Efforts by the United Nations to ban nuclear weapons began on Monday 27 March 2017, but these efforts may be undermined before they get anywhere – the United States, Russia, and China are among 40 other nuclear-armed nations absent and their reason is that a nuclear ban is impractical. North Korea has said its nuclear efforts are meant as a deterrent against what it sees as US hostility. Japan, is the only country to have experienced an atomic air strike which happened during World War II. The negotiations aim to create “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination” and supporters are hopeful that a document will be ready by July. The administration of US President Donald Trump is reviewing the goal to have a world free of nuclear weapons, an aim embraced by previous Republican and Democratic presidents and required by a key arms control treaty.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 28, 2017 15:22 UTC