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GSI and its Staff... In The Media

June 4, 2009: NZ named most peaceful country on earth – Scoop NZ
NZ named most peaceful country on earth… Alyn Ware, New Zealand coordinator for the march says that “Too often we read about violence and conflicts. Peace does not make it into the headlines nearly as much. This march is a wonderful initiative to celebrate the many successful examples in our communities and around the world of violence prevention, conflict resolution, cross-cultural understanding, reconciliation and disarmament. It is a march to give us hope in a more peaceful society and the inspiration to make this happen.”

June 4, 2009: World Peace March to start from most peaceful nation on earth - Pressenza International Press Agency
New Zealand is the most peaceful nation on earth, according to the newly released Global Peace Index… Alyn Ware, March Coordinator for New Zealand, says, "With the World March we celebrate the successful examples, in our communities and worldwide, of violence prevention, conflict resolution, cross-cultural understanding, bringing hope and inspiration for the future."

May 11, 2009: The Fierce Urgency of Disarmament - The Nation
For more than five years, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC) and its Chairman, Dr. Hans Blix, have worked to generate proposals for reducing the dangers of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Two weeks ago in Washington, DC, the commission met for the last time.... There is also an effort to more effectively communicate the immediacy and urgency of the nuclear threat. Blix said it needs to be understood by the world as another "Inconvenient Truth." Jonathan Granoff of the Global Security Institute also pointed to Al Gore's success in tying global warming to something people discuss every day--the weather. People need to see nuclear weapons as "pertinent, real, present, and dangerous," Granoff said. "We haven't hit the resonant note yet. We have to find that." (And hopefully it will resonate before a nuclear incident.)

May 2, 2009: Nashville preacher leads no-nuke push - The Tennessean
Tyler Wigg-Stevenson doesn't carry peace signs or wear tie-dyed T-shirts emblazoned with "No Nukes." But, with some help from his friends George Schultz and Henry Kissinger, and evangelical leaders like Rob Bell and Lynn Hybels, the Baptist preacher hopes to someday ban the bomb… Wigg-Stevenson has been working on the issue of nuclear arms for a decade, first at the Global Security Institute, with the late Alan Cranston, a Democratic senator from California.

April 24, 2009: Disarmament: New Promise of a Nuclear-Free World - Interpress Service
Leading supporters of disarmament see new hope arising from the announcement by the U.S. and Russian presidents that they are willing to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with a new one... "We have a situation where chemical weapons and biological weapons are condemned universally but nuclear weapons, which are even more horrific than biological or chemical, are allegedly acceptable in the hands of nine countries (Britain, France, Russia, China, Canada and the United States as well as India, Pakistan and North Korea). This is incoherent and unsustainable," GSI president Jonathan Granoff told IPS.

April 6, 2009: Obama nuclear abolition pledge not pie in the sky! – Scoop.co.nz
" US President’s pledge yesterday to work for the global abolition of nuclear weapons is not pie in the sky”, says Alyn Ware a consultant with the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. “The world is a dangerous place and nuclear disarmament negotiations would be full of difficulties – a fact underscored by the recent missile test of North Korea, one of the latest countries to acquire nuclear weapons”, he said. “However, the blueprint for achieving and verifying a nuclear-weapons-free world has been developed, and the international support is there for President Obama and other leaders to draw upon in reaching this goal.” … Alyn Ware Consultant, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms Director, Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace New Zealand Coordinator, World March for Peace and Nonviolence Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament

March 26, 2009: The Inaugural MDG Awards Ceremony & Concert at the UN General Assembly: March 17th 2009 – Humanitad Blog
Secretary-General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations Pera Wells thanked Humanitad as did President of the Global Security Institute Jonathan Granoff who gave a rousing speech and summed up the MDG messaging by stating: "Fulfilling these commitments is far less expensive than war. The funds are there to accomplish this. It is for us to generate the political will. Each year about $1.3 Trillion dollars goes into military coffers. The best estimates are that a ten year commitment of around $76 billion per year, less than 7% of military expenditures, would lead to the MDG’s fulfillment."
Earlier in the day MDG Awards Executive Director and the committee’s driving force Mr. Michael Jacobson welcomed dignitaries, luminaries and UN leaders to the MDG Awards Ambassadors Luncheon. Jonathan Granoff moderated a dialogue with Deepak Chopra and Judge Christopher Weeremantry.

March 19, 2009: BSG and the MDGs at the UN - UN Dispatch
It’s not often that the United Nations serves host to celebrities, sci-fi fans, and musicians, but that was the scene last night in New York when two events pushed the boundaries in an effort to raise the profile of the UN and award humanitarian achievements. An eclectic assortment of people gathered in the General Assembly hall to listen to speeches and musical tributes at the inaugural MDG Awards launch event. ...Macy Gray got the crowd moving to her hit, “I Try,” Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall had the crowd clapping to an a cappella number, and Somalia rapper K’naan gained new fans with his hybrid music style that blends America and African musical traditions. Other performances included Toto founder, keyboardist, singer and main composer David singing the hit, “Africa,” and remarks by Armand Assante, Sol Guy and Jonathan Granoff.

March 17, 2009: The MDG Awards Global Launch Event at the United Nations Building on March 17, 2009 in New York City – The Herbert Collection
Jonathan Granoff; author, attorney, and international peace activist who’s life's work is dedicated to the total elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide spoke. Granoff called the UN “home for everyone” saying, “While many worry about Wall Street, the majority of the poverty stricken in the world have no street.” Poverty levels around the world are deepening with each passing month. He said that $1.3 Trillion a year is spent on military.
Opening remarks were made by H.E. Miguel d’Escato Brockmann about the South South Corporation to help the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people. Other remarks were made by H.E. Nassir Abdlaziz Al-Nassar and Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs. We were reminded of the Millennium Goal set in 2000 to bridge the gap between poverty and wealth. We have lost a decade when we expected to be closing the gap between the rich and poor. With recent economic downturns this goal is growing increasingly difficult.

January 26, 2009: New Zealand should join the new International Renewable Energy Agency - Scoop.NZ
About 100 states will be meeting in Bonn tomorrow to establish an International Renewable Energy Agency, but New Zealand has not yet committed to being there “The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) will assist countries to reduce the use of fossil fuels at the same time as developing their energy needs,” says Wellington United Nations Association Committee Member Alyn Ware who was one of the few non-governmental representatives invited to the founding conference. “International cooperation is vital in order to reverse climate change through utilising new renewable energy technologies,” says Mr Ware. “There are a range of technologies available each of which varies in suitability for countries’ differing resources, infrastructures, climates and geographies. IRENA would be able to assist countries to develop the right mix of renewable energy technologies for their country.”

September 22, 2008. Green leader calls for Canada to take stronger role in nuclear disarmament - The Canadian Press
"Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, in the midst of a cross-country rail trip, is calling on Canada to take a stronger role in global nuclear disarmament…Douglas Roche, Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative, is quoted as saying the Green Party has the best plan for getting rid of the 25,000 nuclear weapons still remaining worldwide."

September 22, 2008. Seeing Canada by rail: Green leader brings retro touch to modern campaign trail - The Canadian Press
"Green Party leader Elizabeth May embarked on a cross-country railroad trip across Canada…She was joined in Edmonton by Douglas Roche, as they proclaimed the need for Canada to take a stronger role in disarmament."

September 9, 2008: NZ ends stand on nuke trade after pressure - Dominion Post
"New Zealand dropped its opposition to a United States-India nuclear trade deal after direct diplomatic pressure from US President George Bush and India's Prime Minister... Alyn Ware, the Wellington-based global coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, said he did not know what leverage had been exerted."

July 22, 2008: TEENage goes to Geneva - The Jamaica Observer
"The atmosphere was certainly pregnant with potent young minds last week, when a group of students from across the world - Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia and the United States - met in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the increasingly nagging issue of nuclear weapons and its potentially devastating effect on the world.... The Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament was represented by the capable Alyn Ware. With the aid of a visual presentation on the human sufferings caused by the very long-term effects of a nuclear weapon, the vision of a nuclear weapons-free world was made more profound to those who saw it and an even greater realisation of our vulnerability and existence at the hands of those who possess nuclear weapons was revealed."

June 28, 2008: India takes the lead once again in global nuclear disarmament - ThaindianNews
"Twenty years after then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi presented his Action Plan to the United Nations with a fervent appeal for a nuclear free world, disarmament is back on the global agenda - in a large measure due to India. 'Nuclear war will not mean the death of a hundred million people. Or even a thousand million. It will mean the extinction of four thousand million, the end of life as we know it on our planet, earth. We come to the United States to seek your support. We seek your support to put a stop to this madness.'...'It is not too much to say that India today is at the crossroads and holds the global future of nuclear weapons,' Douglas Roche of Middle Powers Initiative said at the conference. Expressing similar sentiments, Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, summed up why the Indian stand on global disarmament was so important to the international community. 'India is uniquely positioned to advance this route. It has the political arguments, the national interest, the cultural and moral calling and historical moment.'"

June, 2008: Disarm, or You'll Destroy the World- India Strategic
"Nuclear weapons are not safe, no matter in whose hands they are. Worse, if they reach the hands of non-state actors like the jihadis, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh warned while opening the International Conference on 'Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.'... Top strategic experts and former diplomats like Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Initiative (sic), George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ivan Safranchuk, a Russian expert, and Li Chang-he, Vice President, China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, were among those participating in the conference."

June 9, 2008: PM warns of N-Terror Attack, says global disarmament a distant dream - The Tribune
"Making a strong case for the implementation of Rajiv Gandhi’s ambitious plan for universal nuclear disarmament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cautioned the international community of the risk of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) falling into the hands of terrorists... Top strategic experts and diplomats like Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Initiative (sic), Douglas Roche, former head of the UN disarmament committee, George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ivan Safranchuk, a Russian expert, and Li Chang-he, vice-president, China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, are participating in it."

June 9, 2008: India revives disarmament, warns of nuclear terror risk - Calcutta news.net
"Ten years after the Pokhran II nuclear tests, India Monday called for a new global consensus on time-bound nuclear disarmament ...Douglas Roche, former chairman of UN disarmament committee, asked India to use its growing clout to reach out to other nations and be 'a catalyst' in influencing the US and Russia, the two nuclear superpowers who between them possess 95% of 25,000 nuclear weapons in the world, to 'come down from the nuclear mountain.'... Top strategic experts and former diplomats like Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Initiative (sic); George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Ivan Safranchuk, a Russian expert, and Li Chang-he, vice-president of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, are among those participating in the conference."

March 27, 2008: - Government to celebrate 20 years of Rajiv Gandhi's Peace Plan - Thaindian.com
" New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which showed reluctance to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests, is rolling out the red carpet for a host of renowned scholars and experts from the world to celebrate 20 years of Rajiv Gandhi’s Peace Plan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate a two-day international conference on 'Towards a world free of nuclear weapons' to be held at the Hotel Maurya Sheraton June 9...Among the big names invited for the conference are: Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, the UN high representative for disarmament, Senator Douglas Roche, Jonathan Granoff, Garry Jacobs and George Perkovich from the US, Sergei Rogov and Ivan Safranchuk from Russia, Li Chang He from China, Sverre Lodgard from Norway and Rory Medcalf from Australia."

March 15, 2008 - A Relatively Good Week for US-Iranian Relations - Foreign Policy Association "U.S. Diplomacy: A Great Decisions 2008 Blog"
"There have been rumors circulating (or for some hawks, wishful thinking) that the Bush administration has been considering a unilateral attack on Iran. The move would be aimed at halting the Iranian government’s nuclear enrichment program, which the US government believes will lead to the development of not just nuclear energy (as the Iranians claim) but nuclear weapons...Meanwhile, in the absence of official diplomatic relations between the two nations, some members of the American NGO community are engaging the Iranians in face to face diplomacy (that is not to say, though, that the State Department isn’t working tirelessly to foster a more positive relationship with Iran). Jonathan Granoff, President of the Pennsylvania-based Global Security Institute (GSI) tells of a recent trip he took to Tehran at the invitation of Iranian Foreign Ministry."

January/February 2008: Off Target - Mother Jones
"Linda Gallini, one of the State Department's leading experts on nuclear nonproliferation, stepped into an empty room at the International Atomic Energy Agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and placed a call to Washington. A senior delegate to teh IAEA, she'd spent the past week strategizing how to keep dangerous materials out of the hands of rogue states and terrorists. But a dusk setteld over teh Danube that evening in September 2005, Gallini was more worried about what was brewing back home... Despite paying lip service to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the United States has quietly backed away from it. In May 2005, 153 countries met at the U.N. for a routine review of the treaty. Many sent a foreign minister or a top diplomat; the United States dispatched a mid-level Bolton ally.
Fallout: "[Bush appointees] have undermined the institutional structures, so that we are increasingly left only with the alternative to use force." —Jonathan Granoff, Global Security Institute

December 18, 2007: Peace On Earth! Charter for a World Without Violence - The Huffington Post
"This past week I spent four glorious freezing cold days in Rome, under blue skies, listening and absorbing wisdom from a few of those "elders" on this planet who truly have something to teach all of us. The gathering at the 8th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates included his holiness, the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Muhammad Yunus, Mainead Corrigan Maguire, Lech Walesa, Betty Williams, members from Amnesty International, the American Friends Service Committee, the International Peace Bureau, the Red Cross and many more individuals, significantly several youth groups from high schools around the world. This last group was the focus as the theme of the summit, "The Next Generation", sought to invite young people to actively participate in building a peaceful world. As Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute made clear, 'We are the first generation making ethical decisions that will determine whether we will be the last generation.'"

November, 2007: A pesar de avances, se ha fallado en hacer feliz a la gente: Sabios - El Semanario
"Monterrey N.L.-Ocho integrantes del Consejo de Sabios hablaron ante los medios de comunicación para transmitir las principales ideas que los sustentan, asimismo mantendrán una conferencia emblemática bajo la temática 'Creando una nueva civilización, la visión, el camino, la meta.'...Por su parte el estadounidense Jonathan Granoff añadió que una de las acciones que tiene este Consejo de Sabios es enfocarse en la niñez para crear conciencia en las nuevas generaciones sobre el cuidado del medio ambiente, como es el instar a la plantación de árboles."

November 7, 2007: Steven Starr of Columbia takes warning about nuclear bombs to UN - Columbia Tribune
"Several weeks ago, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, Steven Starr of Columbia rose to give a PowerPoint presentation warning of the risk of global nuclear winter...'Steve does have a strong science background, but some of his best skills are educative. He’s done a lot of these talks, and he understands the framework,' Alyn Ware of New Zealand, an international consultant and educator on nuclear policy who attended the lecture, said by phone from Switzerland."

August 13, 2007: The Challenges the IAEA Faces - PressTV
"An interview with Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and senior advisor of the American Bar Association's Committee on Disarmament, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the IAEA."

April 27, 2007: Condolence book for Itoh signed at U.N. - Japan Times
"NEW YORK (Kyodo) Various diplomats, U.N. staff and representatives from nongovernmental organizations signed a book of condolences at the United Nations this week for Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito, who was assassinated last week. The 61-year-old was known to many at the international body, particularly for his tireless work in trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons and his antinuclear stance. Some 65 people, including ranking diplomats from all corners of the world and the U.N. deputy chief of protocol who wrote a lengthy message on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as well as others expressed their sadness for Japan's loss in the black book that was open for signing Monday and Tuesday at the Japanese mission. Among the last to sign the book, Rhianna Tyson, a program officer for Global Security Institute, said she was 'totally shocked' upon hearing of his death. Ito was shot April 17 by a gangster who claimed to have a personal grudge against the city."

February 7, 2007: Activists Warn UN on Downgrading Disarmament - Interpress Service
"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who last month acknowledged the positive role of civil society in the peace process in Africa, is facing the wrath of a formidable coalition of non-governmental organisations opposing his plans to restructure one of the politically sensitive departments in the world body: the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA)... In a separate letter to member states, Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Institute, points out that downgrading the head of Disarmament Affairs -- regardless of the title -- places this person in a position junior to many of the principal officers with whom he or she must work..."

October 19, 2006: Dominating the final frontier - BBC News
"As the White House unveils a tough new policy aimed at protecting its interests in space - and denying access to hostile "adversaries" - the BBC's Matthew Davis considers the timing of and reaction to the move... Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute - which campaigns for the elimination of nuclear weapons - says weapons in space would be ‘crossing the threshold’..."

GSI Board of Advisors... In The Media

June 1, 2009: Nuclear talks resume as alarm over North Korea continues - Deutsche Welle
In Geneva, Russia and the United States have resumed talks on renewing their main Cold War-era nuclear arms reduction treaty, START I. The talks have been overshadowed by alarm over North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Russia and the United States have begun a second round of talks in Geneva aimed at devising a follow-on treaty for START I… START I was signed in 1991 – shortly after the fall of Europe's Iron Curtain - by former US president George H. Bush senior and the-then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. It set up a system of bilateral inspections and stipulated that neither side could deploy more than 6,000 warheads and no more than 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles, including long-rang missiles, submarines and bomber aircraft. That goal was reached by 2001, still leaving both powers holding 90 percent of the world's arsenals.

June 1, 2009: U.N. General Assembly President to visit A-bomb sites this summer - Mainichi Daily News
United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann will be visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, diplomatic sources said on Sunday. Expectations for nuclear disarmament are running high in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Prague, and the D'Escoto visit is aimed at clarifying his stand against nuclear weapons as the head of the U.N. General Assembly… Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba had asked D'Escoto to visit Hiroshima on Aug. 6 at the United Nations last October.

May 26, 2009: Korea conducts underground nuclear test – Tulsa World
The U.N. Security Council met later Monday in New York to discuss what President Barack Obama called Pyongyang's "blatant defiance" of resolutions banning the regime from developing weapons of mass destruction. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the test as a "danger to the world." Russia's Foreign Ministry called it "a serious blow to international efforts" to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons… "The fact that North Korea is undertaking this nuclear test amid great economic and political turmoil might be a sign that North Korea is trying to escape from some kind of internal difficulty," former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev said during a visit to Seoul.

May 26, 2009: Gorbachev Says NK Nuclear Test Hinders World Peace – Korea Times
Former President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union described North Korea's nuclear test Monday as a grave hindrance to world peace. He stressed the concerted efforts of member nations of the six-party talks, particularly the United States, Russia and China. Gorbachev made the remarks in Seoul Monday prior to traveling to Gangwon Province, where he is to participate in the dedication ceremony of the World Peace Bell Park, a new memorial in Hwacheon near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

May 26, 2009: Peace park near border – Straits Times
A PUBLIC park dedicated to world peace was opened on Tuesday near the tense inter-Korean border at a ceremony overshadowed by North Korea's nuclear test… Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said at a seminar to mark the dedication that strong reactions by other countries to Monday's nuclear test would only compel the North to stick to its atomic weapons. 'If the United Nations and participants in the six-party (nuclear disarmament) talks take strong steps against the North, it would consider the nuclear weapons as its last resort and stick to them,' Mr Gorbachev said.

May 19, 2009: Russian, US diplomats start arms control talks – Associated Press
Russian and U.S. negotiators launched talks Tuesday on a new agreement intended to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles, the Russian Foreign Ministry said... START, signed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, called for each country to cut its nuclear warheads by at least one-quarter, to about 6,000.

May 18, 2009: Russia, U.S. missed the chance to denuclearize the world – RIA Novosti
Russia and the Untied States, the world's two nuclear superpowers, have missed the chance to settle the problem of global security, because the world has become a multipolar structure, writes a Russian analyst... In 1986 in Reykjavik, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan nearly agreed on a treaty that would have cleansed the world of nuclear weapons within 10 years.

May 18, 2009: 17 Nobel Peace laureates jointly call for nuclear-free world – Japan Today
HIROSHIMA —Seventeen Nobel Peace laureates have called for a world free of nuclear weapons, following U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent commitment to eliminate nuclear arsenals, according to their joint declaration published Monday in the Chugoku Shimbun newspaper in Hiroshima... The 17 winners also include... the presidents of Costa Rica and East Timor—Oscar Arias Sanchez and Jose Ramos-Horta.

May 17, 2009: Obama's word breaks ice in Geneva arms talks – Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — A single word from Barack Obama has put new life into the stale old disarmament talks in Geneva, where diplomats are hailing a "remarkable shift" by the Americans in favor of a treaty clamping down on production of the stuff of nuclear bombs..."It's a lot of stuff," said Princeton University's Frank von Hippel, panel co-chairman. "Nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation and prevention of nuclear terrorism are easy," he recalled once telling a U.N. meeting. "All we have to do is get rid of 2,000 tons of the stuff."

May 15, 2009: Gorbachev and Deng changed the world 20 years ago – RIA Novosti
Some events are important but others are so formidable they change the world. On May 15, 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese President Deng Xiaoping changed the course of world history during their meeting in Beijing.

May 12, 2009: Arabs pressure Obama – The Washington Times
The Times of London on Sunday published an interview with King Abdullah II of Jordan in which the maturing king demonstrated a deft touch in putting pressure on both the new prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and our president... The president will need to marshal all his admirable coolness under pressure and remember that President Reagan's most successful diplomatic negotiation was in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he walked away from a nuclear arms deal and from Mikhail Gorbachev - and brought down an evil empire in the aftermath.

May 12, 2009: It's time to end the Cold War – The Globe and the Mail
NATO supporters frequently claim the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was the greatest military alliance of all time since it won a major war without firing a shot and without suffering any casualties. The war referred to was the Cold War and, until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, that claim was valid. However, after the Warsaw Pact armies went home, NATO continued to act as if the Cold War were still being fought - and it still does... The Russians, as might be expected, had serious misgivings, but these were overcome with the assurances given to Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev by George H. W. Bush that if the new Germany were allowed to join NATO, the alliance would not expand eastward.

May 11, 2009: Anti-nuke set courts religious leaders – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If you’re a religious conservative, it’s hard not to feel a little unwanted. Every day, it seems, another state accepts gay marriage as a social reality. The national Republican Party is locked in a life-and-death debate over whether your principles should remain the foundation of its platform... George Shultz is certainly not a pacifist,” Merritt said. But Shultz was by the president’s side in Iceland in 1986 when Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came within a hair’s breadth of an agreement to liquidate their nuclear arsenals.

May 10, 2009: The Trouble With Zero – The New York Times
Almost from the moment the first atomic bomb was detonated in New Mexico in July 1945, the menacing aura of the nuclear age has inspired visions of a world free of nuclear weapons. Never more so than now, with the prospect that the Taliban could someday control Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, North Korea might develop nuclear-tipped missiles, Iran may soon become a nuclear power and terrorists could get a bomb... Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev briefly considered eliminating nuclear weapons, during their 1986 summit meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. The idea died when Mr. Reagan refused to abandon his missile defense program

April 20, 2009: Rome Will Host Arms Cuts Talks – The Moscow Times
The United States and Russia will hold talks on Friday in Rome as part of a strategy aimed at reducing their nuclear arsenals, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
"We are extremely pleased that the U.S. and Russia have decided to hold the talks by their delegations in Rome," Frattini told reporters Friday after a conference attended by former and current international leaders, including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

April 18, 2009: Gorbachev, Shultz find Reykjavik revived in Rome – Associated Press
ROME (AP) — Back in the Cold War, an eon ago, in a little white house in Iceland, the Russian and the American parried and probed each other as antagonists. And together they almost rid the world of doomsday arms. Today, slower of step but hardly of wit, Mikhail S. Gorbachev and George P. Shultz are allied in that same common cause, and watched as their two countries' new presidents joined this month in the unprecedented step of declaring their governments partners in pursuing the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons.

April 13, 2009: Gorbachev's Great Expectations – The Washington Post
Mikhail Gorbachev came to Washington last month as part of a tour inspired by the promise of a thaw in U.S.-Russian relations. The former General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and first Soviet President met with American academics and officials, including President Obama and Vice President Biden. Throughout his trip, he argued that the United States and Russia share three fundamental goals, all of which will be impossible to achieve without working as equal partners: controlling nuclear weapons, dealing with Islamic extremism, and cooperating on environmental issues. But finding common ground from which to negotiate won't be easy.

April 7, 2009: Hiroshima mayor praises Obama's 'anti-nuke weapon' comments - The Mainichi Daily News
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba held an impromptu press conference on Monday to praise the speech given by U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague in which he indicated his strong commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons. … "President Obama said, 'As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act,' defining U.S. responsibility in a historical context." Akiba said of Obama's speech. "The world is gradually turning into one in which denuclearization is possible."

November 19, 2008: Unarmed Costa Rica urges global military cuts - Agence France Presse
"Oscar Arias Sanchez, president of the unarmed state of Costa Rica, called on Wednesday for a global reduction of military spending as a matter of international security. 'The perverse logic that leads a poor nation to spend excessive sums on its armies, and not on its people, is exactly the antithesis of human security, and a serious threat to international security' said Arias in an address before the UN Security Council, over which Costa Rica presides this month. Although Costa Rica has no military, "it is not a naive nation," stressed Arias, a 1987 Novel Peace Prize laureate."

November 19, 2008: UN urges money to fight poverty, not for arms - The Associated Press
"The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday urged all countries to devote as much money as possible to fighting poverty and limit military spending to the lowest level to ensure security. Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, said Article 26 of the U.N. Charter calls for the council to formulate plans to promote international peace and security 'with the least diversion for armaments.' But until now, he said, Article 26 has been 'a dead letter in the vast cemetery of intentions for world peace.' 'The least diversion of resources' means, first and foremost, finding alternatives to excessive military spending that do not damage security,' said Arias, whose country does not have a standing army."

October 19, 2008: Amid meltdown, Latin America can now view US as 'banana republic' – The Associated Press
"In a matter of weeks, a Russian naval squadron will arrive in the waters off Latin America for the first time since the Cold War. It is already getting a warm welcome from some in a region where the influence of the United States is in decline… Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias, says Venezuela offers Latin America about four or five times as much money as the United States. Costa Rica has become the 19th member of Petrocaribe, through which Chavez sells Caribbean and Central American nations cut-rate oil at very low interest."

September 30, 2008: India - Arms Trade Treaty; business as usual for India? – The Hindu
"Political will is required to come forward in support of the Arms Trade Treaty. Over 1,000 people are killed every day by arms. Eight million small arms and light weapons are produced every year. Each year at least a third of a million people are killed directly with conventional weapons and many more are injured, abused, forcibly displaced and bereaved as a result of armed violence. … Fifteen Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and Oscar Arias, have called on governments to work for a treaty, in order to stop irresponsible arms exports ‘which are causing the peoples of the world so much pain and destruction’."

September 11, 2008: Costa Rica reitera su compromiso "indeclinable" en la lucha contra ETA - Agencia EFE - Servicio General
"El ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Costa Rica, Bruno Stagno, reiteró hoy el compromiso ‘indeclinable’ de su país en la lucha contra ETA y contra todas las organizaciones terroristas, ‘independientemente de las motivaciones ideológicas con que pretendan justificar sus actos’. Stagno ratificó este compromiso en un comunicado conjunto suscrito con el jefe de la diplomacia española, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, como cierre de la visita a Madrid del presidente de Costa Rica, Óscar Arias."

March 31, 2008: Gorbachev to Lecture in Santa Fe - Albuquerque Journal
"SANTA FE— The pro-green, anti-nuke message that Mikhail Gorbachev is expected to deliver during a speech in Santa Fe next month will come perhaps at a fitting time for northern New Mexico. While Gorbachev prefers to deliver his remarks from notes jotted down on a notepad, an associate said environmentalism and nuclear disarmament— both hot topics in the City Different— will likely be themes of a lecture he'll give during an April 14 visit, which is a fundraiser for the Santa Fe Institute..."

May 10, 2008 – Nuclear terrorism is a likely event – Knoxville News Sentinel
"At a Senate hearing recently, Undersecretary of Energy for Intelligence and Analysis Charles Allen testifi ed, "Al-Qaida wants a nuclear weapon to use." It is well known that al-Qaida considers it a religious duty to acquire a nuclear weapon, and its spokesperson has claimed the right to kill 4 million Americans. During the 2004 presidential election, both candidates agreed that the greatest threat to U.S. security is nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists. Yet this threat is being dealt with as a routine matter…Of at least equal if not greater concern is what Princeton professor Frank von Hippel calls significant quantities of HEU in some 140 locations around the world in research and medical isotope production reactors and in associated fuel development and fabrication facilities, many with only minimum security..."

November 7, 2007: Veteran Sri Lankan diplomat offers advice to Lebanon - The Daily Star
"'I am an Asian, and I am proud that this place is part of Asia,' Sri Lanka diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala told the The Daily Star in an interview in Baabda on Tuesday. A former ambassador to Switzerland and the United States and United Nations undersecretary general for disarmament from 1998-2003, Dhanapala is in Lebanon for two weeks on a private visit. In an exclusive interview, he talked about his diplomatic experience, his international role as a disarmament expert and his vision as the new global president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs."

November 6, 2007: Putin Warns Russia Has Enemies - The Moscow Times
"President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that there were people in the world who wanted to split up Russia and, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States, were attempting 'to rule over mankind'... Putin also awarded the Pushkin Medal for promoting Russian culture abroad to a number of foreign academics. Past recipients of the award include Thomas Graham, a former senior official in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush."

September 21, 2007: Four New Messengers of Peace Designated to Raise Awareness on the UN’s Work and Ideals – UN News Service
"These four distinguished individuals join primatologist Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom, Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and cellist Yo-Yo Ma as UN Messengers of Peace...'All these different problems that face us today – the environmental ones and the social ones and they’re all linked – and if we laid down our weapons tomorrow and had a moment of peace, this wouldn’t last very long unless we learn to conserve the natural world on which we depend,' Ms. Goodall, who champions environmental causes, said at today’s press briefing."

July 31, 2007: US-India Nuke Deal May Spark Asian Arms Race- Inter Press Service
"The development of a nuclear/strategic alliance between the United States and India may promote arms racing between India and Pakistan, and (between) India and China," says John Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy.
The deal, he told IPS, also undermines prospects for global agreements on nuclear restraint and disarmament. An equally negative reaction came from former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala: "It has the dangerous potential of triggering a nuclear arms race among India, Pakistan and China, with disastrous consequences for Asian peace and stability and Asia's emerging economic boom."

July 2, 2007: U.N.: Major Powers won't ratify anti-nuclear terrorism treaty - Inter Press Service
"A long-awaited international convention against nuclear terrorism will come into force next week, nine years after it was originally proposed by Russia. The convention was adopted about 10 months ago by the 192-member U.N. General Assembly. Most of the major powers, however, including those with nuclear weapons, are choosing not to ratify it, at least so far….'The entry into force of the Nuclear Terrorism Convention must of course be welcomed as a demonstration of the consensus within the international community that nuclear weapons must not be acquired by terrorist groups,' said a former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala."

June 2, 2007: Expert sees little concern with waste at Yucca - The Las Vegas Review
"Radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain is third on Frank von Hippel's list of nuclear fears, behind threats posed by nuclear weapons and safety of power reactors. 'The danger with radioactive waste doesn't register that much unless you do something totally irresponsible,' said von Hippel, a theoretical physicist who directs Princeton University's Center for Science and Global Security. Von Hippel discussed the issue Friday at a University of Nevada, Las Vegas symposium where he delivered the keynote address, 'When nuclear fears come into conflict: Fears of radioactive waste vs. the fear of nuclear-weapon proliferation.' He said the United States should store highly radioactive spent fuel in dry casks on concrete pads until better solutions to the problem surface."

May 25, 2007: More should be done to "clean out" excess weapons-grade nuclear materials, specialists say - States News Service
"Despite progress in reducing the worldwide supply of plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU), the essential ingredients for nuclear weapons, much needs to be done, including more attention to fuel from naval reactors and other reactors that have escaped general notice, according to a leading specialist on fissile materials. Frank von Hippel, a professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University, discussed the status of the global effort to 'clean out' nuclear-weapon materials at a 25 May Capitol Hill seminar sponsored by AAAS's Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy.Reducing the amount of weapons-grade nuclear material and the number of locations where it can be found will reduce the threat that such material might fall into the hands of terrorist groups, von Hippel said. 'In the end, it's all about having less of it in the world,' he said. 'To the extent that we can accomplish that, we'll make the world a safer place.'"

MPI Steering Committee and Consultants... In The Media

June 1, 2009: Proposal demands full public debate – Edmonton Journal
Colin Hunt, director of research and publications for the Canadian Nuclear Association, has a vested interest in the development of nuclear power and suggests that Douglas Roche's ("An open, honest nuclear debate; Alberta's 'public consultation' on nuclear power seems designed to quash any opposition to the plan," Ideas, May 6) is unaware of the facts about nuclear power… As Roche says, before we bring nuclear plants to Alberta, let's have a truly public debate of all aspects of the subject between knowledgeable people on behalf of the nuclear, hydrocarbon and alternative energy industries (including environmental problems), so that Albertans can help our government decide more intelligently.

June 1, 2009: Awards just spur Roche on to greater effort - Edmonton Journal
When Douglas Roche feels the pressure of retired life as a former senator and member of Parliament and officer of the Order of Canada, who turns 80 in two weeks, clears his mind swimming laps at a pool. Roche's public life has not been without controversy. His unusual political career path began as a Progressive Conservative in the Edmonton-Strathcona riding and later in Edmonton South. Then-Liberal leader Jean Chrétien appointed Roche to the Senate in 1998, where he sat as an Independent.

May 27, 2009: Japan pins hopes on U.S. for global abolition of nuclear weapons - Mainichi Daily News
The challenges standing in the way of world peace, such as piracy and nuclear disarmament, have undergone a dramatic change since the Cold War era. Under such circumstances, it is not only the Japanese government that needs a shift in its thinking… "President Obama has assured us that the vast majority of the world is absolutely right in asserting that nuclear weapons should be abolished. He has given all of us new energy and hope," said Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba in a speech given at U.N. Headquarters in New York on May 5. He praised Obama's speech in Prague, saying that it stands on the same moral foundation as his own and that of many others. However, the U.S. objective for pushing nuclear disarmament is to gain international support for nuclear nonproliferation to prevent nuclear terrorism. While Akiba has asked that Hiroshima be chosen for the site of the international summit meeting on nuclear weapons that Obama has pledged to hold by next year, the focus of the conference is not on nuclear disarmament, but rather on the role of "nuclear security" to prevent nuclear terrorism.

May 18, 2009: Canada urged to press for end to nuclear weapons - Western Catholic Reporter
OTTAWA — Representatives of three organizations called upon the Canadian government to endorse U.S. President Obama’s commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons... Senator Douglas Roche, the former Canadian ambassador for disarmament, said he had joined 170 Order of Canada recipients in writing to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking that Canada “resume its traditional forthright stance to work toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.”

May 17, 2009: Albertans must have nuclear facts – Edmonton Journal
Re: "An open, honest nuclear debate; Alberta's 'public consultation' on nuclear power seems designed to quash any opposition to the plan," by Douglas Roche, Ideas, May 6. Douglas Roche's opinion piece adds some powerful positive arguments, and a few unfortunate negatives, to the ongoing discussion of nuclear energy for Alberta.

May 17, 2009: Another mouth to feed – Edmonton Journal
Douglas Roche suggests that nuclear stakeholders downplay the risk of nuclear accidents, the staggering costs to taxpayers of nuclear power, the link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and the immense unexplored new potential of alternate sources of energy.

May 16, 2009: Developing Nations Seek Assurances on Nuclear Arms - Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- U.N. nuclear talks hit a roadblock Friday as Cuba, Iran and other developing nations demanded that the five original nuclear powers accept legally binding commitments to dismantle their nuclear arsenals and provide assurances they will not use such weapons against states that do not possess atomic weapons... Some arms control experts said it is unfair to cast all the blame for the breakdown in talks on Iran and Cuba. Rebecca Johnson, an expert on the treaty at the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, said France has resisted any undertaking requiring a reduction of its own nuclear stockpile.

May 15, 2009: Developing Nations Seek Assurances on Nuclear Arms – TheWashington Post
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. nuclear talks hit a roadblock Friday as Cuba, Iran and other developing nations demanded that the five original nuclear powers accept legally binding commitments to dismantle their nuclear arsenals and provide assurances they will not use such weapons against states that do not possess atomic weapons... Rebecca Johnson, an expert on the treaty at the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, said France has resisted any undertaking requiring a reduction of its own nuclear stockpile.

May 15, 2009: UN nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty debate ends with no agreement on final document – China View
UNITED NATIONS- Two weeks of debate at UN World Headquarters in New York over the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ended on Friday without reaching agreement on a final document, despite last minute negotiations... But, not reaching such accord was not necessarily a bad thing, Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, told Xinhua.

May 15, 2009: Delegates hail success of nuclear meeting – Taiwan News
Delegates hailed the success of a two-week meeting to prepare for a major conference next year to review the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, even though it ended Friday without specific recommendations on disarmament, nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy... Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, said "people shouldn't get depressed that these recommendations couldn't be agreed now, because it was really worthwhile to have the initial debate that highlighted where the problems lie."

May 15, 2009: ANALYSIS-Obama boosts nuclear talks, split remains – Reuters
UNITED NATIONS - Talks on reforming a 1970 nuclear arms treaty ended on Friday with signs of progress due to President Barack Obama's vow to reduce the U.S. arsenal, but the wide chasm between rich and poor states remains. "All of those countries demonstrated real flexibility where it mattered," said Rebecca Johnson, head of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy think-tank.

May 12, 2009: Harper urged to show leeadership in abolishing nuclear weapons - Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, ON – Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was urged by U.S. and Canadian nuclear weapons experts to show leadership in abolishing nuclear weapons. Dr. Bruce Blair, one of Washington’s foremost experts on disarmament and co-coordinator of Global Zero, a global initiative to eliminate nuclear weapons, called on the Prime Minister to support international efforts to abolish nuclear weapons... Dr. Blair was joined by Dr. Michael Dworkind, President of Physicians for Global Survival (PGS), and Senator Douglas Roche (retired), who released a letter signed by over 170 Order of Canada recipients, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to strongly support negotiation of a nuclear weapons convention.

May 11, 2009: 'Consultation' a joke – Edmonton Journal
Douglas Roche's article shows the kind of political leadership that we should expect from our government. The Stelmach government's biased selection of the nuclear panel and flawed public consultation process are not isolated cases. The same "public consultation process" has been used for the last 20 years, so the public can vent while the government continues to allow whatever decision makes the greatest profit for big industries.

October 27, 2008: Kyodo news summary -8-+ - Kyodo News
" Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba on Monday handed at least 370,000 signatures to U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Akiba met with d'Escoto at U.N. headquarters in New York, where he and a group of atomic bomb survivors attended a U.N. meeting on nuclear weapon issues."

October 27, 2008: Hiroshima mayor hands 370,000 anti-nuke signatures to U.N. – Kyodo News
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba on Monday handed at least 370,000 signatures to "U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons… At least 20,000 of the 370,000 signatures were those of high school students, collected by their peers in Hiroshima. 'The president (of the general assembly) had a strong interest in Hiroshima,' Akiba told reporters after his meeting with d’Escoto. 'My meeting with him was not like petitioning a politician. The president spoke passionately about his feelings toward abolishing nuclear weapons,’ Akiba said."

October 26, 2008: Mayors for Peace push for nuke ban – The Gazette (Montreal)
"Guernica, Auschwitz, Hiroshima; all are seared in memory as the heavy tolls of war. And it is city dwellers who can now best help prevent other annihilations, Hiroshima's mayor says. ‘It's at the city level that we remember and digest those tragedies,’ Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of the Japanese city, said yesterday during a visit to promote a plan to ban all nuclear weapons by 2020."

October 20, 2008: On Central Asian steppes, inspectors rehearse global nuclear test ban treaty – Daily Times
"Arcania does not exist on any map, but nuclear inspectors believe it could help save the world from catastrophe… The imaginary country they have set in the vast steppes of Central Asia is the site of an ongoing month-long exercise that organisers say could provide essential groundwork for a global alarm system for detecting nuclear explosions. The initiative has its roots in the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which was signed by 35 of the 44 states that participated in a 1996 disarmament conference and that, at the time, possessed nuclear power or research reactors. … ‘The biggest problem there has been over the past eight years is that US President George W Bush’s administration has been dead set against the CTBTO,’ said Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Policy."

October 19, 2008: An Imaginary Country With a Very Real Purpose - The Associated Press
"The imaginary country they have set in the vast steppes of Central Asia is the site of an exercise that organizers say could provide essential groundwork for a global alarm system for detecting nuclear explosions… The current game is meant to prove the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO, can verify and enforce the treaty's terms… Participants said the treaty is essential to the future of nonproliferation. ‘If we don't get the treaty, I can guarantee you that the nonproliferation regime will not have long to last’ said Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. And nuclear arms in the hands of unstable governments will lead inevitably to ‘a heightened risk of accidental use that could be catastrophic.' "

October 8, 2008: Professor Ives Combats Nuclear Weapons – The Quinnipiac Chronicle
"After seven years of hard work fighting nuclear proliferation as the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, professor David Ives has been appointed to the International Steering Committee for the Middle Powers Initiative… "Mainly I'll be working with various government ministries to combat nuclear weapons," Ives said… Ives believes he received the appointment through a combination of his work on nonproliferation issues and the good reputation of Albert Schweitzer and the Schweitzer Institute. The Schweitzer Institute is one of eight international organizations that make up the Middle Powers Initiative."

September 22, 2008: Green leader calls for Canada to take stronger role in nuclear disarmament - The Canadian Press
"EDMONTON - Green party Leader Elizabeth May is calling on Canada to take a stronger role in global nuclear disarmament.... She was joined by Douglas Roche, a former senator who was Canada's ambassador on disarmament to the United Nations. Roche - a former Progressive Conservative - says the Green party has the best plan to help get rid of the 25,000 nuclear weapons that still exist throughout the world."

September 8, 2008: Hiroshima, Nagasaki leaders disappointed by NSG waver to India - New Orleans Sun (and others)
(ANI): "Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and Nagasaki Governor Genjiro Kaneko have expressed disappointment that a US proposal to lift the global ban on nuclear trade with India has received international approval. Akiba issued a statement saying it is 'totally disappointing'."

September 3, 2008: Pelosi on historic Hiroshima Visit - SBS World News
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been praised in Japan for becoming the most senior sitting American official to visit the country's atom bomb memorial at Hiroshima… "I believe it was significant that they directly saw and heard the city's experience after the nuclear attack," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said.

September 3, 2008: G8 speakers’ summit upstaged- The Japan Times
Lower house speakers from the Group of Eight nations promised Tuesday to strengthen efforts to uphold and reinforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty…Monday, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba pleaded with G8 leaders to eliminate nuclear weapons, which he said was their obligation and within their power to do.

August 10, 2008: Nagasaki marks 63rd anniversary of A-bombing - Daily Yomiuri - NAGASAKI--The Nagasaki municipal government held a ceremony Saturday marking the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, at which participants called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. Representatives of surviving victims, bereaved families, the prime minister and Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba placed flowers at the site.

August 8, 2008: Disarmed to nuclear danger - The Star
"It's striking that the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons – arguably the most pressing issue humankind faces – has slipped so far off the political agenda it rarely merits a mention... A group of disarmament experts, led by former Canadian disarmament ambassador Douglas Roche, met in Ottawa last February in an effort to push the Harper government to resume that sort of leadership role – to no avail, or even media interest."

August 8, 2008: Mayors lead disarmament push – Asahi Shimbun- In Nagasaki's peace declaration Saturday marking the 63rd anniversary of its atomic bombing, Mayor Tomihisa Taue is set to take an unprecedented step. He will cite statements by former high-ranking officials of the United States, the country that bombed the city on Aug. 9, 1945, who now oppose possessing nuclear weapons. They include Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Taue's step follows Wednesday's peace declaration by Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, who expressed his hope that the new U.S. president would "listen conscientiously to the majority" of people wishing for nuclear abolition.

August 7, 2008: Hiroshima marks A-bombing – Daily Yomiuri- HIROSHIMA, Japan - About 45,000 people attended a memorial ceremony Wednesday at the Peace Memorial Park here to mark the 63rd anniversary of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of the city. Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a peace declaration that the majority of the world wants to abolish nuclear weapons as shown by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signed by about 190 states.

August 6, 2008: Hiroshima mayor hopes next US pres backs nuke ban - International Herald Tribune
"Hiroshima's mayor urged the next U.S. president to support a proposed ban on nuclear weapons Wednesday, as Japan marked the 63rd anniversary of the atomic blast that obliterated this city and killed 140,000 people...At the ceremony, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba also announced the launch of a two-year study to gauge the psychological toll of the Aug. 6, 1945, attack in the closing days of World War II."

August 6, 2008: Hiroshima marks A-bomb Anniversary - The Asahi Shimbun
"Hiroshima marked the 63rd anniversary of its atomic bombing Wednesday with Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba saying he hopes the new U.S. president will support the elimination of nuclear weapons. 'We can only hope that the president of the United States elected this November will listen conscientiously to the majority, for whom the top priority is human survival,' said Akiba in his Peace Declaration."

August 6, 2008: 45,000 people attend Hiroshima memorial ceremony - ITAR-TASS
"One thousand white pigeons flew up in Hiroshima on Wednesday during a traditional ceremony in memory of the victims of the American atomic bombardment of 53 years ago. The ceremony, which took place in the memorial Peace Park, was attended by about 45,000 people, among them Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the leaders of both houses of parliament, and representatives of foreign countries, including those of Russia...Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, in a traditional Peace Declaration, condemned the United States for continuous counteraction to efforts towards disarmament. He recalled that the US had been among few countries that voted at the UN last year against a resolution, which called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The mayor said Hiroshima folks hope that the next US president to be elected in November would heed the voice of the majority that regards mankind's survival as top priority."

August 1, 2008: Nuclear Arms Are No Longer 'Necessary Evils' - InterPress Service
"UNITED NATIONS - As citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are painfully reminded of the horrors of atomic bombings that devastated the two Japanese cities in August 1945, one of the country's most influential peace organisations is intensifying its longstanding efforts for nuclear disarmament... As the city commemorates the harrowing event next week, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba says Hiroshima is currently one of the key campaigners, along with Mayors for Peace, for a 2020 vision on nuclear disarmament: a proposal to end nuclear weapons by the year 2020."

July 25, 2008: Canadian leader asks to stop Indo-US Nuke deal - MyNews.In
"The proposed US-India nuclear trade deal would critically undermine the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and must be stopped, former Canadian Senator Douglas Roche, Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative, said."

July 13, 2008: Thinkers' Lodge named historic site - The Chronicle Herald
"PUGWASH — To many Nova Scotians, Pugwash is a village east of Amherst noted for salt, fish and silversmiths. But elsewhere on the planet, the name Pugwash is bigger than a village...The announcement came on the final day of a July 10-12 conference hosted by Middle Powers Initiative and the Pugwash Peace Exchange, called Pugwash, Parliamentarians and Political Will: Advancing the Agenda for Abolition. The international conference attracted more than 500 lawmakers from 70 countries who are members of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. Halifax MP Alexa McDonough chaired a dinner-table discussion between senators Romeo Dallaire and Emeritus Douglas Roche on the possibility of preventing nuclear genocide and abolishing nuclear arms."

June 30, 2008: Descending the 'nuclear mountain' is a tall order - New Straits Times
"IT felt nice last month to hear leading nations' representatives exhorting India, billed as the land of Buddha and Gandhi, and also a responsible nuclear nation, to lead the world to universal nuclear disarmament...India's changed and changing status was underlined by US (sic) senator Douglas Roche, former chairman of the UN Disarmament Committee. 'The Western states dismissed Rajiv Gandhi's plan,' he recalled. 'And, truth to tell, the changing governments of India lost heart that a country could be powerful and non-nuclear at the same time and turned India into a nuclear weapons state.'"

June, 2008: Disarm, or You'll Destroy the World- India Strategic
"Nuclear weapons are not safe, no matter in whose hands they are. Worse, if they reach the hands of non-state actors like the jihadis, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh warned while opening the International Conference on 'Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.'... India’s changed and changing status, while adhering to the principle of universal nuclear disarmament was underlined by an old India hand, US (sic) Senator Douglas Roche, former Chairman of the UN Disarmament Committee."

June 9, 2008: Chinese against US missile defence plan - Howrah News Service
"The establishment of a global missile defence system and its deployment in some parts of the world will hinder international nuclear arms control efforts, according to a former Chinese diplomat...Echoing similar sentiments, Mr Douglas Roche, a former Canadian senator and former chairman of UN disarmament committee, has said the cooperation necessary to develop confidence in negotiating further reductions of nuclear arsenals has been weakened by the US’s insistence on deploying a missile defence system in Poland (for interceptors) and the Czech Republic (for installing radar). Asserting that the US and Russia do not have the vision and the intention to achieve a nuclear weapons-free world, Mr Roche said that the US and Russia want everyone else to shut up while they go about trying to keep Iran and other potential nuclear weapons states from acquiring the ultimate weapons. 'This intimidation must be resisted,' he said."

June 9, 2008: N-issue: Follow path of Gandhis - Howrah News Service
"India must emulate the leadership of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and participate vigorously in the new discussion on nuclear disarmament, said Mr Douglas Roche, a former Canadian senator and former chairman of United Nations Disarmament Committee."

June 9, 2008: PM warns of N-Terror Attack, says global disarmament a distant dream - The Tribune
"Making a strong case for the implementation of Rajiv Gandhi’s ambitious plan for universal nuclear disarmament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cautioned the international community of the risk of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) falling into the hands of terrorists... Top strategic experts and diplomats like Jonathan Granoff, president of the Global Security Initiative (sic), Douglas Roche, former head of the UN disarmament committee, George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ivan Safranchuk, a Russian expert, and Li Chang-he, vice-president, China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, are participating in it."

June 9, 2008: Limiting Energy Options a Luxury: PM - The Statesman
" NEW DELHI, June 9: Pitching for the Indo-US nuclear deal in a veiled manner, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country did not have the “luxury” of limiting options of energy and that nuclear technology was essential for meeting the national development goals and energy security.“Our energy needs will continue to rise in the foreseeable future,” he said while inaugurating a conference 'Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons' here... The Prime Minister’s emphasis that India had “no intention” to engage in an arms race with anyone, and was “fully committed to nuclear disarmament that is global, universal and non-discriminatory in nature”, a goal which will enhance security of all countries, was appreciated by the participants with Canadian senator Mr Douglas Roche who is a former chairman of the UN Disarmament Committee stating that he was 'moved by the courage of the Prime Minister'. Mr Roche observed that 'there is renewed desire in India to once more strike a stance to rid the world of nuclear Armageddon.'"

March 27, 2008: Government to celebrate 20 years of Rajiv Gandhi's Peace Plan - Thaindian.com
" New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which showed reluctance to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests, is rolling out the red carpet for a host of renowned scholars and experts from the world to celebrate 20 years of Rajiv Gandhi’s Peace Plan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will inaugurate a two-day international conference on 'Towards a world free of nuclear weapons' to be held at the Hotel Maurya Sheraton June 9...Among the big names invited for the conference are: Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, the UN high representative for disarmament, Senator Douglas Roche, Jonathan Granoff, Garry Jacobs and George Perkovich from the US, Sergei Rogov and Ivan Safranchuk from Russia, Li Chang He from China, Sverre Lodgard from Norway and Rory Medcalf from Australia."

May 5, 2008: A Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - History News Network
"Although few people are aware of it, there has been considerable progress over the past decade toward a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons... In 1997, like its predecessor, this updated convention for nuclear abolition was circulated within the United Nations, this time at the request of Costa Rica and Malaysia. In addition, it was presented at a number of international conclaves, including a March 2008 meeting of non-nuclear governments in Dublin, sponsored by the Middle Powers Initiative and by the government of Ireland."

March 31, 2008: Federal Senator Joins Green Party Leader, Liberal and NDP MPs to Discuss Canada's Role in Peacebuilding - Canadian Newswire
"TORONTO, March 31 /CNW/ - On April 4, 2008, a public forum will be held with Hon. Douglas Roche featuring Elizabeth May, Olivia Chow and BorysWrzesnewskyj, in a lively multi-party political roundtable discussion on how Canada can be a peacebuilder in the world and how Canadians can play apositive role in Afghanistan in peacebuilding and development efforts..."

March 28, 2008: Minister Urges Focus on Nuclear Weapons - The Irish Times
"FEAR OF international terrorism has distracted from the 'very great' threat of nuclear weapons, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said yesterday. Addressing a conference of nuclear disarmament experts at Dublin Castle, Mr Ahern said that the world's attention had been distracted by other crises. 'In the past number of years, and in the aftermath of the cold war, such threats as international terrorism and climate change have often been seen as demanding more urgent attention than nuclear weapons, but the risks indeed remain very great,' Mr Ahern told the conference of the Middle Powers Initiative. The initiative is an international body opposed to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Mr Ahern said the debate about nuclear weapons was returning to the forefront. 'I therefore welcome the return over the past year of serious debate on nuclear disarmament, particularly in the nuclear weapons states.' Mr Ahern criticised the recent lack of action on nuclear disarmament. In 2000, he said, nuclear weapons states agreed to 13 steps to begin cutting their arsenals. 'It is a matter of great concern and disappointment that the intervening years have seen little advance in the implementation of these 13 steps and indeed that some of the nuclear weapon states have called this commitment into question.'"

February 20, 2008: Experts suspicious of 'splatellite' plan: The US government's decision to shoot down its errant spy satellite has met with concern - Nature
"A plan by the US government to shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite has been described as a cynical tit-for-tat move in response to China doing the same last year. Scientists and arms-control experts fear that the operation will create damaging debris and weaken international efforts to ban space weaponry...'It would reinforce people’s sense of the United States as being irresponsible,' says Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy in London. The United States has blocked a ban on space weapons for more than a decade on the grounds that it would interfere with its right to develop a missile-defence programme. Using that system to destroy an orbiting satellite would probably anger countries such as Russia.

February 18, 2008: Activists Demand UK Disarm Weapons- AOL
"Activists have accused the government of maintaining double standards on the issue of nuclear weapons. At the Global Summit for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World, speakers called on Gordon Brown to "make good" the promise to abolish nuclear weapons in the UK before advocating such measures abroad. Dr Rebecca Johnson of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy said: "It is simply not enough to extol the vision of a nuclear free world while billions are already being spent on equipping AWE Aldermaston (the Atomic Weapons Establishment and home of Trident warhead production) with a new laser and supercomputer to design more warheads."

February 16, 2008: SNP group aims to dump Trident- Sunday Herald
"The Scottish government has set up an expert group to investigate how best to get rid of nuclear weapons, the Sunday Herald can reveal.The group, to be chaired by Bruce Crawford MSP, the minister for parliamentary business, is seen by many as a crucial step towards making Scotland a nuclear-free nation - and could trigger a confrontation with Westminster...The 13-strong group includes the Rev Dr David Sinclair from the Church of Scotland; John Deighan from the Roman Catholic Church; Osama Saeed from the Scottish Islamic Foundation; Professor William Walker from the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews and Dr Rebecca Johnson of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy."

February 7, 2008: Hibakusha: Breeding young anti-nuclear ambassadors for peace in the US- Mainichi Daily
"The rain has stopped, but the December sky over Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park is cold and dreary. Shuntaro Hida, 91, stands leaning on his cane. An illness in spring sapped the strength in his lower body. Generally he declines speaking invitations that take him far from his home in Saitama City, but this particular occasion is something he had long been looking forward to. He has come to Hiroshima to address visiting American university students from Chicago...Before returning home, the Chicago students met with Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba. Akiba handed them a letter, asking that they deliver it to his Chicago-area counterparts..."

January 28, 2008: U.S.: Congress Considers Bush's Nuclear Deal with India - InterPress Service
"The Democratic-led U.S. Congress is coming under heavy pressure from environmental and arms control lobbyists to reject the White House's move to sell U.S. nuclear technologies to India...Issacs said the deal would not only increase India's capability to produce nuclear weapons but would also send the wrong message to Pakistan in a time of crisis in that country. David Krieger, the president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, which is also part of the coalition, agreed."

January 18 2008: U.S. must lead way by dumping nuclear arms- The Commercial Appeal"When Americans stop next week to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., most will recall his remarkable efforts in the struggle for civil rights, but fewer may remember his dream to free all of mankind from the threat of nuclear annihilation…Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba writes: 'Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced what felt like the end of the world. Whole families, neighborhoods, and communities vanished in seconds. The sheer magnitude of the destruction, horror, pain, and despair led to an understanding among the survivors that human beings can no longer resolve conflicts through contests of destructive power. Such contests can have no winners. They threaten our entire species. War is obsolete. Nuclear war is out of the question.' His words echo those of Martin Luther King over four decades ago.

January 17, 2008: U.S. Groups Band Together to Stop Nuclear Transfer to India - Yahoo!News
"NEW YORK, Jan 17 (OneWorld) - A diverse coalition of environmental and peace organizations in the United States is urging Congress to reject the Bush administration's move to send nuclear technologies to India...David Krieger, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, which is part of the campaign opposing the nuclear deal with India, agrees with Isaacs. '[This] deal will worsen nuclear dangers by undermining the nuclear nonproliferation regime, increasing India's nuclear weapons capacity, provoking Pakistan and possibly China,' he told OneWorld."

November 30, 2007: Ballistic Missile Defence: Where does Canada stand? - In View
"Fierce opposition from Russia has not stopped the United States from forging ahead with its plan to install a ballistic missile defence shield in Eastern Europe. Amidst the controversy, Canada sits quietly on the sideline...Canada’s former Ambassador for disarmament Douglas Roche decried the U.S. plan to install a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, saying it will instigate an arms race and destabilize international relations.'The ballistic missile defence system is a fraud and it’s the beginning of the weaponization of space ... It’s a fraud because it is not proven technologically, and philosophically it undermines all efforts being made to create a cooperative security regime.'"

November 21, 2007: Canada edges toward deadly nuclear embrace - The Star
"The growing uncertainty over the status of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is another reminder that these weapons continue to threaten the world, and suggests why Canada should be pushing for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, worldwide...Our ambassador, on instructions from Ottawa, abstained on an important UN resolution 'calling on Nuclear Weapons States to lower the operating status of nuclear weapons.' This was the first time such a motion had made it to a vote. The intent of the motion, championed by retired Canadian senator Douglas Roche and his organization, the Middle Powers Initiative, was to lengthen the time required for a nuclear launch, reducing the risk of an accidental or premature launch."

November 19, 2007: Doug Roche revisits impact of Vatican II - Western Catholic Reporter
"Douglas Roche has challenged Newman Theological College to hold seminars and workshops to mark the 50th anniversary of Pope John XXIII convoking the Second Vatican Council...'Without voices like his we might let our vigilance wane and we do so at our peril,' Smith said of Roche's decades-long crusade for nuclear disarmament."

