CND Press Round-Up - 7th March 2022

CND Press Roundup, Monday 7th March, 2022

War in Ukraine

• The Independent has two pieces on Sunday’s Global Day of Action event in London, covering the speakers at Trafalgar Square and thoughts from those attending. Jeremy Corbyn, Victoria Brittain and Chris Hazard all get mentioned as speakers and quoted in one. The second piece gets the thoughts from those in attendance with several of them NHS workers.

• The Daily Mail has a round-up of yesterday’s London demonstration at Trafalgar Square as well as separate actions organised around the capital. A lot of the quotes are the same as the Independent’s but the piece does have some nice pictures of CND placards and banners. Meanwhile this Daily Mail column decries the anti-war and anti-nuclear stance taken by groups like the CND, referring to it as “the defeatism of the Left.”

• Common Dreams puts yesterday’s day of action in its global context with events in London, the US, Japan, and Russia all mentioned. 4,849 people were detained as part of demonstrations against the war in 69 Russian cities, according to the independent monitoring group, OVD-Info. Socialist Worker gives a run down of the London demonstration as well as other anti-war events organised around the UK. The Yorkshire Evening Post also ran a live blog of the day of action organised in Leeds.

• CND General Secretary Kate Hudson has given two interviews warning of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear war with Labour Outlook and Morning Star. Both give a succinct outline of how devastating the reality of a nuclear bomb being dropped on British cities would be and the need for an urgent deescalation of the current invasion of Ukraine.

• CND Chair Tom Unterrainer was quoted in a piece on Sky News’ website on a story looking at Ukraine giving up its nuclear warhead stockpile and Vladimir Putin’s threat of nuclear war. Referring to Putin’s decision to put his nuclear forces on high alert in Russia, Unterranier said: “Putin has actually revealed to the world the reality of nuclear weapons possession: they are not a deterrent, they are a threat. Putin is throwing around the nuclear threat.”

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed its “grave concern” over reports on how staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are being told what to do by Russian military commanders. The watchdog said it had been told by the Ukrainian regulator that any action of plant management, including technical aspects involving the nuclear reactors, needed prior Russian approval. The IAEA said this “contravenes one of the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security,” which says that plant staff must be able to make decisions “free of undue pressure” as they go about their safety and security duties.

Iran Nuclear Deal

• Russia has been accused of trying to derail talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after attempts to get last-minute concessions that its trade with Iran will not be subject to international sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. It was believed a deal between Iran and Western nations was close to being struck last weekend after months of negotiations. Washington has dismissed the Russia suggestion as “irrelevant” and nothing to do with the Iran talks while Iranian officials said the move by Moscow was “not constructive.”  

Trident

• The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has reiterated his party’s support for scrapping the Trident nuclear programme, saying the deterrent must go precisely because of the “threat to the world from nuclear weapons.” Speaking to AP, Blackford said the “idea that having nuclear weapons provides a deterrence that removes that threat is far-fetched, to say the least.” The interview was widely picked up in the Scottish press including The National, The Scotsman, Herald Scotland and the Daily Record.

North Korea

• New satellite images over North Korea’s nuclear testing facility show fresh construction of buildings, indicating Pyongyang may be planning to resume nuclear testing. While the buildings are believed to be in a preliminary stage, it’s the first sign of activity there since the site was theatrically dismantled in 2018.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Science Direct has an article on the risks and impacts posed by nuclear decommissioning in Britain. Using evidence gathered from experts, organisations and community leaders, it attempts to look at the range of issues affecting decommissioning efforts such as technical, financial, waste management solutions, and the question of what to do with a skilled workforce. It also calls for the government to introduce legislation that is “based on clearer definition and transparency.”

CND History

• The Sheffield Star has looked through its archive and published a picture gallery of CND actions from the 1970s and 1980s. Take a look here.

With best wishes,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament