in Ukraine, to promote future transformation of Russia, to help Ukraine, and to create online and offline international communities where repentance, healing, and forgiveness takes place.

Also speaking was Evgeni Lyaman, a 25-year old civil activist from Moscow, now living in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is the founder of Emigration for Action and is a former media literacy trainer, organizer and editor. Some of his colleagues from the organization are still in Russia. He and others left after the February 2022 invasion.

His group is providing medicines for Ukrainian refugees. So far they have helped some 7000 Ukrainian refugees.

He and his colleagues also helped the many Russians who fled to Georgia after the September 2022 mobilization. A massive wave of people flooded the roadways and caused a major backup
at the tunnel on the border between Georgia and Russia.

“We are working to build a large coalition of Russian groups that oppose the war,” he said. In July they will announce the creation of a new initiative of 150 Russian groups around the world. “The world will hear the voice of anti-war Russians.”

Nikita Rakhimov is a psychologist-psychotherapist with eight years of practice. He fled Russia in September, 2022, at the time of the mobilization and is living now in Kazakhstan. He said he and other Russians there are trying to define their identity. “We are not immigrants. We are not refugees,” he said. “What are we?” He said that they are unable to plan for the future. “We can’t imagine a scenario for the end of the war. We want to return to Russia, but we don’t know how or whether that will be possible.”

Rakhimov said that many of the Russians in Kazakhstan have problems of work, finances, and families that are still back in Russia. They are safe now in Kazakhstan, he said, but their status is not secure. Many are trying to find another country to enter. The problem is that they have no travel documents. It was possible to enter Kazakhstan with a Russian internal passport (Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan also accept these internal passports), but few Russians have international travel passports.

Alexei Prokhorenko also spoke. He said he is a Reserve Lieutenant in the army but did not support the war. He described the atmosphere of fear in Russia after the invasion began. “I posted anti-war stickers in the subways and on buildings, but I was afraid of being arrested.” When the September 2022 mobilization occurred, he saw government authorities grabbing people randomly off the streets, and he decided to leave. “I fled to Istanbul and then got a humanitarian visa to enter Poland.”

He said that the diaspora community in Warsaw is small and not very active. “The Russian community here is atomized,” he said. There is a great deal of apathy and fear.

He also said there is “a problem with the perception of Russians here and in the West.” There is a great deal of animosity towards all Russians. “We need people to discern between Russians who support the war and those who oppose it.”

As Kameshikov said at the end of the webinar, “tens of millions of Russians oppose the war. We need to set up communications networks among them in order to share critical perspectives on the war with the people of Russia.” We also need to communicate with the rest of the world to urge support for Russian war resisters and evaders.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

US prelates lead ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ to Japan seeking abolition of nuclear weapons

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by John Lavenburg in Crux

A “Pilgrimage of Peace” to Japan led by two U.S. archbishops will soon depart, with advocacy for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide and for the creation of a peaceful global environment chief among their priorities.

Led by Archbishops John Wester of Santa Fe and Paul Etienne of Seattle, and joined by organizations and archdiocesan officials dedicated to nuclear disarmament advocacy, the delegation also hopes to strengthen ties with the bishops of Japan.


John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe, speaking at a recent forum held by Department of Energy officials at the Santa Fe Convention Center. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

“During this Pilgrimage of Peace to Japan, I hope to encourage conversation about universal, verifiable nuclear disarmament and walk together towards a new future of peace, a new promised land of peace, a new culture of peace and nonviolence where we all might learn to live in peace as sisters and brothers on this beautiful planet, our common home,” Wester said in a statement.

Etienne, in a statement of his own, added that to build a community where humanity can flourish, it’s important to “keep educating ourselves, praying for peace, and appealing for verifiable nuclear disarmament, which reflects Catholic teaching and is the path for the common good.”

The delegation will depart for the pilgrimage on July 31, with an itinerary that includes stops in Tokyo, Akita, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. They will return to the States on August 12. The trip is funded by grants and personal contributions; according to organizers, no diocesan funds were used.

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

Religion: a barrier or a way to peace?, What makes it one or the other?

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The trip follows a May open letter from Wester, Etienne, Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki and Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Nagasaki, where they implored leaders of the Group of Seven countries to take concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament.

The letter came as G7 leaders met in Japan from May 19-21. Out of that meeting leaders from the G7 countries committed to working towards a world absent of nuclear weapons, and called on Russia, Iran, China and North Korea to cease nuclear escalation. Beyond the joint statement in support of nuclear disarmament, G7 leaders took no concrete steps towards that goal.

As of 2022, Russia and the United States have far and away the largest nuclear arsenals. According to data published in March by the Federation of American Scientists, Russia and the United States have 5,899 and 5,244 nuclear warheads, respectively. Third on the list is China with 410, followed by France (290), the United Kingdom (225), Pakistan (170), and India (164). No other country has an arsenal of more than 90 nuclear warheads, the data shows.

Both the Santa Fe and Seattle archdioceses, led by Wester and Etienne, have ties to nuclear weapons. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe is the U.S. diocese with the most spending on nuclear weapons per capita, and contains two weapons laboratories and the nation’s largest nuclear weapons depository. The Archdiocese of Seattle is the U.S. diocese that has deployed the most strategic weapons.

Meanwhile, two of the dioceses the delegation will visit on the pilgrimage, the Dioceses of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are the only two dioceses in the world that have suffered from atomic attacks when the United States bombed both cities during World War II.

As part of the pilgrimage to Japan, the delegation will pray a novena for peace from August 1 to August 9, the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki in 1945.

Wester has been especially outspoken about the need for nuclear disarmament in recent years, prompted both by a 2017 trip he took to Japan, and the reality of his diocese’s involvement in the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal. In his statement on the upcoming pilgrimage, he said he holds out hope that one day nuclear threats can be a thing of the past.

“I hope one day, we will stop building these weapons, disarm our state and our world, and embark on a new future without the fear and terror of the nuclear threat,” Wester said.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia, North America,

11th World Peace Forum held in Beijing

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article in PR Newswire from china.org.cn

The 11th World Peace Forum, organized by Tsinghua University and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, concluded in Beijing on July 3. The forum, themed “Stabilizing an Unstable World through Consensus and Cooperation,” gathered former political leaders, diplomatic envoys, experts, and scholars from around the world to shed light on promoting world peace and win-win cooperation.


China’s Vice President Han Zheng delivers a keynote speech at the 11th World Peace Forum opening ceremony on July 3, 2023.

China’s Vice President Han Zheng delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony. Han said that in the face of profound changes in the international situation, China has put forward a series of major initiatives, such as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, constantly enriching the connotation and practical path of the concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, and injecting strong positive energy into world peace and development.

Han stressed that Chinese modernization follows the path of peaceful development, and China will unswervingly advocate, build and uphold world peace.

The future lies in dialogue and consultation

In the panel discussion titled “Security in the Asia-Pacific: Challenges and Solutions,” Singapore’s Ambassador to China, Peter Tan, emphasized the importance of dialogue and consultation when discussing Sino-U.S. relations. “It is, therefore, in our view, critical for China and the United States to have regular, peaceful, and constructive engagements. This will help stabilize the relationship,” he said.

Tan believed that the two countries should maintain open and effective channels of communication and interaction, whether conducted in the public domain or behind closed doors. Tan said that dialogue is the basis for building mutual understanding and bridging differences.

Pankaj Saran, former deputy national security advisor for strategic affairs of India, proposed during the same panel discussion that countries should address issues through dialogue and negotiation rather than force, abide by the rules-based order, and respect sovereignty and territorial integrity to foster interconnectivity.

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Questions for this article:

Does China promote a culture of peace?

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During the panel discussion titled “Major-Power Collaboration in Managing Global Problems,” Jia Qingguo, a professor from the School of International Studies at Peking University, underscored the importance of consultation and dialogue in managing major-country relations. Jia noted that encouraging dialogue and negotiation to find common political solutions is especially crucial to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.

We must allow those pragmatic and kind people to make their voices heard in international exchanges and interactions, and they have to join together to deal with some extremist voices in the international arena, Jia said.

Multilateralism needs to deliver mutual benefits and win-win results

The world today is undergoing complex and profound changes. How can we restore stability to this unstable world through harmonious and multilateral cooperation? How should multilateralism adapt to the realities and needs of the 21st-century international system?

Igor Ivanov, president of the Russian International Affairs Council and former secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, underscored the importance of multilateralism at the major plenary session titled “The Evolution of Multilateralism.” According to Ivanov, multilateralism serves as a mechanism for fostering more open and transparent international relations and for interactions between countries with different political systems, ideologies, histories, and cultures. The multilateralism of the 21st century can only be universal and effective if it is suitable for a world of value, political and economic pluralism, Ivanov said.

In addition, countries must learn to recognize the equality of all actors in the multilateral format to achieve mutual benefits and win-win results. “Cooperation can be successful if it is mutually beneficial, meaning that it can prove its effectiveness of multilateralism for the individual actors in the international system,” Ivanov said.

Multilateralism also took center stage in a panel discussion about climate change. Siddharth Chatterjee, the U.N. development system resident coordinator in China, pointed out that the world is facing unprecedented risks due to climate change that extend beyond the environmental sphere. Only multilateralism can effectively address this crisis and ensure a sustainable existence for future generations.

Global cooperation is required to mitigate these risks and aid vulnerable regions. This necessitates a commitment to multilateralism, as no single country can resolve the climate crisis on its own, added Chatterjee.

This year marked the first in-person edition of the forum in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The forum consisted of four major panel discussion sessions and 20 panel discussions, covering topics such as the international order, relationships between major countries, the evolution of multilateralism, nuclear non-proliferation, and artificial intelligence security.

The forum attracted worldwide attention, bringing together more than 150 journalists from more than 50 countries.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, East Asia, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

‘A Terrible Mistake’: Key Dems in US Oppose Biden’s Move to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Kenny Stancil in Common Dreams (reprinted under license Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Several high-ranking House Democrats have joined human rights groups in expressing dismay over President Joe Biden's decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions—weapons that more than 120 countries have banned due to their devastating and long-lasting impacts on civilians.


Biden on Friday defended his move to send cluster bombs to Ukraine as part of a new $800 million weapons package, tellingCNN it was "a very difficult decision" made because "Ukrainians are running out of ammunition" needed to stave off Russia's invasion.

Biden's comments came after top Democrats on the House Rules Committee and the panels that fund the Pentagon and State Department denounced the White House in rare statements broadcasting discord within the president's party.

"The decision by the Biden administration to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine is unnecessary and a terrible mistake," said Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. "The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and expensive cleanup generations after their use."

"These weapons should be eliminated from our stockpiles, not dumped in Ukraine," she added.

"The Biden administration will probably think twice when the pictures start coming back of children who have been harmed by American-made cluster munitions."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said that he continues "to strongly support helping Ukraine stand up to Russia's brutal war of aggression."

"But cluster munitions won't help," he stressed. "They are indiscriminate weapons that disperse hundreds of bomblets which can travel far beyond military targets and injure, maim, and kill civilians—often long after a conflict is over. I urge President Biden to listen to our NATO allies, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain, who oppose sending cluster munitions to Ukraine for the same reasons."

One hundred twenty-three nations—including 23 of NATO's 31 members—have joined the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits all production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of the weapons. The treaty entered force nearly 13 years ago, but the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine have yet to sign it.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday published a report detailing the catastrophic effects that cluster bombs with exceptionally high bomblet failure rates used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war last year have already had and will have in the years ahead. Mary Wareham, the organization's acting arms director, said that "both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more."

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, said Thursday that she was "alarmed" Biden was even "considering sending cluster bombs to Ukraine." She pointed out that more than three dozen human rights and anti-war organizations had urged Biden in June to "remain steadfast" in opposing any transfer of the widely condemned weapons despite growing calls from congressional Republicans and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to send them to Kyiv.

U.S.-made cluster munitions have been used around the world for decades—including during Washington's wars on Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—unleashing widespread destruction and littering landscapes with unexploded ordnance that still endangers unsuspecting civilians and hinders socioeconomic development generations later. HRW has documented how U.S.-made cluster bombs continue to cause grievous harm in various countries, including Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen.

The subcommittee Lee previously chaired has long blocked the transfer of cluster munitions, which were last exported from the U.S. in 2015. Although the U.S. destroyed roughly 3.7 million cluster bombs from 2008 to 2017 and they are no longer produced by any U.S. companies, the Pentagon is estimated to still possess about 3.7 million "obsolete" cluster bombs containing over 300 million submunitions.

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Questions for this article:

Can cluster bombs be abolished?

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As Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball explained Thursday: "In 2008, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued an order to phase out by 2018 cluster munitions with an unexploded ordnance rate of greater than 1%… [and] in 2011, the Obama administration affirmed this policy."

"The Pentagon has, unfortunately, dragged its feet and in 2017 the Trump administration announced the 2018 deadline for phasing out non-compliant cluster munitions would not be met," said Kimball. "No new deadline for meeting that goal was set by the Trump administration or the Biden administration."

In December, Lee and McGovern were among the 11 Democratic members of Congress who wrote in a letter to Biden that the U.S. "should be leading the global effort to rid the world of these weapons, not continuing to stockpile them."

Congress has passed legislation forbidding the export of cluster bombs that leave behind more than 1% of their submunitions as "duds." However, Biden is using a rarely invoked provision of the Foreign Assistance Act to bypass the restriction on so-called "national security" grounds, increasing the chances that Ukrainian neighborhoods and farms will be polluted with de facto landmines. Ukraine is already facing a multibillion-dollar cleanup effort, de-mining experts say.

According toThe Washington Post:

The principal weapon under consideration, an M864 artillery shell first produced in 1987, is fired from the 155mm howitzers the United States and other Western countries have provided Ukraine. In its last publicly available estimate, more than 20 years ago, the Pentagon assessed that artillery shell to have a “dud” rate of 6%, meaning that at least four of each of the 72 submunitions each shell carries would remain unexploded across an area of approximately 22,500 square meters—roughly the size of 4½ football fields. . . . The Pentagon now says it has new assessments, based on testing as recent as 2020, with failure rates no higher than 2.35%. While that exceeds the limit of 1% mandated by Congress every year since 2017, officials are ‘carefully selecting’ munitions with the 2.35% dud rate or below for transfer to Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday.

"It's dismaying to see the long-established 1% unexploded ordnance standard for cluster munitions rolled back as this will result in more duds, which means an even greater threat to civilians, including de-miners," Wareham told the newspaper.

"The lack of transparency on how this number was reached is disappointing and seems unprecedented," she added.

As Politico reported:

Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon official and military adviser at PAX Protection of Civilians, a Dutch NGO, noted that the actual dud rates in the field are much higher than those recorded during tests “conducted under perfect and unrealistic conditions.”

Comments from U.S. officials defending the decision do not allay the fears of many in the community, Garlasco said, expressing skepticism about the Pentagon’s latest test data showing lower dud rates.

Arms control advocates who were on a call with administration officials on Friday said that despite claims the cluster munitions being sent would have lower dud rates, there were no details about the types and sources of the cluster munitions the U.S. plans to send.

Congressional Democrats' December letter urging Biden to join the majority of the world's countries in outlawing cluster bombs was also signed by Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

On Thursday, Jacobs and Omar introduced an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act recently approved by the House Armed Services Committee that would prevent the sale or transfer of cluster munitions.

Jacobs, Lee, McGovern, and Omar are all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. But even some hawkish Democrats such as Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania are not hiding their disgust with Biden's about-face.

"There are some who will say that these weapons are necessary to level the battlefield given Russia's reported use of them," said Houlahan, co-chair of the bipartisan Unexploded Ordnance and Demining Caucus.

"I challenge the notion that we should employ the same tactics Russia is using, blurring the lines of moral high ground," she continued. "And I challenge all of us to remember that this war will end, and the broken pieces of Ukraine will need to be rebuilt."

Biden's move was praised by John Bolton, a notorious warmonger who has served in every GOP-led White House since the Reagan administration. It was also welcomed by some congressional Republicans, including far-right Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), whose only complaint was that "it took too long."

Sarah Yager, HRW's Washington director, toldThe Hill that those "legislators, policymakers, and the Biden administration will probably think twice when the pictures start coming back of children who have been harmed by American-made cluster munitions.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Global Women for Peace United Against NATO

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

A Declaration for Peace from Women against NATO

As NATO prepares for its upcoming summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11th and 12th, the peace movement is organizing internationally. We are organising protests – and as well as saying No to NATO, we are saying Yes to peace, presenting alternatives to war, and a new vision of security.

In March, many women got together online, from across the world, to present an action plan: to ensure women’s mobilization on this crucial issue. We call ourselves Global Women for Peace United Against NATO and we have produced a Declaration for Peace, outlining our message of peace, justice, solidarity, and common security.


As part of the international protests, we are organizing a programme of events in Brussels, home of the NATO headquarters. This will take place from July 6th to 9th; there will be meetings, debates, seminars, and street actions – and much of it will be available online as well as in person. Find the programme here.

Please join us however you can – and help us expand participation, especially from those living in NATO states, or in NATO ‘partner’ countries. The events are women-led but we welcome all who are against NATO to participate.

The Declaration, together with the names and affiliations of the first signatories can be found on this page. Click here to find the Declaration translated into many languages. More are being added all the time.

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Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

Can NATO be abolished?

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The Declaration and list of signatories will be sent to the NATO headquarters, NATO members and partners, and their parliaments, together with the EU Commission and members of the European Parliament. We will make sure our voices are heard – our voices for peace and justice.

Will you join us?

Will you sign now?

Let’s build this movement for peace together!

LIST OF SIGNATORIES FROM 37 COUNTRIES

CONTACTS

Women for Peace Finland:

Ulla Klotzer: ullaklotzer[at]yahoo.com
Lea Launokari: lea.launokari[at]nettilinja.fi

WILPF USA:

George Friday: geo4realdem[at]gmail.com
Nancy Price: nancytprice39[at]gmail.com 

CND UK:

Kate Hudson: kate.hudson[at]cnduk.org

VREDE vzw BELGIUM:

Emmelien Lievens: emmelien[at]vrede.be (especially for media and press)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe, WOMEN'S EQUALITY

France: For an Emergency Plan to Overcome the Crisis

… DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY …

A declaration of the Groupe parlementaire La France insoumise -NUPES & La France insoumise (translation by CPNN)

The death of young Nahel on the morning of June 27 in Nanterre triggered a wave of emotion and anger in the country. It has also acted as a spark, triggering a revolt in many cities across the country, which urgently demands a political response.

Faced with this situation, the government has locked itself into an escalation of verbal security that only serves to worsen the situation. They shirk their own responsibility and target rebellious France to hide their incompetence and inability to act. At the same time, they give up looking for a way out of the crisis, and they abandon the victims of damage to public property, housing and businesses essential to daily life.

We advocate no strategy of violence, but we demand that the causes of the situation be addressed because the problems are not new. For working-class neighborhoods, racism, police violence or discrimination in access to employment or housing are the daily lot of the inhabitants. The destruction of public services, social protections and associative solidarity, due to neoliberal austerity policies, has been going on for decades. For there to be harmony, strong actions are needed on the part of the government which, today as yesterday, are absent. Since the revolts of 2005, there has been no response.

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(click here for the original French version)

Question for this article:

Where are police being trained in culture of peace?

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Restoring trust is all the more difficult since the government has distinguished itself in recent years by its inability to deal with popular demands by any means other than contempt and ignorance, whether during the mobilization of yellow vests or against retirement at 64. They make it seem like no change is possible within the current framework. Therefore what is required is a complete break and exceptional responses.

For this, we request a debate in the National Assembly under Article 50-1 of the Constitution in order to propose an emergency plan including:

* The immediate repeal of the “license to kill” provisions of the Cazeneuve law of 2017, responsible for the explosion of deaths when the subject refuses to comply

* The creation of a “Truth and Justice” commission to establish all responsibilities concerning police violence that has resulted in the death or mutilation of citizens

* The immediate expatriation of any case of police violence, the complete reform of the IGPN and the creation of an independent investigation service.

* State support for repairs to shops, housing and public places that have damaged in recent days

* An in-depth reform of the national police to rebuild a better trained republican police and to get rid of all forms of racism, including in particular the dissolution of the BAC, the restoration of the code of ethics of 1986, the strengthening of training, the introduction of genuine community policing and the end of lethal immobilization techniques. We must close the period started by Sarkozy in 2002 that treats young people from working-class neighborhoods as an enemy from within.

* A global action program against discrimination including in particular the creation of a Commissioner for Equality, specialized centers within the courts of appeal and the implementation of the identity check receipt to fight against the face control

* A public investment plan in poor neighborhoods for the restoration of public services, housing, public schools, access to health and culture, financing of associations and social centers

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe, HUMAN RIGHTS, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

A book by Joan Roelofs on sale by Clarity Press.

The Trillion Dollar Silencer investigates the astounding lack of popular protest at the death and destruction that the military industrial complex is inflicting on people, nations, and the environment, and its budget-draining costs. Where is the antiwar protest by progressives, libertarians, environmentalists, civil rights advocates, academics, clergy, community volunteers, artists, et al? This book focuses on how military largesse infests such public sectors’ interests.

Contractors and bases serve as the economic hubs of their regions. State and local governments are intertwined with the DoD; some states have Military Departments. National Guard annual subsidies are large. Joint projects include aid to state environmental departments for restoration, and government-environmental organization teams to create buffer zones for bombing ranges. Economic development commissions aim to attract military industries and keep the existing bases and corporations. Veterans Administration hospitals are boons to their communities.

Universities, colleges, and faculty get contracts and grants from the DoD and its agencies, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Minerva Initiative. Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs are subsidized by the DoD. Civilian jobs in the DoD provide opportunities for scientists, engineers, policy analysts, and others.

Every kind of business and nonprofit, including environmental and charitable organizations like The Nature Conservancy and Goodwill Industries feeds at the DoD trough via contracts and grants.

Individuals, arts institutions, charities, churches, and universities succumb to the profitability of military-related investments. Pension funds of public and private employees are replete with military stocks.

Philanthropy is another silencer. The DoD itself donates equipment to organizations, especially those of youth, and lends equipped battalions to Hollywood. The weapons firms give generously to the arts and charities, heavily to youth and minorities. They also initiate joint programs such as providing tutors and mentors for robotics teams in public schools.

Our militarized economy is destructive and wasteful. How can we replace the multitude of dependencies on military funding and restore the boundary between it and civil society? Surely a first step is to see how military spending results in the complicity of civil society in its pernicious outcomes. That is what this book tries to reveal.

* * *

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Questions related to this article:
 
The peace movement in the United States, What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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Reviewer comments

“It is perhaps the most fraught question of our time, whatever happened to the anti-war movement? In this provocative and illuminating book, Joan Roelofs penetrates deep into the inner-workings of the vast political economy of war-making, revealing how the arms cartel has consolidated its power, captured our political system, infiltrated the media and stifled dissent. At a perilous moment in history, Roelofs has given us a call to action, loud and clear enough to awaken our anesthetized consciences.” JEFFREY ST CLAIR, Editor of CounterPunch, Author, Grand Theft Pentagon

“The Trillion Dollar Silencer is a masterful primer on an institution – the United States military — that has literally thousands of facets and functions, and about a thousand billion dollars each year to support its role in preparing for and making war around the world. Rich in explanatory images, charts and maps, the pieces of the puzzle that Joan Roelofs identifies are so many and so complex that even the most informed readers will learn something in every chapter. The book’s central question is how the military industrial complex has been able to acquire so many taxpayer dollars year after year and so much cultural assent to its overwrought, violent mission. The answers she gives will help us to reverse our otherwise continuing deadly and expensive course.” CATHARINE LUTZ, Professor Emerita of Anthropology and International Studies, Co-Director, Costs of War Project, Brown University

“The world’s leading weapons dealer and warmaker, the United States, may also have the least popular resistance to militarism. Why the quiet acceptance? This book helps us to become aware that darn near every inch of U.S. society has been infiltrated by the normalization or celebration of war preparations, that essentially our culture, not just our elected officials, has been bought. This book also provides guidance on what we can do about it.” DAVID SWANSON, Executive Director of World Beyond War and author of War Is A Lie

“Why is there so much acceptance of, and so little protest against, our war policies and all the other tactics of subversion employed by the military-intelligence-industrial complex to sustain hegemony. While the peace movement answers this question with reference to propaganda, fear and distractions, this book focuses on the enormity of the war machine’s penetration into numerous aspects of civilian life. The sections in the book on this penetration into philanthropy, nonprofit organizations and NGO’s are probably the most eye-popping portions of the book. Roelofs shows that the real goal is the construction of “the normal” in ways functional to the interests of the Pentagon, unconventional warfare institutions and military contractors.” PAUL SHANNON, Executive Committee of Mass[achusetts] Peace Action

“Now is exactly the right time for her highly recommended book.” W.T. WHITNEY, Counterpunch

“…for individuals and collectives who are already politically initiated and opposed to the US imperialist war machine, the present book would be of immense help to widen the cracks of this mighty system…” MANALI CHAKRABARTI, Research Unit for Political Economy, India

(Editor’s note: It has been called to our attention that another article published at this time describes a report on how American military contracts to so-called “think tanks” are able to inject their propaganda into the mass media. The article is Report Shows How Military Industrial Complex Sets Media Narrative on Ukraine. The report shows that Ukraine War coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, from March 1, 2022, through January 31, 2023 quotes 33 think tanks, all but one of which receive military funding.)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America