October 31, 2007: Doug Roche Adds Some Hope in the Fight Against War, Nukes and Poverty - Embassy Magazine
"It might seem like a stretch to consider that a man who is a four-time elected Conservative member of Parliament, a former ambassador and senator, has become a self-admitted counter-cultural figure. But that's where Doug Roche is today. What makes Mr. Roche counter-cultural is not his appearance or his demeanor. Outwardly he is the buttoned-down former member for Edmonton-Strathcona. He doesn't rage. He is, in fact, one of the gentlest people one can meet on Parliament Hill. Yet his uncompromising view of war, nuclear weapons and poverty make him a man apart."

October 25, 2007: Where are we on World War III? - The Globe and Mail
"This White House talk of World War III can't be happening. Not after the lessons of Iraq. Not possible.But it's happening, it's real, it's crazy - and there's hardly a peep from this country. "These guys are out of control," says Douglas Roche, our former disarmament ambassador, of the latest Bush-Cheney sabre-rattling on Iran - of their war-as-a-first-resort mentality. "Out of control."

October 11, 2007: Michael Byers brings attention to Canada’s leadership potential on the global stage- Ceasefire.ca
"On September 11, 2007, Dr. Michael Byers, distinguished foreign policy scholar and director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues, addressed a gathering of decision makers and opinion leaders on Parliament Hill to launch his book Intent for a Nation: What Is Canada For? and to bring attention to Canada’s leadership potential on the global stage... "The book concludes by highlighting the need for Canadians to exercise global citizenship. He provides examples of Canadians contributing to international justice (including) Douglas Roche raising awareness of the urgent need for nuclear disarmament...”

September 28, 2007: Who Are Great Canadians? Five people who prove our nation's potential - The Tyee
"I'd like to introduce you to just a few remarkable Canadians, as exemplars of what this country is -- and could be... DOUGLAS ROCHE is a former member of Parliament from Edmonton who served as the Progressive Conservative Party's critic for external affairs during the late 1970s. In 1984, he was chosen by Brian Mulroney to be Canada's ambassador for disarmament to the United Nations. There, Roche served as chair of the Disarmament Commission, a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly that meets in New York City each spring. In 1998, Jean Chrétien appointed Roche to the Senate, where he chose to sit as an independent..."

September 25, 2007: Pursue Diplomacy, Not War, With Iran - Global Research
"As Bush and Cheney once again go through the motions of diplomacy as they did during the run-up to war with Iraq , they move steadily toward war. They would do well to heed the sentiments of the Bipartisan Security Group, which advocates the Middle Powers Initiative. That statement says, “Resolution of differences between the United States and Iran through diplomatic means has become imperative. The catastrophe of Iraq should inform us that the use of force under present circumstances will bring even greater tragedy to the war-torn Middle East. Any threat to unilaterally use overwhelming force is irresponsibly hazardous. There is no imminent threat posed by Iran. There is a practical, legal and moral obligation to obtain security through peaceful and law abiding means.”"

September 24, 2007: Global Problems Demand Global Democracy - Today's Zamman
"“World problems need world politics,” said Kofi Annan when he set about reforming the UN to meet the needs of a globalising world. Successive World Summits failed to rise to his challenge. A more democratic approach to global governance is now needed to enhance the UN’s capacity to act at global level... The UN is expected to deliver more services in more places, at greater cost, than ever before. Likewise trading bodies - which have no direct mandate to act in the interests of the world’s citizens - are increasingly invested with decision-making powers. This reflects Senator Douglas Roche’s observation that globalisation “has tended to increase the power of the executive branch while marginalising the legislative branch”.

September 22, 2007: Hiroshima, Nagasaki mayors protest LDP politician's remarks over N. Korean nuclear test - Mainichi Daily News
HIROSHIMA -- "Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba has delivered a protest letter to top Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) politician Taku Yamasaki after he described North Korea's nuclear test last year as a good thing because it revealed the country's nuclear weapons capability. The remarks were made by the former LDP vice president in a speech delivered in Tokyo on Tuesday. Responding quickly to Yamasaki's remarks, Mayor Akiba sent a protest letter to his office on Friday, according to city officials. 'The city of Hiroshima, which has been striving to abolish nuclear weapons, cannot accept these words,' the letter partly reads."

September 12, 2007: Senator Roche on the Need for Reslience on the Path to a Nuclear Weapon Free World - NukesOnaBlog
"This weekend, former Canadian Senator Douglas Roche, OC, who advises the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations on issues related to nuclear disarmament, made a stand out presentation to a conference co-hosted by the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation."

August 19, 2007: First Holyrood, next stop the UN - The Sunday Herald
"...Dr Rebecca Johnson, who co-founded the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, said it was legally possible for Scotland to join the UN. 'Scotland's first application should be the formal one for observer status as a country of transition,' she said. "This might take time, so in the interim a fallback position would be for the Executive to create a formal identity under UN rules and apply that way.' In an article for the Sunday Herald, advocate John Mayer also backs calls for a UN application. 'Scotland ought to be applying to the UN for observer status as a prelude to full membership once independence is here,' he said."

August 6, 2007: Hiroshima marks 62nd anniversary of atomic bombing- Kyodo News
"Citizens of Hiroshima and peace wishers from across Japan and abroad observed a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. Monday to mark the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima... Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba warned that proliferation of nuclear arms is gaining momentum because a ‘handful of old-fashioned leaders...are...turning their backs on the reality of the atomic bombings and the message of the hibakusha.’”

August 5, 2007: Hiroshima marks 62nd anniversary of atomic bombing- International Herald Tribune
"During the ceremony on Monday, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba urged the central government to stick to its war-renouncing Constitution. 'The Japanese government should comply with the nation's pacifist Constitution as it is and clearly say no to wrong and outdated policies of the United States," Akiba said."

August 2, 2007: Hiroshima mayor urges reconciliation in peace declaration- Kyodo News
"Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said Friday he will express the city's determination to oppose nuclear proliferation and request global reconciliation and understanding when he delivers a peace declaration next Tuesday marking the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the western Japan city... Akiba said that in addition to mourning the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, he will criticize the U.S. military action following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington last September and its repeated nuclear tests since then...'The prevailing belief in the right of the strongest and the right to retaliate will only create more victims, often the weakest in society, he said."

July 31, 2007: US-India Nuke Deal May Spark Asian Arms Race- Inter Press Service
"The development of a nuclear/strategic alliance between the United States and India may promote arms racing between India and Pakistan, and (between) India and China," says John Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy. The deal, he told IPS, also undermines prospects for global agreements on nuclear restraint and disarmament. An equally negative reaction came from former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala: "It has the dangerous potential of triggering a nuclear arms race among India, Pakistan and China, with disastrous consequences for Asian peace and stability and Asia's emerging economic boom."

July 23, 2007: Retired general wants cuts to nuclear arsenal - Canadian Catholic News
"If NATO countries do not start reducing their nuclear arsenals, they lack the moral authority to stop terrorists or rogue states from acquiring them, says Senator Romeo Dallaire... Ridding the world of nuclear weapons became a priority in Senator Dallaire's life a year ago, when retired senator Douglas Roche, a veteran peace and anti-nuclear advocate, asked him to host the 50th anniversary of the Pugwash Conferences earlier this month."

June 6, 2007: Thinking nuclear weapons were a thing of the past? - The Globe and Mail
"The second nuclear age? If you thought the first one, the Cold War, was menacing, check in with Douglas Roche."

June 11, 2007: Dispatch from Hiroshima; New peace message, via an American - Los Angeles Times
"Dig down below the 3 feet of topsoil that was dumped atop the ruins of central Hiroshima to make a memorial Peace Park and you'll still turn up bones, remains of Japanese civilians incinerated when an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic fireball over this spot one August morning in 1945…'Hiroshima feels an urgent need to have more connection to the world,' says Leeper, 59, who spent long stretches in Japan as a child and an adult. He says his mandate from Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba is to find a way to turn Hiroshima's misfortune as the original victim of nuclear war into more than just a sentimental force for peace."

July 7, 2004: Retired senator brings message of peace to campus- Express News
"War must be replaced with tolerance and non-violent resolution, says Douglas Roche, a recently retired senator and former University of Alberta professor. Roche visited campus yesterday with a message of peace, lecturing from his 17th and latest book, The Human Right to Peace."

BSG Experts... In The Media

May 26, 2009: A US test-ban could set off chain reaction - Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - A decade after its defeat on the Senate floor, the treaty to ban all nuclear bomb tests has found new life in the age of Obama. Victory this time may set dominoes toppling from Beijing to New Delhi and beyond..."What the nuclear powers do, in fact, does affect the decisions of other countries," veteran U.S. arms negotiator James Goodby told a nonproliferation conference in Washington last month. «And testing is perhaps the most visible of nuclear weapons activities.

March 12, 2009: US, Russia face tough discussions on weapons- The Washington Times
How does one count some of the world's deadliest weapons? Should nuclear warheads be separated from the missiles that carry them? Should conventional warheads be subject to reduction targets? … The article was written by Rose Gottemoeller, former deputy undersecretary of energy for defense nuclear nonproliferation and, until recently, director of theCarnegie Moscow, and Alexei Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security at the Academy of Sciences' Institute International Economy and International Relationships. Ms. Gottemoeller is expected to become assistant secretary of state for arms control, which would give her a major voice in policymaking.

March 9, 2009: U.S, Russia aim to cut nukes- The Washington Times
GENEVA | It's official - the U.S. and Russia want to revive arms control talks to cut their nuclear stockpiles. Disarmament goals pronounced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the issue had not been heard from the one-time enemies in years. … One name that has been mentioned for a senior position in the field is Rose Gottemoeller, who is expected to become assistant secretary of state for arms control. A former deputy undersecretary of energy for defense nuclear nonproliferation, she was director of the Carnegie Moscow Center until recently.Last summer, Ms. Gottemoeller made known her views on the future of START in an article in Arms Control Today, a magazine published by the ACA, and co-written by Alexei Arbatov, head of the Center for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of International Economy and International Relations.

November 2, 2008: Considera diario moscovita que Obama daría nueva relación con Rusia - Agencia Mexicana de Noticias
"La similitud entre el candidato demócrata a la presidencia de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, y el mandatario ruso, Dmitry Medvédev, permitiría, si Obama gana, establecer una nueva relación entre ambas naciones, consideró The Moscow Times… En un artículo publicado en The Moscow Times, Rose Gottemoeller escribió que las tempranas carreras de Obama y Medvédev muestran la diferencia entre ellos y sus precursores inmediatos, el presidente George W. Bush y el primer ministro Vladimir Putin, respectivamente."

October 24, 2008: Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: Waiting for Obama – Russia Profile
"With the U.S. presidential campaign in its final stage, Moscow looks forward to working with a new U.S. administration… Will the United States-Russia relationship take a turn for the better under an Obama administration? … Less than two weeks before the presidential election all indicators point to a landslide or a near-landslide victory for Obama… Before making any long-term projections, we will have to see who Obama’s choice will be for Secretary of State and for National Security Advisor. There is a long list of knowledgeable and respected professionals who can do an excellent job. That list would include Gen. Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow and now Undersecretary of State William Burns, Head of the Russian and Eurasian Programs at CSIS Andrew Kuchins, Director of the Carnegie office in Moscow Rose Gottemoeller, and quite a few others."

October 23, 2008: Ex-U.N. inspector calls for arms reductions - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Warning of a "dark situation" and tension spreading in the world, former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday called for renewed international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons... Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. also addressed the conference from Philadelphia. A former arms-control negotiator, Graham said unless action was taken to abolish nuclear weapons, the world would enter a new nuclear era."

September 27, 2008: US, India Nuclear Deal Poised for Approval by House of Representatives, Senate – Voice of America News
"Democrat Edward Markey said it fails to meet even minimal nonproliferation conditions Congress has required, and poses unacceptable risks to U.S. security and the nuclear nonproliferation regime. Ambassador Robert Grey, a former U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament, urges lawmakers to take more time to review the agreement. ‘This is a bad deal that we are getting into here in terms of nonproliferation. We created the nonproliferation regime, we got it through the international community. We supported it consistently over successive administrations, both Republican and Democrat. Now we have reversed course. We are opening a hole with this agreement with India that you could drive a truck through,’ he said."

September 26, 2008: India, Iran and Nonproliferation and The Sky is Falling – Blog Attempted Studies
"Ambassador Robert Grey, a former U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament, urges lawmakers to take more time to review the agreement.
‘This is a bad deal that we are getting into here in terms of nonproliferation. We created the nonproliferation regime, we got it through the international community. We supported it consistently over successive administrations, both Republican and Democrat. Now we have reversed course. We are opening a hole with this agreement with India that you could drive a truck through,’ he said."

August 19, 2008: India nuclear deal in political snafu - Politico
"President Bush’s end-of-term to-do list includes solidifying an agreement with India on civilian nuclear trade that could send billions of dollars to U.S. corporations...The Bipartisan Security Group — part of a coalition of 23 arms control, environmental, medical and religious groups that oppose exemptions for India — is appealing to Germany, which now leads the Nuclear Suppliers Group, to reject what it calls an “ill-conceived proposal.”...In addition to those concerns, Kevin Davis, a program associate for the Bipartisan Security Group, offered another cautionary note."

July 30, 2008: Arms control experts group opposes N-deal - Howrah.org
"Ahead of the crucial IAEA meeting on Friday, a group of arms control experts on Wednesday said that both the atomic watchdog and Nuclear Suppliers Group should look at the Indo-US nuclear deal very carefully and remove all ambiguities.'... Ambassador Robert Gray (sic), former US Representative at the Conference on Disarmament, said that the United States was walking away from a treaty signed by 178 nations and termed the agreement as an 'unmitigated disaster.'"

May 29, 2008: McCain's Middle Way on Nuclear Weapons - Christian Science Monitor
"WASHINGTON - John McCain's new arms control proposals may be reminiscent of policies pursued by President Bush – President George H. W. Bush, that is, the current chief executive's father...'There is no time to be lost. This is not something we can play around with for a year while the new administration gets itself in order,' James Goodby, a former US arms negotiator who is now a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, said at an April seminar in Washington."

May 8, 2008: Bioviolence: Preventing Biological Terror and Crime – Times Higher Education
" For 50 years, weapons of mass destruction were primarily of concern to the military in the context of the Cold War, with the primary focus on nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union's demise moved attention to chemical and biological weapons in the hands of rogue states such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which used chemicals against Iran…Should we be worried? If so, what should we do? Barry Kellman is convinced that the problem is real and can only increase because of the vital importance of the biosciences. He comes down firmly on the side of concerted international action..."

May 6, 2008: Russia, US sign civil nuclear pact – Yahoo! News
"Russian and U.S. officials signed a key agreement on civilian nuclear power Tuesday that could give Washington access to Russian technology and potentially hand Moscow lucrative deals on storing spent fuel…'This is a nod to the long and friendly relations between the Bush and the Putin administration and it sets the stage for some successful nuclear cooperation with the new administrations," in the Kremlin and the White House,' said Rose Gottemoeller, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center..."

April 22, 2008: US Race Advisers Sound Off on Russia - The Moscow Times
"Senator John McCain has called President Vladimir Putin's Russia revanchist and suggested that it be expelled from the G8. Senator Hillary Clinton famously quipped that the Russian president lacked a soul. And Senator Barack Obama has said, well, not very much at all…..Rose Gottemoeller, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said U.S.-Russian relations could be in for a 'rough ride' in the first two years of a McCain presidency, but McCain could then 'moderate his views over time.' Obama and Clinton, while both expressing concern about the 'course of reforms' in Russia, appear more inclined to develop a more wide-ranging relationship, Gottemoeller said."

April 17, 2008: Lost in Space - GreetingsEarthlings blog
"Outer space is a huge concept. Its sheer scope eludes our Earth-bound brains, hinting at innumerable unknowns speckled across enormous distance. It is, in a sense, our one great uncertainty, surpassing metaphysical questions with an unfathomable physical presence. That’s why we have the Outer Space Treaty, signed under United Nations auspices in 1967 at the height of Cold War tensions...Thomas Graham, a man deeply immersed in international arms control, used the same quote in an article on the military use of space a few years back..."

March 9, 2008: Preventing a Bioagent Great Escape - Blogjunkies
"Nuclear power is considered a non-starter and a radioactive-hot potato for Singapore. Official and popular thinking about nuclear power seems to conform the precepts of Normal Accident Theory, that is, it is such a complex technology that an accident is almost inevitable and the consequences will be devastating. On the other hand, the attitude of the authorities and populus towards biotechnology and 'life sciences' seems more in line with a group of Berkeley scholars' High Reliability Theory who argue that complex organizations can be 'astonishingly reliable' if they possess the correct prerequisites. However, the growing consensus among researchers and security analysts is closer to the predictions of NAT than HRT; a common thread in their warnings is that many biotechnologies are innately dual-use and proliferating at a high speed...It goes on to pose some questions about the agencies and systems in place to deal with the risks of accidental lab release and concludes by drawing on recent work by Prof Barry Kellman (above left, speaking at the IISS's 'Confronting the Threat of Bioviolence' seminar on 5 Dec 2007) and Prof Andreas Wenger on preventing a biological agent great escape..."

February 14, 2008: Lights, Camera and a different ending- The West and Russia- The Economist
"IT COULD all be a cold-war rerun. Japan complains of Russian military jets intruding on its airspace. Russian pilots reportedly buzz an American naval ship. Against this backdrop, and recently resumed Russian air and naval exercises in the Atlantic and Pacific, Vladimir Putin volunteered Russia proudly this week for a new arms race with America...Intriguingly Mr Putin's recent war of words (anyway one-sided, since Western leaders have studiedly refused to respond in kind) has also left undamaged extensive areas of co-operation: curbing the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea; counter-terrorism and the fight against drug smuggling, in Afghanistan and beyond. Work in other quite surprising areas is often overlooked, argues Rose Gottemoeller, who heads the Moscow office of the Carnegie Endowment, a Washington-based think-tank, simply because by now it has become routine."

January 31, 2008: The Necessity of Choice - Sound Off
"Ambassador Robert Grey says in a previous essay in this SWF Sound Off section: 'We have a choice.' We can craft a legal regime that would ban the weaponization of space, or we can live with the consequences of a new and destabilizing arms race. Just so. That’s the theme of my recent book, Twilight War: The Folly of U.S. Space Dominance. We have been here before. In August 1945, shortly after atomic bombs were used against the densely populated cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Manhattan Engineer District published an amazing little book, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, usually called the Smyth Report after its author, Henry DeWolf Smyth, a Princeton physicist. Smyth outlined the history of the top-secret enterprise, although not in enough detail to show other countries how to build their own bombs straightaway..."

January 20, 2008: U.S. Arms Deal Concludes Middle East "Peace" Trip - ZSpace
"Just days after espousing delusions of grandeur regarding a peaceful end to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, President Bush announced the transfer of $123 million in precision-guided bomb kits (“smart” bombs) to Saudi Arabia; a transaction that is part of the much larger “Gulf Security Dialogue,” which plans to sell $20 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman...These statements come amidst renewed protest over the 'U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative,' which U.S. Ambassador (Ret.) Robert Grey, Jr., Director of the Bipartisan Security Group, has presciently clarified: 'It is ludicrous to characterize an agreement which would enable India to produce nuclear weapons as a step forward for non-proliferation.'"

January 17, 2008: 23 US organisations launch coalition to block N-deal - The Pioneer
"In a new move aimed at blocking the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, 23 different American organisations have got together and launched a coalition to work with the US Congress and groups in 24 countries on this issue…Advisors to the coalition include Robert Grey, former US Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Leonard Weiss, former staff director of the US Senate subcommittee on energy and nuclear proliferation, and Subrata Ghoshroy, Director, Promoting Nuclear Stability in South Asia Project, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

January 15, 2008: Diverse Coalition Launches Campaign to Stop U.S. Nuclear Deal with India-CNBC; reported in CNBC, AOL and Reuters
"Twenty-three organizations today launched a coalition to stop the Bush Administration's proposed nuclear trade agreement with India. The proposed agreement would exempt that nuclear-armed nation from longstanding U.S. and international restrictions on states that do not meet global standards to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons…Advisors to the coalition include Ambassador Robert Grey (Ret.), former U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament and Director of the Bipartisan Security Group"

December 4, 2007: Interpol plans bioterrorism exercise - United Press International
"LYON, France-- Interpol announced plans for a two-day exercise simulating a global bioterrorism attack and its aftermath in France...Officials say law enforcement officials from nine countries and representatives from the European Council, Europol, several U.N. organizations among others will take part in the exercise. Barry Kellman, legal adviser to Interpol's bioterrorism prevention unit, will moderate the exercise."

November 21, 2007: Vladimir Putin's Political Future Remains a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery - World Politics Review
"A new Russian epic film that tells the story of the emergence of the Romanov czarist dynasty is widely seen as the latest move in the campaign to keep President Vladimir Putin in power after his second and final allowable term ends in May 2008. "1612," which is said to have been produced by a friend of Putin, recounts how the Russians "drafted" Mikhail Romanov to save the country during a dark period of its history, thus paving the way for imperial Russia...'To a certain extent [the United States and Russia] have failed each other over the past several years,' concludes Thomas Graham, another seasoned former U.S. negotiator with the Russians on nuclear arms. On the American side, one impediment to a better understanding, according to some Russian specialists, is that the Cold War is still the optic through which Americans see Russia. But Graham says many Russians don't really want the West to understand them, and that nobody believes Winston Churcill's famous line about Russia being "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" more than the Russians themselves."

November 11, 2007: The Life's Work of a Cold War Veteran - The Seattle Times
"Yes, I am flying the flag of the United States of America today. A few months ago, caught in the summer breezes, I wrote about the flag and was blistered by diligent readers who chided anyone who is a fair-weather patriot and takes the red, white and blue in for the winter. But today is Veterans Day, signified by the end of World War I, which came to its bloody end on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918... Ambassador Thomas Graham was truly a soldier and a veteran of that Cold War. At the University of Washington's Kane Hall Thursday night, Graham spoke for 45 minutes on the victories and the frightful uncertainties of the staging for nuclear war in the 1970s and 1980s..."

October 18, 2007: On the Nuclear Threat - Truthdig.com
"On a sultry day last summer as I walked along a narrow street in my Long Island village of Sag Harbor, I stopped to watch two boys not yet in their teens jousting with their bicycles, not astride them like knights but on foot, like antlered stags, thrusting their bikes at each other, parrying the blows by twisting their front wheels this way and that, their shirts drenched with sweat, their knees bloody, when they might more rationally have spent the day at the beach. On the curb stood two girls, transfixed, for whose sake this triumph of primal instinct over common sense—this mini-Iliad—was performed, a microcosm of our Hobbesian history and a warning to those who hope for a rational solution to the apocalyptic problem of nuclear proliferation...It was Richard Perle, the warmonger’s warmonger, who poisoned the chalice when he convinced Reagan at Reykjavik that Gorbachev’s demand that SDI experiments be confined to the laboratory rather than be performed in space would render the entire project impossible. Though Perle must have known, as many others did by this time, that SDI was a joke, he considered “his successful frustration of agreements at Reykjavik one of his most important achievements,” according to Thomas Graham, general counsel to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency at the time. Should worse come to worst, what’s left of humanity can thank Richard Perle for destroying their world."

October 8, 2007: Bioterror Book Warns of Hazards: What's Missing? - Middle East Times
"A recent review of Barry Kellman's presentation of his new book Bioviolence: Preventing Biological Terror and Crime at the Institute of World Affairs addressed the issue of bioterror, and the threat of terrorists using biological agents to attack the United States. The gravity of the issue preoccupies expert thinking, but our concerns are of conclusions still omitted. The greatest failure is a lack of acknowledgement that biological agents are already in massive use against the United States and other nations. What basic understanding is missing? None of the experts recall that terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden are regularly quoted as saying that plant-derived narcotics as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) against the West is a legitimate opportunity to infect and kill their enemies."

October 1, 2007: Science and Law Join Forces to Fight Biocrimes - Congressional Quarterly
"aced with the possibility of a wide-scale biological attack in the post 9-11 era, a new team of superheroes — comprising scientists, international lawyers and FBI agents — has banded together to fight crimes of bioterrorism, known as biocrimes...Because a disease has no sense of national boundaries and an attack could be international in nature, all three groups agreed that it is necessary to establish something like a international code of ethics to promote global standards and discussion among the countries of the world about the risk of attacks — which can be a touchy process, said Barry Kellman, director of the International Weapons Control Center at DePaul University College of Law."

October 1, 2007: Analysis: Bioterror book warns of hazards - UPI
"WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The threat of terrorists using biological agents to attack the United States has preoccupied Barry Kellman, a professor of international law and director of the International Weapons Control Center at the DePaul University College of Law for the past decade."

September 25, 2007: The South-North summit and US implications - Energy Publisher
"The surprise announcement of a second South-North Summit, to be held in Pyongyang, has revived speculation over the prospects for a historic peace declaration that could open the door to a new structure of peace on the Korean Peninsula....Growing inter-Korean economic and travel ties can be viewed as elements of an informal, piecemeal process, which, by accretion, may realize a de facto peace regime. But, as Ambassador James Goodby acknowledges, a peace regime of this sort "cannot advance beyond a certain point" and "is not the same as full reconciliation and peaceful reunification." That "certain point" is the commitment by governments to address the hard security issues of denuclearization and threat reduction."

September 16, 2007: Security, life threatened by space junk, weapons: report - Associated Press
"VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Human security and technologies from cell phones to weather forecasts are more at risk than ever from anti-satellite weapons and space junk, said a research report released Friday. An anti-satellite test by China in January, and increased US opposition to restrictions on space weapons, were cited as two main global threats by 'Space Security 2007,' the fourth annual report by the Space Security Index. "The dismantling of the space sanctuary for communications satellites, and weather satellites, and those other divides on which the modern economy depends so greatly, thereby making it impossible to utilize those devices, would be negative to every single person in the world," said report co-author Thomas Graham."

August 17, 2007: Summit raises hopes for progress in peace regime - The Korea Herald
"...The KIDA report says a declaration of the end of the war between the two Koreas, the United States and China will be the first step in the creation of a peace system. It will be followed by international discussions on the transformation of the security structure on the peninsula. 'The peace regime has been described as a peace treaty, but it is not to be confused with the task of liquidating the machinery of the 1953 Armistice Agreement. Rather, it involves a whole range of state to state and people to people relationships, all designed to promote security and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula,' James Goodby said."

July 27, 2007: The 50th Anniversary of the IAEA - Institute for Public Accuracy
"This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the International Atomic Energy Agency.... John Holum served as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Jonathan Granoff is the president of the Global Security Institute and also senior advisor of the American Bar Association's Committee on Arms Control and National Security as well as vice president of the NGO Committee on Disarmament at the U.N. Holum said today: "Last month, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told the IAEA's board of directors that at current budget levels the agency cannot adequately carry out its mandate to ensure nuclear safety, prevent nuclear proliferation, and facilitate peaceful nuclear programs. ... We rely on the IAEA to safeguard that material in facilities all over the world. Yet the IAEA has never spent in excess of 120 million U.S. dollars in any year to administer its worldwide nuclear materials inspection regime. At less than what the U.S. spends per day in Iraq, the safety of the world is dramatically compromised."

June 29, 2007: No easy answers ahead of Bush-Putin meeting - Agence France Presse
"US President George Bush may once have claimed to see into the soul of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but as they meet this weekend they may need more than breathtaking views of the Atlantic to inspire a return to that cosy relationship. The Bush family seaside home at Kennebunkport, Maine, has been chosen as the venue for the July 1-2 meeting, a 'quintessentially atmospheric' place that could help raise the tone of US-Russian ties, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft predicted earlier. It is six years since Bush claimed that he had got 'a sense of' Putin's soul and found him 'deeply committed to... the best interests of his country.' …Things have changed greatly since Russia leapt to show solidarity with the United States after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, agrees Rose Gottemoeller, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a research institution."

June 29, 2007: U.S./Russia: Hopes High, Expectations Low For Bush-Putin Summit - Radio Free Europe
"Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to become the first foreign leader hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush at the Bush family's oceanside retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine. It's hoped the sea air and informal atmosphere will rekindle warm ties between the two leaders. It's not clear, however, if that will translate into resolution of the issues that divide Moscow and Washington. Hopes are high the two-day summit will help Bush and Putin put their countries' differences aside.But experts attending a June 28 briefing in Washington said some expectations, by contrast, are low. Rose Gottemoeller, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and a former deputy undersecretary for defense nuclear proliferation in the U.S. Department of Energy, said, 'What I’m hearing from the White House is that this is going to be another summit that does not emphasize deliverables.' Gottemoeller says the low expectations are due in large part to the icy rhetoric heard from Putin through much of this year -- particularly at the Munich security policy conference in February, when the Russian president lashed out the United States for 'overstepped its boundaries' in creating a 'unipolar' world."

June 24, 2007: Jeju Hub for Northeast Asian Peace - Korea Times
"World leaders Saturday called on South Korea to take the lead in organizing a multilateral regional mechanism for socioeconomic and security cooperation, taking a cue from European nations. At the end of the fourth Jeju Peace Forum, participants adopted a joint declaration calling for the formation of a regional consultative framework to promote peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia through wide-range cooperation among countries in the region, where many 'elements of conflict' remain….During the gathering, President Roh Moo-hyun and other participants including Ambassador James Goodby, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, echoed the six-party talks over the North’s nuclear program should be transformed in the long term to a regional body to orchestrate cooperation in the field of social, economic and security sectors."

