CND Press Digest: Monday 4th December 2023

War In Ukraine/NATO

• NATO has an updated article defending its nuclear posture: “NATO is committed to arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, it will remain a nuclear alliance,” it says.
• A retired US army general has suggested that it is “entirely feasible” that Vladimir Putin would use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine as a way to challenge NATO.

• Support for the Ukraine war in Russia has hit rock bottom, according to a recent poll. The independent pollster Chronicle found that the number of Russians who fully support the invasion has almost halved since February 2023. It found the number of core war supporters – those who express “consistent” approval of the war and want the invasion to continue until it has achieved its goals – fell from 22% in February 2023 to 12% in October. Chronicles’ survey revealed that 40% of Russians support the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine without war aims being achieved. This number has remained consistent throughout 2023.

• BBC: Outnumbered and outgunned, one front-line soldier has given a sobering account of Ukraine’s struggle to cling on to its foothold on the east bank of the vast Dnipro river.

Gaza War

• The Netherlands faces a legal challenge on Monday over accusations that its role in the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel makes it complicit in alleged war crimes in Gaza.

TPNW

• The Vatican’s representative to the UN has used their attendance at TPNW2MSP to advocate for a world free from nuclear weapons.  
• The Asahi Shimbun: The time is now to dispose of the myth of nuclear deterrence.
• Nuclear ban treaty members plan frontal attack on nuclear deterrence theory.

US Nuclear Weapons

• The Canary has picked up on last week’s visit to RAF Lakenheath by US deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks, and CND’s comments that this was further proof of plans for a US nuclear weapons mission in Britain.
• Arms Control Association reports on plans by the US to develop a new version of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb – known as the B61-13. The Pentagon said the bomb “will provide the President with additional options against certain harder and large-area military targets, even while the department works to retire legacy systems such as the B83-1.”

AUKUS

• Australia and France sign military access agreement as post-AUKUS tensions ease
• Australia says AI will be used to help track Chinese submarines under new AUKUS plan.
• AUKUS: Radars will help counter threat of ‘space warfare’.

Space

• The Telegraph runs a new column from nuclear industry shill Kathryn Porter, who this week argues that we’re going to need lots of nuclear-powered rockets for a life in space beyond low orbit.

UK Nuclear Energy

• Scottish Greens: Doubling down on nuclear power is no solution to climate crisis.
• That’s as the Scottish Conservatives claim the Greens’ “illogical opposition” on nuclear power will mean Scots will lose out on high-paid jobs and investment.

Nuclear Energy

• Australia backs Cop28 promise to triple renewables but not nuclear capacity pledge.
• Over 20 nations, including Japan, call for tripling of nuclear energy.
• Common Dreams: Plot to triple nuclear power by 2050 decried as ‘dangerous distraction’ at COP28.
• Uranium hitting 15-year highs as nuclear power demand surges.

Fusion

• The world’s biggest operational experimental nuclear fusion reactor has been inaugurated in Naka, Japan.

North Korea

• AP looks at US-South Korean military ties and fear among some South Koreans that Washington would hesitate to conduct a nuclear strike on North Korea if Pyongyang was to attack its southern neighbour.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament