CND Press Digest: Tuesday 24th October 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• Matthew Evangelista writes in the Bulletin: Oppenheimer envisioned the tactical use of nuclear weapons. Putin now threatens it.
• Foreign Affairs on the return of nuclear escalation. 

AUKUS

• Aussie PM Anthony Albanese said he’s confident dysfunction in US Congress won’t affect AUKUS deal.
• National Defense writes on the “behind the scenes” work by various government officials on the AUKUS deal.
• That’s as The Hill writes on why the AUKUS pact is about more than warfighting.
• Cartoon: AUKUS is supposed to keep us safe - so why this sinking feeling?

British Nuclear Testing

• The Mirror: The Atomic Weapons Establishment says it may hold nearly 5,000 personal blood tests of troops irradiated during nuclear weapons tests. But the AWE said it could not be certain what was in the files, because checking them would be too expensive.

Israel & Palestine

• Air and Space Forces look at claims that North Korea likely provided weaponry to Hamas and comments by a RAND Corporation researcher, that North Korea aims to amass between 300-500 nuclear weapons – some of which could finally make their way to the Palestinian group.
• Foreign Policy magazine looks at the Israeli intelligence failures behind the Hamas attack 7 October and how escalating the conflict increases nuclear risk.

Nuclear Energy

• Associated Press said the discharge of the second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea ended as planned on Monday, and International Atomic Energy Agency officials in Japan for their first safety and monitoring mission since the release began two months ago said “no issues” were observed.

Trump

• Donald Trump has denied leaking confidential information about US nuclear submarines to an Australian billionaire - labelling Anthony Pratt as a “red haired weirdo.” Pratt is one of Australia’s richest men and has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in membership fees at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort which led to regular private conversations between the pair.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament