INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISMISSES MARSHALL ISLANDS’ NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT CASES WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE MERITS

Rick Wayman of the Nulear Age Peace Foundation reports:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court, delivered its judgments on preliminary issues in the Marshall Islands’ nuclear disarmament cases against India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK)...

Phon van den Biesen, Co-Agent of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, said, “We are pleased that the Court recited its unanimous decision of 1996 that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects. Likewise we are pleased that half of the judges of the highest court in the world confirmed, as the Marshall Islands alleged, that jurisdiction exists here. Nonetheless it is difficult to understand how eight judges could have found that no disputes existed in these cases when they were filed. So that is very disappointing. It is particularly worrying that the World Court cannot be unanimous on what it takes to establish a dispute in the context of nuclear disarmament.”...

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a consultant to the RMI, said, “In bringing these lawsuits, Tony de Brum and the Marshall Islands have demonstrated the courage and determination to act and speak, based on conviction and bitter, tragic experience, for the benefit of all humankind. De Brum and the Marshall Islands made the choice to act in a constructive manner to find a path to end the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons. With the lawsuits, the Marshall Islands challenged the nuclear-armed states to show good faith in meeting the universal legal obligation to pursue and conclude negotiations on complete nuclear disarmament. The Marshall Islands itself has shown good faith fulfilment of that obligation in a dignified, respectful way, through court action.”...

Official statement from the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands:

“While these proceedings were initiated by a previous government administration, and have been carried forward, the Marshall Islands has - for decades - repeatedly reminded the international community that our own burden and experiences with nuclear detonation must never again be repeated - this includes Marshallese who petitioned the United Nations in 1954 and 1956 to cease the nuclear testing program during its status as a UN Trust Territory. Recent nuclear tests in North Korea are a stunning example of clearly unacceptable risks which remain with us all.  

While it may be that there are several political pathways to sharply reducing - and eliminating - nuclear risk, further progress on nuclear disarmament appears stalled. Without further flexibility and political will by all sides of the table, and with all necessary actors - and without common agreement on a way forward, it is as though there is no visible path to a world free of nuclear weapons, and the peace and security which accompany it. Such a lack of progress is no way to honor or respond to the lesson that Marshallese people have offered the world.

We look forward to studying closely the Court's opinion before commenting further.” More.

Native American land defender/water protector speaks truth to power at ND gubernatorial debate

As reported by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! during the show's Oct. 4th news headlines segment (watch/listen from the 11 minute 43 second mark to the 13 minute 13 second mark), a Native American land defender/water protector (they do not want to be called protestors), opposed to the crude oil Dakota Access Pipeline threatening Standing Rock Sioux Tribe drinking water, ancient sacred and burial sites, etc., disrupted the North Dakota gubernatorial debate last evening.

She compared DAPL's violation of the 1851 treaty between the Sioux and U.S. government -- in the form of desecration of sacred and burial sites on historic tribal lands -- to violation of nuclear weapons treaties, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Meanwhile, as reported by Goodman, Native American land defenders/water protectors in a large convoy of vehicles non-violently disrupted ongoing construction of the DAPL in North Dakota, as non-Indian protestors in Iowa engaged in non-violent direct action to stop DAPL construction there, resulting in multiple arrests.

Learn more about the Native-led DAPL resistance, and how you can help, at Beyond Nuclear's Human Rights website section.

Canadian Highly Radioactive Liquid Waste truck shipments to South Carolina (potentially through numerous states) formally delayed -- SRS Watch & Canadian news of Oct. 3

Published on Oct 4, 2016

Liquid Nuclear Waste Convoys: A Threat of the Waters of the Great Lakes – Media Conference, Queen's Park, Toronto, Oct 3 2016. Complete press package at http://ccnr.org/GLWQA_pack.pdf. Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility; Janet McNeill, Durham Nuclear Awareness; Christine Elwell, Sierra Club of Canada Foundation; introduced by Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance. Watch the 24 minute 30 second-long video recording on YouTube!

In addition to a postponement, from September till February, in the proposed, high-risk truck shipment campaign, a coalition of environmental groups has also written to U.S. President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, demanding an Environmental Impact Statement be carried out. The coalition also wrote to the binational Great Lakes Executive Committee, demanding required notification under the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

More.

Beyond Nuclear on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture" with IEN, re: Dakota Access Pipeline resistance

Beyond Nuclear was honored and privileged to appear on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture," along with Indigenous Environmental Network, to discuss the ongoing, inspiring water and land protector resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline, centered at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe lands near Cannonball, ND.

Thom discusses how the North Dakota pipeline protests are spreading across the country with the Indigenous Environmental Network’s (IEN) Kandi Mossett and Beyond Nuclear’s Kevin Kamps.

The interview segment begins at the 30 minute 20 second mark, and ends at the 42 minute 50 second mark.

(Please note, Anishinaabemowin refers to Anishinaabe language; Anishinaabeaki refers to Anishinaabe land. Kalamazoo means "Boiling Pot" is Anishinaabemowin; Michigan means "Great Lake.")

Learn more about the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Beyond Nuclear's Human Rights website section.

DOE Task Force on the Future of Nuclear Power draft report calls for massive national subsidies to prop up dying industry

In Sept., 2016 the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, Task Force on the Future of Nuclear Power, published its Draft Report. The report calls for massive nationalized subsidies, to prop up dirty, dangerous/age-degraded, expensive/un-competitive, atomic reactors across the U.S.

[This Task Force report was cited in NIRS Nov. 2016 report, Too Big to Bail Out. The NIRS report, by its executive director, Tim Judson, estimates that a New York-style bail out, implemented across the U.S., could cost American ratepayers and/or taxpayers, a whopping $280 billion.]