Articles 
PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
HUMAN SURVIVAL PROJECT
ANOTHER STEP TOWARD NUCLEAR MIDNIGHT AS US, RUSSIA, TRASH INF TREATY
WHAT MIGHT BE THE WAY BACK TO SANITY?
The decision by the Trump administration, in the face of a chorus of opposition from within its own ranks, from the NGO community, from Congress, from US allies, and finally from a range of members of the European Parliament and other national Parliaments, to walk away from the INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) Treaty takes the world yet another step toward nuclear 'midnight' at a time when we are already as close to it as we have ever been.
In the light of a steady deterioration in strategic stability, and a steady rise in the risk of a global nuclear apocalypse, the need for nuclear risk reduction has never been greater.
While the US decision to walk away from the INF treaty, and Russias decision announced yesterday to build a new class of intermediate range missiles that would have been forbidden by the INF treaty are in themselves destabilizing, what is yet more worrisome is that the destruction of the INF treaty may also be leading to a situation in which the New START treaty, due for renewal in 2020, is not renewed nor replaced by anything else.
This would mean that for the first time since 1972, there would be no mutually agreed treaties at all between the two largest nuclear weapons holders, the US and Russia, limiting their arsenals. There would be no legal obstacle to an unlimited nuclear arms race of the sort that took place in the 1950's and '60s, that led to absurd, and omnicidal levels of nuclear armaments.
The entire enterprise of arms control, carefully and painstakingly negotiated over decades, will have been shrugged off in a fit of absent-mindedness by people who knew no better.
Quantitative limits on nuclear weapons numbers, and limitations on nuclear weapon types, as well as risk reduction measures, are essential to avoid that final movement to midnight, and thence to the end of civilization and possibly of humans as a species. Instead of removing limits on nuclear weapons numbers and types, the world should be moving toward zero nuclear weapons and to the universalization of the TPNW, of Nuclear Ban Treaty.
In the meantime, limits on numbers and risk reduction measures are essential transitional measures to ensure human survival.
Risk reduction measures include no-first-use commitments, lowering of operational readiness, improved communication between militaries, and improved data-sharing particularly between the US and Russia.
These are common-sense measures, essential for the survival of civilization and possibly of humans as a species.
An appeal (The Basel Appeal) was recently sent from members of the European Parliament, mayors of cities, and representatives of think tanks and civil society organizations expressing extreme concern over the peril into which the world is now drifting and urging retention of the INF treaty and negotiation of risk reduction measures and further limits on nuclear weapons.(see text attached below from Basel Peace Office)
The issue of rising risks to civilization as a whole affects every individual on the planet, ans ought to be at the top of the list of priorities of every Parliamentarian in every Parliament.
A panel will be held on that issue in the Australian Federal Parliament in Reps Committee Room 1R1 on Feb 19th, 3.30-4.30pm. It is sponsored by Maria Vamvakinou, and speakers are Alyn Ware of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, and John Hallam of People for Nuclear Disarmament. (details below).
John Hallam
People for Nuclear Disarmament
Human Survival Project
Australian Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND)
Co-Convener, Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear Risk Reduction
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
61-411-854-612
After the Doomsday Clock and INF Treaty collapse – what next?
Parliamentary action and cooperation to reduce nuclear risks, support diplomacy and advance nuclear disarmament and climate protection
Where: Reps Committee Room 1R1
When: Tuesday 19 February 2019
Time: 3.30pm-4.30pm
Host: Maria Vamvakinou MP, Federal Member for Calwell
Introduction: John Hallam: Australian Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Co-Convenor, Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear Risk Reduction.
Keynote speaker: Alyn Ware: Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Consultant, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
Consultant, Global Renewables Congress
Laureate, Right Livelihood Award (‘Alternative Nobel Peace Prize’)
Outline: On January 24, 2019 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the hands of the Doomsday Clock at 2 Minutes to Midnight due to the extreme risks to human civilization from the dual threats of nuclear weapons and climate change. The impending collapse of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and erosion of the JCPOA (Iran nuclear non-proliferation agreement) are just two indicators of a renewed nuclear arms race which is now consuming over US$100 billion annually – funds which could instead support renewable energy and climate protection. On the other hand, the Inter-Korean peace and denuclearisation process offers a possibility of an end to the Korean nuclear conflict, and is demonstrating that diplomacy can prevail.
Mr Ware and Mr Hallam will highlight the important role of parliamentary action, especially on a cross-party basis, to build global cooperation on effective confidence-building, nuclear-risk reduction and disarmament initiatives. Mr Ware comes to Australia following launch of the Global Renewables Congress at COP 24 in Poland, a regional conference of mayors and parliamentarians in Switzerland to address the INF Treaty and the nuclear weapons industry, and the PyeongChang Global Peace Forum in South Korea supporting the Korean peace and denuclearisation process.
Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), a global cross-party network of legislators in nuclear-armed and non-nuclear countries, works with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), United Nations and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) to build such cooperation. This includes a Parliamentary Action Plan for a Nuclear-Weapon Free World based on resolutions adopted by the IPU and OSCE Parliamentary Assemblies.
Inquiries - John Hallam People for Nuclear Disarmament, Australian Coordinator Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, 0411-854-612 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
RSVP by Friday 15 February by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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