June 21, 2007: Helsinki Model Proposed for N-E Asian Security - Korea Times
"The creation of a multilateral security regime in Northeast Asia, similar to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), will help promote socioeconomic exchanges as well as prevent the outbreak of regional conflicts, security experts said here Thursday… Ambassador James Goodby, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said such a Northeast Asian security regime will also help resolve the long-standing deadlock with North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Goodby proposed that Northeast Asian nations including the two Koreas, China and Japan begin talks on the organization of the cooperative security framework in parallel with six-party disarmament talks aimed at abolishing Pyongyang's nuclear program. 'I think that they are mutually reinforcing,' said the former U.S. ambassador to Finland in 1980 and 1981. 'I have trouble thinking there would be a full agreement on the organization of security cooperation in Northeast Asia unless there is some progress on the nuclear issue. I think nothing is wrong beginning with talks about the organization of security cooperation in Northeast Asia, while still making progress on the nuclear issue,' he said. Gooodby, 78, played a key role in creating the CSCE and signing the 1975 Helsinki Final Act aimed at promoting cooperation in the economy and the environment among the EU members."

May 9, 2007: Former U.N. weapons chief advocates review of outer space treaty - International Herald Tribune
"VIENNA, Austria: The former chief U.N. weapons inspector on Wednesday spoke in favor of reviewing a treaty that provides the basic framework on international space law....Robert T. Grey, Jr., director of the Washington-based Bipartisan Security Group and former United States representative to the Conference on Disarmament, noted in his speech that space-related choices made today could be irreversible."My own view is that weaponization of outer space will, if implemented, decrease American security, world security, destabilize international relations and trigger another arms race of monumental proportions that will cost us all trillions and bring us nothing more than destabilization and insecurity in return," Grey said in written remarks."

PNND Members... In The Media

May 13, 2009: House Dems Settle on 15% Renewable Energy Target – Energy Tribune
House Democrats negotiating a major energy and climate bill have reached a tentative agreement to include a scaled-back renewable power target of
15 percent by 2020, senior lawmakers said yesterday... However, if a state shows it cannot meet the renewables target, their renewables requirement could drop to 12 percent, with a corresponding increase in efficiency to keep the overall 20 percent level intact, said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

May 13, 2009: Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats Release Details of the Agreement on Renewable Electricity and Energy Efficiency Standards – Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Rep. Edward J. Markey, Rep. John D. Dingell, Rep. Rick Boucher, Rep. Bart Gordon, and Rep. Mike Doyle released the details of an agreement on a Combined Efficiency and Renewable Electricity Standard that will reduce global warming pollution, create clean energy jobs, and save consumers money.

May 12, 2009: Nigeria: Tackling Climate Change With Clean Energy – Vanguard
In recent times, the airwaves have been awash with talks of climate change, especially in relation to global warming with its dire consequences... "The draft document, presented by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), is intended to create jobs, help end our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, and combat global warming.

May 2009: Steinmeier Calls for US to Withdraw Nukes- Arms Control Today
In an unprecedented statement for a German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier last month called for the withdrawal of the U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in his country. Steinmeier told the German magazine Der Spiegel April 10 that "these weapons are militarily obsolete today" and promised that he would take steps to ensure that the remaining U.S. warheads "are removed from Germany."...The chair of the subcommittee on disarmament, arms control, and nonproliferation in the German parliament, Uta Zapf, told Arms Control Today April 20 that Germany and Norway should raise withdrawal as an issue under their initiative to strengthen NATO's profile on arms control.

May 9, 2009: MP words for nuke-free world - Burnaby Now
Burnaby-Douglas MP Bill Siksay is heading up the Canadian arm of an international effort working towards nuclear disarmament - and he's already heading to the UN in that role. Last week, Siksay was elected chair of the Canadian caucus of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND). The group is a non-partisan movement involving more than 500 elected officials from more than 70 countries. "There is a new opportunity for progress on nuclear disarmament issues given President Obama's recent initiatives to re-energize negotiations," Siksay said.

April6, 2009: Verbatim – Time Magazine
'China is not afraid of the Internet.' CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY, denying reports that Beijing blocked YouTube for showing undated clips of Chinese soldiers beating Tibetan monks … 'This finding will officially end the era of denial on global warming.' ED MARKEY, head of the House climate-change committee, on the EPA's conclusion that greenhouse gases threaten public health.

March 12, 2009: Sins of Emission - The Economist
AS HE clinched the Democratic nomination for president last year, Barack Obama declared: “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” Not yet two months into his term, despite lots of other pressing concerns, Mr Obama has taken on the task of tackling global warming with zeal (although the oceans nonetheless continue to rise: see article). He has increased government spending on environmental causes, instructed civil servants to increase the fuel-efficiency of America’s cars, promised to double America’s output of renewable energy and urged Congress to pass the greenest measure of them all: a cap on the country’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Could Mr Obama live up to his grand green rhetoric?.... Ed Markey, the chairman of a House committee that focuses on climate change and energy security, disagrees. He wants to force utilities to invest not only in renewables, but in energy efficiency too.”

March 10, 2009: MPs launch attack on weapons decision- Morning Start Online
ONE hundred MPs protested against foolish Whitehall mandarins and ministers on Tuesday who are conspiring behind closed doors to waste £75 billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons… The MPs signed a Commons motion headed by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, who said it was "simply crazy" at a time of dire economic crisis to be even thinking about spending such huge sums on weapons of mass destruction. Mr Corbyn warned: "There is a whole history of parliamentary deception over Trident." Mr Corbyn's motion demands that the initial gate decision must be delayed until Parliament is in session and MPs can be presented with the report for scrutiny.

November 20, 2008: State Dept. Confirms: International Rules Prohibit China-Pakistan Nuclear Deal - Website Congressman Ed Markey
"Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) … today released a letter in which the Department of State unambiguously confirmed that providing any new nuclear reactors by China to Pakistan is not allowed by the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), which governs international nuclear trade. Rep. Markey said, 'There is no doubt whatsoever that international nonproliferation rules bar China from providing Pakistan with new nuclear reactors. This is clear from a plain-language reading of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group Guidelines, and I am very pleased that the Bush Administration has agreed with this view.'"

October 30, 2008: Markey to Bush: No-Go on Nuke Screening Leaves Country Dangerously Vulnerable - Website Congressman Ed Markey
"Following recent remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff indicating that the department will not meet a legal requirement for 100% screening for nuclear bombs in maritime cargo, Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) today called on President Bush to repudiate these comments and commit to complete implementation of this vital provision according to the schedule established in the law. 'We gave the administration five years to implement this critical anti-terrorism law - why on Earth is the Bush administration choosing to wave the white flag of surrender now while our ports remain vulnerable to nuclear bombs? Missing the boat on this screening mandate could easily mean missing the bomb, with devastating consequences for our country,' said Rep. Markey."

October 26, 2008: Israel to Hold New Elections - Targeted News Service
"Political Parties (in alphabetical order) … Hadash … is the Hebrew word for 'new' as well as the Hebrew acronym for 'The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality.' It is a left-wing party with roots in Israel's anti-Zionist Communist Party and defines itself as a 'Jewish-Arab party.' The main points of Hadash's platform include an Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders; establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel; the separation of religion and state; the full realization of rights for Israel's Arab citizens; a Palestinian 'right of return' to Israeli territory; encouraging Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; and lobbying for workers' rights. Hadash has a predominantly Arab electorate. [43] Members of Knesset: Mohammad Barakeh, Dov Khenin, Hanna Swaid [44]"

October 26, 2008: Mayors for Peace push for nuke ban - The Gazette (Montreal)
"Hiroshima's akiba visits city. Alliance wants protocol in place by 2020… 'It's at the city level that we remember and digest those tragedies,' Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of the Japanese city, said yesterday during a visit to promote a plan to ban all nuclear weapons by 2020… Montreal and Hiroshima have been twin cities for 10 years, and Akiba's visit this week included meetings with Japanese-Canadian business leaders and a stop at the Montreal Botanical Gardens, where he and Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay planted a Sakura tree. Canada could play a crucial role in proposing the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol with other like-minded nations, he said."

October 23, 2008: China-Pakistan Nuclear Deal Would Violate International Rules – Website Congressman Ed Markey
"Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the founder and co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, today raised serious questions about the global security impact of a new reported agreement for China to supply Pakistan with two new nuclear reactors. Rep. Markey said, 'President Bush demolished the global nuclear rules by signing the U.S.-India nuclear deal, and now we're reaping the results. By waiving the nuclear rules for India, President Bush has weakened the rules for everyone else. Pakistan and China will be the first, but almost certainly not the last, to take advantage of this perilously weakened system.'"

October 23, 2008: Nuke Reactor Rules Fail to Reduce Risk of Airplane Attacks – Website Congressman Ed Markey
"Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reacted today to the release of draft regulations on how to protect nuclear power reactors from aircraft impacts. The regulation fails to require that new nuclear reactors are designed to withstand the impact of a large commercial aircraft. Rep. Markey said, '‘The NRC failure to require reactor designs that can withstand the impact of an airliner is a glaring and dangerous decision. This is an outrageous omission that needs to be quickly addressed.'"

October 21, 2008: Markey: Bush Admin. Gives Up on Screening for Nukes – Website Congressman Ed Markey
"Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today responded to reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will not meet a 2012 deadline set by Congress to scan the contents of every cargo container for nuclear bombs and other dangerous materials before the cargo arrives at U.S. ports. Rep. Markey was a key advocate of this provision, which became law in 2007 as part of legislation to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Rep. Markey said …’The law contains a clear mandate to screen all cargo coming from overseas ports to the U.S. in order to detect any problems before the cargo reaches our shores. In the waning days of the Bush administration, the Department of Homeland Security is once again caving to the wishes of special interests, putting commerce over commonsense.'"

October 3, 2008: Nod to Delhi nuke deal comes with a warning – The Australian
"THE historic deal allowing civilian nuclear trade between the US and India passed its final legislative hurdle in the US Senate yesterday after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned of ‘the most serious consequences’ for New Delhi if it resumed testing strategic nuclear weapons. Earlier, Ed Markey, a member of the House of Representatives, said: ‘Now that the nuclear rules have been broken for India's sake, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea will be looking for a way to similarly game the system.’ India last tested a strategic nuclear device in 1998 and insists that it has no intention of carrying out further tests."

October 2, 2008 - Nuclear trade deal with India wins final approval – The Associated Press
"The Senate on Wednesday voted 86-13 to overturn a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, giving final congressional approval to a landmark U.S.-India nuclear cooperation accord and handing President Bush a rare foreign policy victory in his final months in office. … Opponent Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said, ‘Now that the nuclear rules have been broken for India’s sake, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea will be looking for a way to similarly game the system.’"

October 2, 2008: U.S. Senate gives final OK to U.S.-India nuclear deal – Canadian Press
"The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to overturn a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, giving final congressional approval to a landmark U.S.-India nuclear cooperation accord… Opponents say lawmakers, eager to leave Washington to campaign for the November elections, rushed consideration of a complicated deal that they said could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said, `Now that the nuclear rules have been broken for India's sake, Iran, Pakistan and North Korea will be looking for a way to similarly game the system.’"

September 30, 2008: EPA issues radiation exposure rules for Yucca dump - Associated Press Newswires
"After three years of deliberations, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced its radiation health standard for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, a proposed system of underground caverns 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas where the government hopes to keep highly radioactive commercial and military nuclear waste. … Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the EPA announcement, coming four months after the Yucca application was sent to the NRC, ‘only reinforces how their entire approach to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project has put politics and the financial health of the nuclear industry ahead of science and the health of the public.’"

September 29, 2008: US House Of Representatives votes for N- Deal, Senate vote likely today – The Economic Times
"NEW DELHI: The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal remained just one step short of final ratification as the House of Representatives voted in favour of the deal and passed legislation which is set to be the basis of civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the US… Known critic of the nuclear deal Ed Markey also put up his opposition to the deal and said that the door had been opened for Iran, North Korea and Pakistan. ‘Flashing a green light to India sends a dangerous signal to all of those countries because these policies are interconn ected,’ Mr Markey said."

September 28, 2008: Pact strategic pillar: PM – The Assam Tribune
"Armed with the House of Representatives’ nod to the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today expressed happiness that “one hurdle” has been crossed but said he would wait for the final outcome as he described the landmark agreement as an important “strategic pillar” to bilateral ties … The Indian camp appeared much relieved after the House clearance to the deal following a lot of suspense and drama that saw Democrat Ed Markey voicing stiff opposition..."

September 28, 2008: US House approves Indo-US nuclear deal – The Press Trust of India Limited
"The Indo-US nuclear deal has moved into the last lap clearing a major hurdle when the House of Representatives approved a legislation on it that will now go to the Senate before the two countries can implement the civil nuclear agreement… The vote on the nuclear Bill was suspended Friday after another opponent Ed Markey demanded a recorded vote instead of a voice vote after the debate was completed."

September 28, 2008: Markey says House nod to N-deal nothing to cheer about - The Press Trust of India Limited
"Congressman Ed Markey, a known opponent of the Indo-US nuclear deal, has said the passage of a bill on the subject by a 298-117 vote in the House of Representatives was nothing to cheer about as Republicans hailed the move as a step forward in strengthening bilateral ties. ‘More than twice as many members voted against the deal today as (those) voted against the Hyde Act that set the conditions for the deal two years ago’ Markey said in a statement last night."

September 28, 2008: N-deals sails through US House; may clear Senate Monday – Indo-Asian News Service / News from India…
"As Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ended his US visit, the landmark civil nuclear deal sailed through the US House of Representatives and appeared poised to clear the Senate soon despite a new hitch. … Berman, Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agreed to bring forward a bill identical to one approved by an overwhelming 19-2 vote Tuesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the Bush administration convinced him that it was in consonance with the Hyde Act. But the House had to postpone a recorded vote when critics led by Democrat Ed Markey insisted on one after a voice vote on the bill to 'approve the United States-India Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, and for other purposes.’"

September 27, 2008: US, India Nuclear Deal Poised for Approval by House of Representatives, Senate – Voice of America News
"A civilian nuclear deal between the United States and India, the subject of controversy since proposed by President Bush in 2005, is poised for final approval in the U.S House of Representatives. VOA's Dan Robinson reports, opponents in and outside of Congress made last minute efforts to block it, while supporters said approval could not wait until a new U.S. president takes office. … Democrat Edward Markey said it fails to meet even minimal nonproliferation conditions Congress has required, and poses unacceptable risks to U.S. security and the nuclear nonproliferation regime."

September 27, 2008: US House all set to vote on N-deal - The Press Trust of India Limited
"The US House of Representatives looks all set to vote the legislation approving the Indo-US nuclear deal after a known opponent Congressman Howard Berman made a U-turn while the fate of the bill in the Senate is not that clear. The House, which completed a lively debate that saw another critic Ed Markey putting up a stiff opposition to the deal with India, is expected to take up the issue on Saturday."

September 27, 2008: US House postpones vote on N-deal- Indo-Asian News Service / Headlines India
"Washington: The suspense over Congressional approval of the India-US civil nuclear deal continues with the House of Representatives postponing a vote on the landmark accord and a lawmaker putting it on 'hold' in the Senate. … the House engaged as it is in a race to finish pending legislative work before breaking for the Nov 4 elections, postponed a vote when critics led by Democrat Ed Markey insisted on a recorded vote after a voice vote on the bill to ‘approve the United States-India Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, and for other purposes.’"

September 27, 2008: US-India nuclear deal embroiled in bail-out talks - The Financial Times Limited
"Congressional approval for a US-India nuclear deal was yesterday embroiled in the protracted negotiations on Capitol Hill about the $700bn financial bail-out legislation. President George W. Bush met Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, in the White House on Thursday evening as his officials worked hard to persuade Congress to pass legislation required to seal the deal. ’This nuclear deal as written poses unacceptable risks to US national security and does great damage to the international nuclear nonproliferation regime," said Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.’"

September 27, 2008: US, India Nuclear Deal Poised for Approval by House of Representatives, Senate – Voice of America News
"Democrat Edward Markey said it fails to meet even minimal nonproliferation conditions Congress has required, and poses unacceptable risks to U.S. security and the nuclear nonproliferation regime. … Ambassador Robert Grey, a former U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament, urges lawmakers to take more time to review the agreement. ‘This is a bad deal that we are getting into here in terms of nonproliferation. We created the nonproliferation regime, we got it through the international community. We supported it consistently over successive administrations, both Republican and Democrat. Now we have reversed course. We are opening a hole with this agreement with India that you could drive a truck through,’ he said."

September 14, 2008: Nuke deal steams towards Sept. 25 finale - The Times of India
"US and Indian officials battled fresh questions about the legal sanctity of the give-and-take surrounding the agreements that ostensibly open the doors of nuclear commerce to India, even as both sides are rushing to consummate the deal before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits here on September 25…Massachusetts representative Edward Markey (D-MA), a Council Member of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, has recruited two other members of Congress to draft a joint letter that would provide for more debate time on the measure, saying it required more examination."

August 8, 2008: Kern-Fragen // In der Abrüstungspolitik plant das Auswärtige Amt den Abschied von bisherigen Prinzipien - Der Tagesspiegel - "Abrüstungsexperten aus fast allen Bundestagsfraktionen haben Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) vor einem Verlust der Glaubwürdigkeit Deutschlands beim Kampf gegen die Weiterverbreitung von Atomwaffen gewarnt. Anlass ist die anstehende Entscheidung der Gruppe der Lieferländer von Kernmaterial (Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG) über eine Erlaubnis zum Export von Atomtechnologie nach Indien. Doch auch die Abrüstungsexperten aus Steinmeiers eigener Fraktion, Uta Zapf und Rolf Mützenich, halten das Abkommen für ungenügend. Der Vorschlag an die NSG sei "nicht zustimmungsfähig“, sagt Uta Zapf."

July 21, 2008: No Need for U.S. Nukes in Europe, Observers Say -Global Security Newswire
"BARCELONA, Spain — The United States has kept hundreds of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe long after the need for the bombs evaporated, observers argued Saturday (see GSN, June 19). 'These are proliferation-prone relics of a bygone era of great power confrontation,' European Parliament member Ana Maria Gomes of Portugal said during a panel discussion on European nuclear weapons policy at the Euroscience Open Forum 2008 conference."

July 14, 2008: Meeting Crashers: Anti-mining activists confront nshareholders at AGM - The Dominion
"It was the first time that Mexican Congressman Armando Barreiro, historian Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara and hydraulic engineer Mario Martinez visited Toronto, but this trip was not a vacation...Several attempts have been made in Parliament to change legislation in Canada to avoid environmental and human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies. NDP's Alexa McDonough has spearheaded the movement in the Canadian Parliament to enact legislation and ensure Canadian transnationals behave ethically and obey the law when operating abroad."

June 18, 2008: Alexa and the NDP - Nova News
"It has been a couple of weeks now since Alexa McDonough indicated that she will not reoffer for the next federal election. Her decision is as understandable as it will be disappointing to her many supporters, within her constituency and beyond."

June, 2008: Disarm, or You'll Destroy the World- India Strategic
"Nuclear weapons are not safe, no matter in whose hands they are. Worse, if they reach the hands of non-state actors like the jihadis, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh warned while opening the International Conference on 'Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.'... Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, a close aide to Rajiv Gandhi when the Action Plan was presented at the UN, spoke from his heart when he addressed the conference.."

May 17, 2008:Food Aid Increase Merely a Band-Aid Solution to Bigger problems, Critics Say - The Embassy
"Despite the government's decision last week to step up its spending on food aid in response to the burgeoning global food crisis, experts are hungry for a more meaty response to a shortage they saw coming long ago... NDP International Development critic Alexa McDonough remembers the Liberal policy, and its $500 million target, and has been pushing the current government to re-instate it. Ms. McDonough wrote a letter to Ms. Oda in December calling for action..."

May 2, 2008: UK backtracks on aggressive rhetoric on nuclear weapons - eGov Monitor
"The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today welcomed the UK government's reaffirmation, given at the ongoing NPT Conference in Geneva, that it will not use - or threaten to use - nuclear weapons against countries that don't have them. That commitment, made in 1995, appeared to be broken by then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in 2002, when he indicated that Britain would be prepared to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. Opinion polls show that opposition to such a strike is overwhelming... The serious threat of renewed rounds of arms-upgrading amongst major powers, not addressed by the UK statement, were tackled in a CND-hosted meeting at the NPT PrepCom yesterday, entitled 'Preventing a new nuclear arms race: opposing Trident replacement and the US Missile Defence system'. Speakers included Marian Hobbs MP from New Zealand who is Assistant Speaker and Co-President of the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND) and Alan Mackinnon, Chair of Scottish CND, who is working with the Scottish Government’s working group on the removal of Trident from Scotland."

April 12, 2008: CWC Debate in German Bundestag - cwc2008.org
"...Uta Zapf, chair of the Bundestag’s subcommittee on disarmament, arms control and nonproliferation, warned that against the background of peace-keeping operations, insurgencies and counter-terrorism operations, the temptation to develop new incapacitants is big. She said that the review conference must address this “hot topic” and define the CWC prohibitions in terms of which agents may be used under what cirumstances. This was echoed by Elke Hoff, arms control spokesperson of the Liberal Party who also emphasised the importance of national implementation measures..."

January 18, 2008: NDP demands that sale of Canadian aerospace company be halted - NDP.ca
"OTTAWA – NDP Industry Critic Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park) is demanding the Conservative government use the power of the Investment Canada Act to immediately halt sale of Canadian satellite company, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), to a major American arms company...NDP MP Alexa McDonough (Halifax) highlighted the origins of the problem. 'The previous Liberal government recklessly and knowingly opened the door to losing this key asset when it failed to support the NDP’s amendments to the original bill allowing MDA to own the RADARSAT-2 technology. This was a predictable result,' said McDonough.

December 3, 2007: North Korean policies stay out of limelight – Korea Herald
"The major UNDP's Chung Dong-young, the Democratic Labor Party's Kwon Young-ghil, the Democratic Party's Rhee In-je and Create Korea's Moon Kook-hyun stress the need to achieve a peace treaty on the Korean peninsula, and to work toward greater cooperation with North Korea… The DLP's Kwon Young-ghil has advocated a three-step roadmap for declaring the end of the war, signing a peace treaty and denuclearizing the Korean peninsula…"

October 28, 2007: Despite Political Control, German Arms Industry Rolls Ahead - Deutsche Welle
"October 24-30 is UN Disarmament Week, but that's of little interest to the flourishing German arms industry. Berlin has the last word on arms sales, and gives the go-ahead a bit too willingly, say human rights groups...These criteria were last agreed by the previous government. Social Democrat Uta Zapf has been a long-standing member of the German parliament's Defense Committee and helped draft the regulations. 'One criterion concerns flashpoints, another human rights,' explains Zapf. 'These two points are very decisive, and the way around them, as it were, is to cite German security interests.'"

October 24, 2007: Barred U.S. peace activists to test border policy again - CBC
"Two American peace activists who were denied entry into Canada because they had been arrested for taking part in anti-war events in the U.S. say they will try again to cross the border...Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin said they plan to fly to Ottawa on Thursday, where they are to be greeted by several New Democratic MPs, including former NDP leader Alexa McDonough."

October 16, 2007: Weltweit nukleare Abrüstung einfordern - SPD Fraktion
"Uta Zapf, stellvertretende außenpolitische Sprecherin der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion und Vorsitzende des Unterausschusses Abrüstung, Rüstungskontrolle und Nichtverbreitung wurde auf der Sitzung des Beirates des Netzwerkes am 12. Oktober 2007 in New York zur Ko-Präsidentin ins Präsidium des internationalen Parlamentariernetzwerkes für nukleare Abrüstung (Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament - PNND) berufen."

October 15, 2007: Vote 07 - The Contenders – SBS World News
“Victorian Senator Lyn Allison, formerly a secondary school teacher, became the Democrats leader in December 2004. A member of the Port Melbourne City Council, she was first elected to the Federal Parliament in 1996, and was re-elected in 2001.”

September 24, 2007: Near Stampede to Back Emission Control Scheme – Dominion Post"National Party leader John Key sniffed the way the wind was blowing when he did an about-turn earlier this year and pledged to honour New Zealand's commitments under the Kyoto protocol, and at the same time set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. In that context, the offer by National's environment spokesman Nick Smith at the start of the year for a bi-partisan approach to climate change was clearly a genuine one."

August 17, 2007: Labor pledges to overturn India uranium deal - ABC News
"... The Government is also negotiating to sell the fuel to Russia and could sign a deal when Vladimir Putin is in Australia for APEC next month. Democrats leader Lyn Allison says Australia should not sell uranium to Russia. 'The reason [Russia]'s not needed uranium until now is that it's been using the uranium out of its weapons that it dismantled some time ago,' she said. 'Australia should at the very least be leveraging disarmament of Russia before even contemplating sending it uranium.'"

August 15, 2007: Minor parties attack Indian uranium deal - ABC News
"The Australian Democrats say the Government has missed an opportunity to make the region safer. The Government says the deal will include safeguard agreements to ensure Australian uranium is not used for nuclear weapons. But Democrats leader Lyn Allison says that should not have been the goal of the negotiations. 'We could have used our uranium to leverage change with those countries,' she said. 'We could have forced India into the Non-Proliferation Treaty and we chose not [to].'"

June 16, 2007: Democrats demand inquiry into uranium enrichment- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
"The Democrats say the Senate or an independent body should hold an inquiry into uranium enrichment and other nuclear issues. The ABC's investigative unit has been given details of a private company's plan to put an enrichment plant feasibility study to the Federal Government. A Prime Ministerial task force has already looked at the potential for uranium and nuclear industries in Australia, but Democrats Leader Lyn Allison says it is not enough. 'It seems to me that Australians are being swept into a nuclear fuel and possibly even a weapons cycle, with the people actually having no say,' she said.'What the Democrats will now discuss is how we might be able to broaden this debate. I think we need to consider options like referring it to an outside body that is at more of an arm's length.'"

GSI Board of Directors... In The Media

April 30, 2009: Evangelicals: Nuclear weapons are 'direct affront' to God - USA Today
The destruction one nuclear bomb can wreak is more than horrifying, says megachurch pastor Rob Bell of Grandville, Mich. It's an insult to God. "Nuclear weapons are a direct affront to God's dream of shalom for the world," Bell said Tuesday. "Life is beautiful, and nuclear weapons are ugly."..."We must eliminate these weapons, and we can eliminate these weapons," said Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, 31, a Baptist minister who founded the project.

April 29, 2009: Baptist minister leading evangelical movement for nuclear disarmament - The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Young evangelical leaders on Tuesday announced a national initiative to enlist Christians online and in schools and churches to make a moral case for nuclear disarmament. "I know when most people think of the elimination of nuclear weapons, they think of tie-dyed activists," said Tyler Wigg Stevenson, a 31-year-old Baptist pastor.

April 28, 2009: Young evangelicals call for end to nuclear weapons - Associated Baptist Press
AUSTIN, Texas (ABP) -- A group of under-40 evangelicals attending a leadership meeting in Texas announced April 28 a new initiative to mobilize American Christians to eliminate nuclear weapons. "We have all heard about this broadening of the evangelical agenda," said Katie Paris of Faith in Public Life, a progressive group for advancing faith in the public square. "Today something new is happening. Younger Christians are setting the agenda -- elevating and acting on an issue that has been off the popular radar for decades. They are engaging politics in a way that is very different from the generation that came before them, defying easy political categorization and breaking through theological division." Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, 31, an ordained Baptist minister and member of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn., is the founding director of the Two Futures Project, a movement of American Christians calling for the global abolition of nuclear weapons.

October 23, 2008: Ex-U.N. inspector calls for arms reductions - The Philadelphia Inquirer
Warning of a "dark situation" and tension spreading in the world, former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday called for renewed international effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons... Former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr. also addressed the conference from Philadelphia. A former arms-control negotiator, Graham said unless action was taken to abolish nuclear weapons, the world would enter a new nuclear era."

August 30, 2008: Christie Brinkley Wants Your Baby Teeth - The Daily Green
Supermodel, mom and environmental activist Christie Brinkley looks as fantastic as ever on the August 25 cover of New York magazine. She's also busy as ever...Brinkley believes that nuclear technologies are indeed putting our children at risk, and she made this video outlining what people can do. At the Cookie awards Brinkley also praised the work of the anti-nuke group the Global Security institute."

May, 2008: Christie Brinkley gets serious about her amazing second act - More Magazine
"It's awesome and just a little bit creepy, but up close in person Christie Brinkley still looks like a perfect giant Malibu Barbie...But her passion, surprisingly, is politics. Ask her about the upcoming elections and it's like opening the starting gate for Seabiscuit. 'We must demand that candidates reveal exactly what they plan to do about renewable energy and the abolishment of nuclear weapons,' she says. 'I attended the Nobel Laureate Peace Summit in Rome recently and was galvanized by the urgency of the nuclear weapons issue. We work awfully hard at war; if only we worked as hard at peace.'"

For the Press

To arrange an interview, or for comment, analysis or background on issues relating to nuclear weapons disarmament and nonproliferation, international law, or outer space security with any member of the Global Security Institute or its four integrated programs, contact our New York office:

general@gsinstitute.org
+1 (646) 289-5170