Tag - nuclear-weapons

 
 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Pyongyang in June 2024. Moscow has ditched its historic hostility to North Korea's nuclear program, a clear sign of Russia's scramble for allies amid its international isolation.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2025
It’s time to flip Russia’s script on North Korean nukes
Countries who want deterrence and stability must stop Russia from influencing perceptions of North Korea's nuclear program — one that, in an about-face, Moscow now supports.
Then-U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun arrives at a meeting with the media in Bangkok in December 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 18, 2025
U.S. official says South Korea's watchlist status due to mishandling of lab data
The U.S. Department of Energy confirmed this week that it had designated South Korea a "sensitive" country in January, but did not explain why.
U.S. President Donald Trump reviews troops aboard the USS Wasp in Yokosuka, Japan, in May 2019. The shifting global security landscape has sparked discussions in many countries, including Japan, about developing nuclear weapons in response to changing U.S. commitments.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025
Changing U.S. commitments spark nuclear armament debates, including in Japan
Given Japan's unique history in 1945, it will take more than fear or harsh rhetoric to push the country into considering the development of nuclear weapons.
A U.S. Navy ship fires missiles at an undisclosed location, after President Donald Trump launched military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, in this screen shot.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2025
Trump launches large-scale strikes against Yemen's Houthis
The strikes — which could last days and maybe weeks — are the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Trump took office in January.
The Tourville, a new French navy nuclear attack submarine, stops in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday.
WORLD
Mar 16, 2025
As Trump stirs doubt, Europeans debate their own nuclear deterrent
Talk of replacing the American nuclear umbrella over Europe with the small British and French nuclear armories is in the air, however vague and fanciful.
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 15, 2025
U.S. designated South Korea a 'sensitive' country amid talk of nuclear weapons
The move after the South Korean president briefly imposed martial law and amid talk of Seoul potentially developing nuclear weapons.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looks on during a meeting with students in Tehran on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 15, 2025
Despite tough talk, economic woes may force Iran to bargain with Trump
Behind the defiant rhetoric of Iran's leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran to strike a deal with Washington.
If Russia emerges victorious from the Ukraine war, nuclear proliferation will ensue as states view armaments and not agreements as the only way to protect their sovereignty.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2025
Lessons from Ukraine: Allies are fickle, nukes are forever
If Russia emerges victorious from the Ukraine war, nuclear proliferation will ensue as states view armaments and not agreements as the only way to protect their sovereignty.
Donald Trump’s skepticism of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty should push Japan to rethink its defense posture, increase military spending, expand arms exports and even consider the nuclear question instead of relying on outdated postwar norms.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2025
Use the bogeyman to confront Japan’s defense taboos
Donald Trump’s criticism of the U.S. security treaty with Japan is the perfect cover that Tokyo needs to confront outdated attitudes about defense.
Germany's chancellor-in-waiting and leader of the Christian Democratic Union party, Friedrich Merz, says he would like talks with France and Britain about sharing their nuclear weapons as part of a nuclear shield.
WORLD
Mar 9, 2025
Germany's Merz wants European nuclear weapons to boost U.S. shield
Germany, due to its Second World War past, has bound itself to non-nuclear defense in a number of international treaties but participates in NATO weapons-sharing arrangements.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella lays flowers on Saturday before the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2025
Italian president lays flowers at Hiroshima Peace Park
The president observed a moment of silent in front of the cenotaph and then toured the park, accompanied by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui.
Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in the south of the country
WORLD
Mar 9, 2025
Trump administration ends Iraq's waiver to buy Iranian electricity
Trump restored "maximum pressure" on Iran in one of his first acts after returning to office in January.
A demonstration by the Polish army at the Bemowo Piskie Land Forces Training Center in Poland in September 2023. As U.S. President Donald Trump casts doubt on his country's alliances, Poland needs to double its military manpower and consider more destructive weapons, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2025
Alarmed by Trump, Poland must look at nuclear options, premier says
Poland needs to double its military manpower and consider more destructive weapons, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks to members of Iran's air force in Tehran in February.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 8, 2025
Trump says he sent Iran leader letter urging nuclear talks
Trump said that while he isn’t ruling out a military intervention, he would "rather negotiate a deal.”
France's President Emmanuel Macron addresses the media during a news conference at the end of a Special European Council to discuss continued support for Ukraine and European defense at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / EXPLAINER
Mar 7, 2025
How realistic is France's offer to extend its nuclear umbrella?
France has only a fraction of the number of airborne nuclear weapons the U.S. can provide, and any upgrade of its systems would be costly.
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation in Paris on Wednesday, in this screen grab taken from a video.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 6, 2025
France to open talks to extend nuclear shield for Europe, Macron says
The French president’s remarks come as the EU rushes to counter the threat of Russian aggression after the withdrawal of the U.S.’ commitment to European security.
High school student Mayu Kobayashi (right) speaks as she and other "student peace ambassadors" call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 6, 2025
Japanese high school students call for nuke abolition in New York
They stress that peace must be continuously protected and is not something to be taken for granted.
Upper House lawmaker Shinji Morimoto speaks during a meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2025
Japanese lawmaker addresses nuke ban treaty meeting for first time
"Nuclear weapons and humanity cannot coexist," Shinji Morimoto from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan stressed at a panel discussion.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (second from left), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (right) and envoys meet in Riyadh on Feb. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2025
Putin agrees to help Trump broker nuclear talks with Iran
Discussions are in their initial stages and it’s not clear whether any talks between the U.S. and Iran would yield any progress.
Mendoza, Argentina, offers a combination of natural beauty, a thriving wine industry, political conservatism and valuable resources, making it an attractive potential safe haven amid global instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2025
I just found my nuclear war hideaway
This question is less and less theoretical: The world seems to be living on the edge, with growing tensions between great powers.

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties