CND's Press Round-Up - 10th June 2021
Posted: 14th June 2021
Please find today’s press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.
Nuclear Weapons
Talks restart in Vienna on the Iran nuclear deal this weekend.
Iran Nuclear Deal
Al Jazeera reports that talks in Vienna on the future of the JCPoA will resume this weekend. There had been hopes that an agreement would be reached prior to the Iranian presidential election on 18th June but this now seems unlikely. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a Congressional committee that a total removal of sanctions on Iran was very unlikely. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both die-hard regional opponents of Iran, now seem resigned to a nuclear deal being concluded and instead are focusing their efforts on securing future talks on Iran’s regional policy.
NATO
The Morning Star carries an article by CND activist Rae Street on why we should participate to the No to NATO network’s activities.
No to NATO Counter-summit
Veteran CND activist Rae Street has a piece in today’s Morning Star on the forthcoming NATO summit and the protests against it. Rae points to the expanding geographical scope of NATO’s operations as a real cause for concern, with activity in places as disparate as the Artic Circle and South America. With further NATO military exercises taking place in this country in September, Rae writes that activists will be organising the counter-summit this weekend ‘to say there is no place for Nato in the world of peace and social justice we want to build’.
G7
The G7 could be about to ramp up tensions with China and a vaccine patent waiver still seems a long way off.
G7 Summit
The G7 is expected to demand a new international investigation into the origins of Covid-19, according to the Guardian. This comes in the context of ever-increasing tensions between the U.S. and China, and Joe Biden’s request that the U.S. intelligence agencies examine the theory that Covid came from a ‘lab leak’ in Wuhan. An investigation by the World Health Organisation earlier this year said such a scenario was ‘extremely unlikely’. The G7 is also expected to commit to providing 1 billion vaccine doses to poorer countries this year.
The Morning Star also reports the UK and the EU objected strongly to talks at the World Trade Organisation on the waiver of patents for vaccines. While a large number of countries support a patent waiver, the fact that the WTO works by consensus means the effort was defeated. This bodes ill for similar discussions at the G7 this weekend.
Anti-War
China responds to the new legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress.
China-U.S. Relations
The Washington Post reports on Chinese responses to the U.S. Senate passing a bill designed to increase security and economic competition with China. By the Post’s own account, Joe Biden has retained many of the policies of Donald Trump in relation to China. A statement from one state body, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Conference, said that ‘The bill is full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice. It slanders China’s development path and its domestic and foreign policies.’
Nuclear Power
A South Korean multinational intends to research and produce floating off-shore nuclear power stations and nuclear ships.
Nuclear Power-South Korea
Samsung is pushing ahead with plans to develop floating off-shore nuclear power plants, according to BusinessKorea. In a joint project with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the firm also aims to develop nuclear-power ships. The use of Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), a specific type of small modular reactor will be explored. Proponents claim that they are safer than other types of nuclear reactor, because their molten salt liquid fuel is designed to harden in dangerous situations.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament