At the Center and Council, we stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and believe that all Americans must work to dismantle and destroy structural racism in our society. We support the peaceful protests happening throughout the country and denounce the Trump administration’s efforts to impede the Constitutional right to assemble. We stand with journalists who are working incessantly to shine light […]
Trump is Taking the Shackles Off Iran’s Nuclear Program: What Just Happened?
By Samuel M. Hickey On May 27, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States will now block the efforts of Russia, China and some European countries to make it harder for Iranian nuclear sites to be used for weapons development. By threatening to sanction our partners and allies who are constraining Iran’s […]
The Catholic Church in the 75th year of the nuclear age
By Isabel Martinez On November 24, 2019, Pope Francis delivered a speech on nuclear threats in Nagasaki during a three-day visit to Japan. In doing so, he became the second pope to visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, following Pope John Paul II in 1981. In his speech, Pope Francis worried the world has grown content with “a false sense […]
A worthless withdrawal: Two years since President Trump abandoned the JCPOA
By Samuel M. Hickey May 8 marked two years since President Trump formally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iran nuclear deal, while maintaining that “[i]t is the policy of the United States that Iran be denied a nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missiles.” Since then, the Trump […]
Iran’s military satellite launch: What just happened?
By Samuel M. Hickey On April 22, 2020, Iran successfully launched its first military satellite Noor-1 (“light”) into low-earth orbit and simultaneously announced its parallel military space program run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Corps (IRGC). Noor was carried by a three-stage Qassed (“messenger”) space-launch vehicle (SLV) and the military satellite is believed to be orbiting the earth at […]