Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

BLUE SMOKE: A monthly column, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, spotlighting senior appointments at the UN

Disarmament

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Hundreds of cluster munitions have been used on Ukrainian territory since the full-scale war began in February 2022 as countries across the world have continuously condemned their deployment. Now it appears that the munitions the United States is sending…

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For the disarmament agenda to progress, its machinery needs to be revisited. Current efforts by the Conference on Disarmament — the United Nations body tasked with negotiating treaties on weapons control — have stalled for almost 30 years because…

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Russia is battling Ukraine with the help of deadly Iranian drones, or UAVs, the United States and some of its allies allege, contending that use of the weapons violates a Security Council resolution. But the United Nations itself —…

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This week, we look at Russia’s continued degradation of the UN Security Council as rotating president in April while it wages illegal war on Ukraine; and a c’est la vie shrug from the UN spokesperson on reports of the…

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Ambassador Kimihiro Ishikane of Japan says his country’s new defense strategy of increasing its military might reflects the need to change the security architecture based on the current environment in East Asia. Yet Ishikane, who spoke to PassBlue on…

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It was UN day this week! Hurray!! We saw schoolchildren around the world celebrate the creation of the organization on Oct. 24, 1945, and we also took a cue from the message of the UN secretary-general. You are reading…

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Think about a weapon that once activated, can select and engage targets without further human intervention. This might sound like science fiction, but autonomous weapons systems, also called killer robots, are being deployed in real time. The Turkish STM…

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The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to regional and global security, including raising concerns about the potential use of unconventional weapons. Not least of these concerns is the dangerous Russian disinformation campaign alleging biological weapons development in Ukraine,…

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This week, our focus is on the continuing efforts of the United Nations to reduce civilian casualties in different pockets of unrest across the globe. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization….

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In 2020, during one of the worst global pandemics in recent history, killing more than three million people that year from the Covid-19 virus, nine nuclear-armed countries spent $72.6 billion on bolstering and modernizing their arsenals, at a rate…

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THE HAGUE — An international agreement that bans nuclear weapons became operational on Jan. 22, more than 75 years after the detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki heralded the atomic age. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or…

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Since its founding 75 years ago, the United Nations has proven, with the support of its member countries and other partners, its worth in complex problem-solving. That includes preventing great-power wars, remedying humanitarian emergencies, safeguarding human rights and reducing…

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A “permanent” cease-fire is reached in Libya; Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City declines to meet with the president of the UN General Assembly; and what’s going on behind closed-door meetings at the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban…

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VIENNA — For the first time in its 24-year history, state parties to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a multilateral agreement that bans all nuclear testing worldwide, have taken a controversial decision by a two-thirds majority. Decisions in the…

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Only days before the United States said it would submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council to extend an Iran arms embargo, the American envoy for Iran has resigned. Brian Hook, who also held the post as…

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UNGA78: A quiz from PassBlue
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

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