CND Press Digest: Thursday 4th July 2024

General Election 2024

• CND website: In this election, Labour and Tory leaders have been falling over themselves to commit to vast sums of money for the military – including nuclear weapons. But is this good economics – and good for the country? Economist Michael Burke sets the matter straight in this final guest election blog.
• UK Defence Journal omits the Greens from its summary of party policies on military spending and nuclear weapons.

Protest

• BBC Sounds: New laws aimed at preventing protestors causing disruption, more severe punishments and fewer defences in court have led some to question if the freedom to protest is coming under threat. Josephine Casserly investigates the growing volume of prosecutions against environmental protestors and examines how the criminal justice system is dealing with such cases. She also examines the increasing use of private injunctions by corporations and public authorities to restrict protests at locations such as public roads and oil terminals. They say the orders are necessary to prevent disruption caused by tactics including walking slowly down roads and blocking entrances to businesses, but lawyers acting for protestors say they amount to a “privatised system of justice.”

UK Nuclear Power

• The Mirror: Fascinating photos show progress at UK’s new £26bn nuclear power station.

Nuclear Power

• Pro-nuclear voices in Australia still haven’t given up on pushing the technology down under.

NATO / Europe

• CND website: Confronting NATO’s war summit in Washington.
• Financial Times: The untold story of the most chaotic NATO summit ever. Told by the people who witnessed the 2018 Trump show first hand.
• Reuters: NATO members pledge 40 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine, diplomats say.
• The Telegraph: Ukraine to be told it is too corrupt to join NATO. Membership talks cannot progress until the former Soviet state cleans up, a major blow to Volodymyr Zelensky.
• What NATO means to the world. After 75 years, the alliance remains indispensable. Foreign Policy runs a fawning article about NATO by (checks notes) outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenburg.
• Forces.net: AI can unlock the superpower potential of NATO – but what are the difficulties?

Middle East / North Africa

• Times of Israel and Middle East Eye on comments by Israeli opposition figure Avigdor Lieberman, who suggested Israel use “all the means at our disposal” to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme.

AUKUS / Asia-Pacific

• Eurasian Times: Pakistan’s “nuclear-armed” JF-17 fighter jet – Should India worry with PAF’s threat of “double thunder”.
• South Korea’s nuclear ambition holds a place in the national consciousness. It might seem illogical to the rest of the world, but a sense of vulnerability has a pervasive pull on policy.
• Biztech Lawyers, an international technology and business law firm, has published an article with an in-depth analysis on the impact of the US, UK, and Australia entering into a trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS. The agreement is intended to strengthen long standing defense ties while also promoting a free, open Indo-Pacific region that remains both secure and stable.

Best,

Pádraig McCarrick

Press and Communications Officer

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament