CND Press Roundup Monday 10th October 2022

War in Ukraine / NATO

• Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby downplayed Joe Biden’s recent warning about the possibility of nuclear war, saying the US president’s comments weren’t based on new information. “Quite frankly, we don’t have any information that he [Putin] has made that kind of decision. Nor have we seen anything that would give us pause to reconsider our own strategic nuclear posture,” Kirby told ABC News.

• Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Biden in a telephone conversation on Friday, where they agreed Putin’s nuclear threats were “irresponsible” and the mobilisation of troops in Russia was a “serious mistake” by the Kremlin.

• France’s Emmanuel Macron called for leaders to speak “with prudence” when commenting on the chances of nuclear Armageddon.

• Risk and disaster expert Philip Cunlife writes for Unherd on how potential nuclear conflicts were prevented in the past – and what this might mean for stopping Vladimir Putin.

• External power was returned to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Sunday, after shelling cut power lines on Saturday forcing staff to use back-up diesel generators for functions like cooling the reactors.

• The Times gives its view on averting nuclear Armageddon – saying the West must stress to Putin what a catastrophe it would be: “Mr Biden’s warning should concentrate the minds of Mr Putin and his close circle. If the Kremlin used a tactical nuclear weapon to counter Ukraine’s military successes, the consequences would be incalculable. It would elicit worldwide condemnation and directly endanger Russia. Nor does Mr Biden need to explicitly spell out the nature of US retaliation. Even a very small risk of a nuclear exchange has a powerful deterrent effect. The overriding task of world leaders is to stop this happening. Some purported realists in foreign policy, as well as disarmers, fail to grasp that Nato’s military readiness is crucial to maintaining peace. Should Mr Putin believe that he is safe from retaliation, then, as happened with President Assad’s unpunished use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war, he will engage in atrocities without mercy. Other aggressive regimes would rush to develop or acquire a nuclear-weapons capability, and blackmail neighbouring states into submission. The surest route to preventing this scenario is for the West to continue to stand with Ukraine, and ensure it gets the advanced weapons and economic aid it needs to prosecute this war.

• Dominic Lawson writes on the fears his Ukrainian guest has about the invasion turning nuclear.

Trident

• Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that the SNP would move to scrap Trident as soon as safely possible, and that she wanted a nuclear-free world. Read here or watch the full interview on Channel 4 here.

Nuclear Testing

• The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on Friday to support the Marshall Islands in its struggle for justice for those who have been left with health impacts caused by US nuclear testing.

• The Guardian looks at the legacy of British nuclear testing and the radiation hotspots found on the islands off Western Australia where the detonations took place.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Nuclear Free Local Authorities has called on the South Copeland Community Partnership to make its meeting regarding the siting of a nuclear waste dump more transparent and open.

Nuclear Energy

• Legal opposition to the EU’s plan to label nuclear investments as green energy is gathering pace, after a third lawsuit was filed by Austria against the European Commission. Vienna formally submitted its complaint to the Court of the European Union on Friday, asking for the rules under the EU’s “taxonomy”, or financial classification system, to be quashed. The block is already facing two legal challenges, over its classification of nuclear and gas as sustainable investments – one by Greenpeace, and the other from a coalition including the World Wildlife Fund and Client Earth.

North Korea

• North Korea conducted a barrage of missile Launches on Monday which it said was a simulation of a nuclear attack on the South. The “tactical nuclear drills” were personally overseen by leader Kim Jong-un, according to North Korean state media.

• Al Jazeera speaks to a North Korea expert who said the world will have to come to terms with living with a nuclear weapons-armed North Korea.