CND's Press Round-Up - 24th May 2021
Posted: 24th May 2021
Dear all,
Please find today’s press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.
Nuclear Weapons
The expiration of a Iran-IAEA agreement has cast the future of the Vienna talks into uncertainty, whilst further cutbacks in fire safety provision at nuclear bases in Scotland have prompted unions to plan industrial action.
Iran Nuclear Negotiations
Al Jazeera reports that the monitoring agreement between Iran and the IAEA expired over the weekend, creating doubt over the outcome of the talks in Vienna. The IAEA had previously installed cameras at Iranian nuclear facilities. Diplomats warned last week that a failure to sort the IAEA arrangement would be an extremely negative sign for the JCPoA negotiations. Talks continue on putting the agreement back in place.
The Associated Press reports that Iran will decide today whether to extend the agreement. The speaker of the Iranian parliament said yesterday that the expiration of the agreement had the support of the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. It is not believed the images and footage from the monitored nuclear facilities have yet been deleted.
Trident Bases in Scotland
Both the Morning Star and the Herald carry reports on fresh cuts to vital safety personnel at the Faslane and Coulport bases. Eight posts in the specialist fire safety department are expected to be lost. Fire safety services at the sites are run by the outsourcing firm Capita, which wants local fire stations to pick up the slack. Unite the Union is also worried that promised new safety equipment and fire engines have not been delivered. The union has said that the situation is ‘an accident waiting to happen’ and will now ballot for industrial action.
Anti-War
Diplomatic fallout from Belarus’ interception of a RyanAir flight continues whilst the outlines of the violence in Palestine become clearer.
EU-Belarus Relations
The European Union and its members states have reacted with fury to a civil airliner’s forced landing in Minsk and the arrest of one of its passengers, according to Al Jazeera. The EU is just about to begin discussions of a fresh round of sanctions on the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko. The International Civil Aviation Organization, which is part of the UN, said the move could be in violation of the Chicago Convention. There is speculation that all international air traffic with Belarus could be banned, and the grounding of the state fleet in other countries. Sixty Belarusian officials have been sanctioned by the EU following violent crackdowns on protests last year.
Israel-Palestine
The ceasefire in the Gaza strip appears to be holding on its third day, according to Al Jazeera. Egypt and Jordan are involved in discussion to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people of Gaza. The U.S. Secretary of State will be visiting Israel this week. Tensions have been raised, however, by a further incursion by Israeli armed forces personnel into the Al-Aqsa complex. It appears that Israeli security forces are also unleashing a huge wave of repression aimed at the incipient movement of Palestinians who started to protest behind the Green Line.
Somewhere between 180,000 and 200,000 are believed to have attended Saturday’s London demonstration for Palestine, which was supported by CND. The Guardian has a short but reasonably positive story on it
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament