A chance to see again the CND webinar on the legal status of the TPNW

Posted: 18th January 2021

Here is a chance to catch up on a fine webinar, if you missed it the first time around.  Just click on the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50CEsK529Dg

Here are some notes that I took when it was first streamed, that may be of help.

Thoughts from tonight’s webinar on the TPNW


  1. 24th January 2021 is 75th anniversary of first UN Treaty that sought to Eliminate nuclear weapons
  2. 13,400 nuclear weapons in the world at the moment
  3. They are equivalent to 1.47 million Hiroshima bombs
  4. Were India and Pakistan to have a “limited nuclear exchange”, equivalent to 100 Hiroshima bombs, it is estimated that 2 billion people would die in the ensuing nuclear winter.
  5. Signatories to the new Treaty will meet for their first formal discussions in Vienna later this year
  6. The nuclear armed states are not making progress towards a nuclear free world
  7. The rest of the world is stating its wishes via the TPNW.
  8. It provides a competing forum for nuclear discussions, as the NPT has been completely ineffective in moving us towards a meaningful reduction in nuclear threat.
  9. TPNW reinforces moral, legal and societal norms
  10. There are parallels with the stance on landmines, cluster bombs and chemical weapons.  Moral pressure has been brought to bear in these areas ahead of formal legal moves.
  11. Importantly, we don’t have infinite time to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons, as any exchange would likely prove catastrophic to mankind.
  12. TPNW powerfully articulates demand for a world free of nuclear weapons and it provides one possible path for achieving it.  
  13. A multilateral effort is certainly needed.
  14. It is a false dichotomy that there is a necessary choice between a step by step approach and a comprehensive approach.
  15. Human right to life is enshrined within the TPNW
  16. It is often claimed that a use of the Atomic bombs shortened WW II.  This is quite untrue.  Japanese defeat was inevitable by 1944.  In February 1945, the Emperor was formally advised that defeat was inevitable.  Soviet entry into war was the single factor that made defeat inevitable.  Truman knew that on July 17th.  Japan already knew that the US could destroy their cities with conventional bombing. So, although Hiroshima and Nagasaki were shocking, they did not change the overall picture of assured destruction.  Seven out of eight 5 star generals in the US opposed dropping the atomic bombs.Truman understood that he was starting a process that could annihilate humanity.  Trump and Putin still have this option.
  17. The world is recognising this insanity.
  18. The entering into force of this new treaty gives us all an opportunity to highlight this background.  These matters are not brought to the forefront by the Non Proliferation Treaty which lies in the hands of the nuclear states.  The TPNW gives the majority of the countries in the world, who do not have nuclear weapons, an opportunity to express their wishes clearly.


Peter Gloyns 16.1.21

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