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CRANES FOR OUR FUTURE CAMPAIGN MARKS 78TH ANNIVERSARIES OF U.S. ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF JAPAN August 6 and 9 this year marked the 78th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings. For the third year in a row, the Center participated in the #CranesForOurFuture campaign that was launched in 2021 by Hiroshima Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture, the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace. Each year during the anniversaries, partner organizations work to promote social media engagement of colleagues, celebrities, politicians, and other global leaders in posting content with a folded paper crane. Cranes are a universal symbol of peace, and spreading the message is aimed at promoting a world safe from nuclear weapons. This year, the Center participated in congressional outreach to spread the message encouraging participation. Members of Congress Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and IAEA Director Rafael Grossi are just a few of the participants from this year’s campaign. |
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BIDEN REQUESTS MORE UKRAINE AID FUNDS; ATTACKS CHANGE CONDITIONS ON UKRAINIAN FRONT LINES The Biden administration announced a request for $40 billion in supplemental appropriations, which include $13 billion in additional funding to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. The bill also funds $12 billion in emergency disaster relief in the United States to deal with fires, flooding and tornado damage in Hawaii and elsewhere. As a result of the counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine has taken back the village of Urozhaine in eastern Donetsk. Russian drones attacked port infrastructure on the Danube River in southern Ukraine, damaging agriculture infrastructure. Additionally, footage of Ukraine using a sea drone to attack Russia’s bridge to Crimea has surfaced. Russia launched an air attack on Lviv and Volyn, which caused debris to fall from the destroyed missiles onto residential areas. |
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U.S. IRAN POLICY UNCHANGED Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that he could not confirm a report stating Iran slowed its nuclear-weapons-grade enriched uranium but that the United States would “welcome any steps that Iran takes to actually deescalate the growing nuclear threat that it has posed since the United States got out of the Iran nuclear deal.” Last week, the Biden administration announced a potential U.S.-Iran prisoner deal that would return five Americans imprisoned in Iran in exchange for $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea being unfrozen. Blinken called the deal a “positive step” but said the administration’s policies have not changed. “Nothing about our overall approach to Iran has changed. We continue to pursue a strategy of deterrence, of pressure and diplomacy.” |
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UNITED STATES, SOUTH KOREA, JAPAN ANNOUNCE NEW MILITARY COOPERATION PLANS The United States, South Korea, and Japan met on August 18 at their first trilateral summit at Camp David. The three nations have announced plans to expand military cooperation by meeting annually to discuss further trilateral cooperation, sharing data on North Korean missile launches, holding joint military exercises and establishing a crisis hotline. The leaders also committed to consult and coordinate responses with each other on “regional challenges, provocations, and threats that affect their collective interests and security.” This summit comes on the heels of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s call for North Korean munition factories to “drastically boost” missile production. |
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DEFENSE SPENDING MESS AWAITS CONGRESS Last month we told you about the House version of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to allow unrelated culture war provisions to hijack the bill. The Senate also passed its version of the NDAA before leaving Washington for the August recess. As expected, the Senate version did not include the contentious House language. However, like their House counterparts, Senators authorized increases in nuclear weapons spending while cutting funding for nuclear cleanup efforts. The House and Senate will now head to conference. Read our analyses of both NDAAs as passed by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. |
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SENATE DEFENSE BILL INCLUDES EXPANSION OF RADIATION SURVIVOR COMPENSATION Despite mostly disappointing developments during consideration of the NDAA, the Senate provided one significant bright spot: the Senate-passed version of the bill included language expanding compensation for victims of nuclear testing and weapons production. The inclusion of important nuclear justice language to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as RECA, allows long overdue compensation for more survivors of the nuclear complex than were previously eligible: survivors of nuclear weapons mining, testing and cleanup in New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Missouri and Guam. |
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CHINA SHAKES UP NUCLEAR COMMAND Xi Jinping carried out the highest-level upheaval in China’s military in more than five years, replacing Rocket Force’s two top commanders with inexperienced outsiders. Rocket Force is the sector of the People’s Liberation Army in charge of expanding China’s nuclear arsenal. This upheaval could signal issues in higher ranks, disrupting modernization. |
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