[Prefatory Note: The following interview was previously published in September by the online Global Governance Forum. My responses to the questions posed by Aslı Bâli have been somewhat updated to take account of intervening developments. Aslı was my last PhD student at Princeton, has emerged as a star of the UCLA School of Law in recent […]
According to Fermi’s Paradox, the failure to date to achieve radio communications between Earth and extraterrestrial civilizations can be attributed to the short-term self-destruction of technological civilization by means of contamination of air, water and land by lethal substances, and the creation of deadly weapons. In the 20-21st centuries this includes saturation of the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and proliferation of radioactivity. Lost in[Read More...]
The world nuclear weapons spending found a significant increase in 2021, finds the latest International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) report published on Tuesday. In one year, the nine nuclear-armed nations – U.S., China, Russia, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the UK — spent a total of $82.4 billion on upgrading and maintaining their estimated 13,000 nuclear[Read More...]
[Prefatory Note: The post below is an interview/conversation with my brilliant former student, Asli Bali, current star UCLA law professor, and cherished friend. It was previously published by the Global Governance Forum on June 8th, 2022, an excellent source of scholarly reflections on global issues.] Ukraine and the Risk of Geopolitical Conflict — A Reawakening […]
With the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in place, is there an optimistic scenario of a nuclear-weapon free world? This might certainly be a difficult but persistently challenging question the world has been grappling with ever since the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by atomic bombs, way back in 1945. Spectres of nuclear holocaust have[Read More...]
On August 6, as the world observes Hiroshima Day (the 76th anniversary of the first-ever use of an atomic weapon in Hiroshima) , serious concerns regarding the threats from nuclear weapons are increasing in the middle of new tensions and power rivalries. We should not be misled into a false sense of security that the reduction in the number[Read More...]
Being sufficiently able at your job is a good thing. But beware the trappings of zeal. When it comes to the business of retaining an inventory for humanity’s annihilation, the zealous should be kept away. But there Admiral Charles Richard was in April this year, with his siren calls, urging the US Senate to consider a simple proposition. “Sustainment of[Read More...]
☰[PREFATORY NOTE: Previously published online in Counterpunch, May 4, 2021. Biden’s international bipartisan approach risks a renewed arms race in a political and economic atmosphere that makes it unaffordable as well as acutely dangerous. My conversation with David Krieger explores some of the ramifications.] Biden’s Foreign Policy and Nuclear Weapons: a Dialogue BY RICHARD FALK – […]
Why do the rest of us allow the British (the former genocidal colonial power) to get away with claiming the right to destroy the world if Britain comes under some sort of less than clearly defined non-nuclear attack? Is there no legal authority to sanction the UK and its officials involved in threatening Humanity – the UN Monitoring Verification and[Read More...]
The UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said UK plans to increase its nuclear arsenal by 40%, but China should be brought into international efforts to reduce the world stockpile of nuclear weapons. Speaking on Tuesday, as the British government published its Integrated Review of Security, Defense, Development and Foreign Policy, the UK prime minister highlighted China as posing a[Read More...]
