CND Press Digest: Monday 20th May 2024

Global Nukes

• The Hill: Congress must stop Biden from fueling a Saudi nuclear bomb. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is heading to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend in hopes of delivering an elusive Biden foreign policy triumph — a US-Saudi-Israel “mega deal” that would upgrade the US-Saudi alliance while normalizing relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem. Proponents see this as a win-win proposition, yet at the deal’s heart lies a dangerous American concession: Saudi Arabia is demanding Washington upend decades of US nonproliferation policy and give Riyadh the means to enrich uranium — a process essential to producing fuel for either nuclear reactors or atomic weapons. Congress must act now and stop the administration from setting off a nuclear arms-race in the Middle East.

UK Nuclear Energy

• The next Labour government must drop Tory plans for new nuclear in Scotland, the Scottish Greens have demanded.
• Activists turned SCRAM into one of the country’s most dynamic and successful anti-nuclear protest groups
• Swathes of nuclear waste are set to be buried in the English countryside after ministers agreed to dig a 650ft pit starting this decade.

Nuclear Energy

• The Clean Energy Council has commissioned an independent report, which found that nuclear power is the most expensive form of new energy in Australia.

NATO / Europe

• Atlantic Council: NATO must ‘win up front but be ready to win long’ in modern warfare, says General Christopher Cavoli.
• Hungary’s ambassador to Britain writes in the Telegraph about the country’s commitment to NATO and peace in Europe.

Middle East & North Africa

• Reuters: Iran’s President Raisi took hard line with national protests and nuclear talks.

AUKUS & Indo-Pacific

• ABC News: South Australia makes play to enter US nuclear submarine supply chain ahead of AUKUS build.
• Bloomberg: China reiterates concerns over New Zealand’s interest in AUKUS.
• Quad, AUKUS, and now Squad: How multiple groupings are dissipating US’ effort against China.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he is keeping nuclear weapons strictly for self-defense and has no intention of actually ever using them, former South Korean President Moon Jae-in wrote in his memoir published Saturday.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament