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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012626

Nine countries possess an estimated around 13,000 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation Of American Scientists (FAS).

Russia and the US top the list with a combined arsenal of close to 12,000, reflecting the hangover from the Cold War.

Initially, the United States had hoped to maintain a monopoly on nuclear weapons but the secrets and the technology for building the atomic bomb soon spread.

The United States conducted its first nuclear test in July 1945 and dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.

Four years later, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test. The United Kingdom followed in 1952, France in 1960, and China in 1964.

The United States and other like-minded countries negotiated the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996.

India, Israel, and Pakistan never signed the NPT and possess nuclear arsenals. Iraq initiated a secret nuclear programme under Saddam Hussein before the Persian Gulf War in 1991. North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT in January 2003 and has successfully tested advanced nuclear devices. Iran and Libya also pursued secret nuclear activities in violation of the treaty and Syria is suspected of having done the same.

At the time the NPT was concluded, the United States and the then Soviet Union had tens of thousands of nuclear stockpiles. Beginning in the 1970s, the US and Soviet/Russian leaders negotiated a series of bilateral arms control agreements and initiatives that limited, and later helped to reduce, the size of their nuclear arsenals.

According to Arms Control Association, the US currently deploys 1,357 while Russia deploys 1,456 strategic warheads on several hundred bombers and missiles, and are modernising their nuclear delivery systems.

Related News

Nicaragua’s Ortega defends Russia’s stance over Ukraine

New US ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ poses a threat to Asia, Chinese embassy says

Russia has destroyed peace efforts but we won’t give up our land, Zelenskiy says

Published : February 22, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012624

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega became one of the first world leaders to back Russia’s stance over Ukraine, saying President Vladimir Putin was right to recognize two regions controlled by Moscow-backed separatists as an independent.

The former Marxist guerrilla, who has led Nicaragua since 2007 after having first come to power in 1979, defended Putin’s move to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk during a speech in Managua.

“Russia wants security,” said Ortega, a long-time opponent of U.S. influence in Central America.

Ortega also said Ukraine’s attempt to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) represented a threat to Russia.

“Hopefully they (European and U.S. leaders) will reason so they will not provoke a catastrophe for the planet.”

Last week, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov visited Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba, key Russian allies in Latin America, and said Russia would deepen bilateral ties with all three countries.

The United States said Nicaragua’s last election, in November, was rigged in Ortega’s favor and has imposed sanctions on Nicaraguan officials. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols described Ortega’s government as being on the road to expulsion from the Organization of American States.

Published : February 22, 2022

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012618

Australia’s international border reopened to travelers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on Feb. 21, marking an end to restrictions introduced to prevent the spread of the virus in March 2020.

Australia reported more than 15,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday when the country welcomed its first international tourists in almost two years after reopening its border.

Australia’s international border reopened to travelers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on Monday, marking an end to restrictions that were introduced to prevent the spread of the virus in March 2020.

Fifty-six flights were due to land in Australia in the 24 hours after reopening.

Dan Tehan, the federal minister for trade, tourism and investment, was at the Sydney international airport on Monday morning to welcome the first arrivals and said it was a milestone for Australia.

“The first passengers had a huge smile on their face even though they have been on a plane for what, 20-odd hours,” he told Nine Network television. “The warmth of the welcome that the Australian people give our overseas visitors hasn’t gone away.”

The return of double vaccinated international visitors will reinvigorate Australia’s tourism sector, which supports 660,000 jobs and contributed 60.4 billion Australian dollars (about 43 billion U.S. dollars) to the economy in 2018-19, according to Tehan’s media release on Monday.

An Air New Zealand flight arrives at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

David Marshall, chair of the Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum, said it would take up to 18 months for the tourism industry to recover from the pandemic.

“We’re really playing catch-up,” he told The Canberra Times.

The country on Monday reported more than 15,000 new coronavirus infections and 17 deaths — seven in New South Wales, six in Queensland, three in Victoria and one in the Australian Capital Territory.

Monday marked one year since Australia administered its first coronavirus vaccines.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said that more than 53.2 million vaccinations have been administered in Australia.

An Air New Zealand flight arrives at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 21, 2022. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

Published : February 22, 2022

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012617

“Much of the withheld information could help state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control,” read a report by The New York Times.

For more than a year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has collected data on hospitalizations for COVID-19 across the country and broken it down by age, race and vaccination status, but it has not made most of the information public, The New York Times reported.

When the CDC published the first significant data on the effectiveness of boosters in adults younger than 65 two weeks ago, it left out the numbers for a huge portion of that population: 18- to 49-year-olds, the group least likely to benefit from extra shots, because the first two doses already left them well-protected, said the report on Sunday.

The agency recently debuted a dashboard of wastewater data on its website that will be updated daily and might provide early signals of an upcoming surge of COVID-19 cases. Some states and localities had been sharing wastewater information with the agency since the start of the pandemic, but the CDC had never before released those findings.

A man wearing a face mask walks on a street in Manhattan of New York, the United States, Jan. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

“Two full years into the pandemic, the agency leading the country’s response to the public health emergency has published only a tiny fraction of the data it has collected,” the newspaper quoted several people familiar with the data as saying.

“Much of the withheld information could help state and local health officials better target their efforts to bring the virus under control,” said the report, noting that detailed, timely data on hospitalizations by age and race would help health officials identify and help the populations at highest risk.

Information on hospitalizations and deaths by age and vaccination status would have helped inform whether healthy adults needed booster shots, and wastewater surveillance across the nation would spot outbreaks and emerging variants early, it added. 

Medical workers carry a patient to a hospital in New York, the United States, Dec. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Published : February 22, 2022

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012610

The new US “Indo-Pacific strategy”, aimed at containing China, undermines the stability, development and cooperation of the region, and features obviously malicious motives and ill intentions, a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson’s written statement came in response to a Thai NGO’s question regarding China’s stance on the new version of the US’ “Indo-Pacific Strategy”.

“A Thai NGO sent a letter to the Chinese Embassy in Thailand on February 21, criticising the United States for desperately stirring up troubles in the region, using various means to hype up the complexity of the situation, fabricating disinformation, and inciting divisions and confrontations among countries,” the spokesperson said in a press release.

“The letter also pointed out that the new version of the ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’ that the United States has just released claimed that stability in Asia means that the United States must be the leader and China cannot play a role.

“The United States claims to advance “freedom and openness” in the region, but is in fact forming an exclusive clique through Aukus and Quad. It asserts to strengthen regional security, but is generating grave nuclear proliferation risks that would undermine regional peace and stability. It professes to promote regional prosperity, but is stoking opposition and confrontation between regional countries, which undercut the Asean-centred regional cooperation architecture that has formed over the years, and poses a serious threat to regional cooperation outcomes and development prospects.

“If the US ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ evolves without being reined in, this region would no longer be the centre of the world economy growth, but probably be reduced to another new source of turbulence,” the statement said.

“Maintaining regional peace and promoting common development is the common call of countries in the region. Any ‘strategy’ that resurrects the Cold War mentality and bloc politics will inevitably be greeted with nothing but vigilance and rejection from the people of all countries,” said the spokesperson.

“China adheres to the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and is committed to the neighbourhood diplomacy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. China always supports the centrality of Asean. China is willing to continue to work with countries in the region, including Thailand, to further enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, boost coordination, and eliminate interference, so as to give lasting and durable impetus to Asia’s peace, development and cooperation,” added the spokesperson.

Published : February 22, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012609

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of wrecking peace efforts and ruled out making any territorial concessions in an address to the nation in the early hours of Tuesday.

Zelenskiy spoke after Russia’s decision to formally recognize two Moscow-backed regions of eastern Ukraine as independent and send troops to the region, accelerating a crisis that the West fears could unleash a major war.

After chairing a security council meeting, Zelenskiy accused Russia of violating Ukraine’s sovereign territory and said it could mean Moscow pulling the plug on the Minsk peace talks aimed at ending the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine wanted to solve the crisis through diplomacy but that his country was ready to dig in for the long haul.

“We are committed to the peaceful and diplomatic path, we will follow it and only it,” Zelenskiy said. “But we are on our own land, we are not afraid of anything and anybody, we owe nothing to no one, and we will give nothing to no one.”

He called for an emergency summit of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France while urging Ukraine’s allies to take action against Russia.

A Reuters witness saw unusually large columns of military hardware moving through the breakaway city of Donetsk after Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s defense ministry to send forces into the two regions to “keep the peace”.

Russia’s actions drew U.S. and European condemnation and vows of new sanctions although it was not immediately clear whether the Russian military action would be regarded by the West as the start of a fullscale invasion. The area was already controlled by Russian-backed separatists and Moscow in practice.

Zelenskiy’s administration has voiced frustration at the West’s unwillingness to impose preemptive sanctions after Russia massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders in recent weeks.

“We expect clear and effective steps of support from our partners,” Zelenskiy said. “It is very important to see who is our real friend and partner, and who will continue to scare the Russian Federation with words.”

Published : February 22, 2022

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012597

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed two decrees recognizing “the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR)” and “the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)” as independent and sovereign states.

At a ceremony held in the Kremlin, Putin also inked the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Russia and the LPR and the DPR respectively with the heads of the two “republics,” a Kremlin statement said.

 “I consider it necessary to make a long overdue decision — to immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of the DPR and the LPR,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation.

“Russia has done everything to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine” by fighting for the implementation of 2015 Minsk agreements, but all the efforts ended up in vain, he told the public.

According to Putin, nearly everyday there is Ukrainian shelling of settlements in Donbass and “there is no end in sight.”

The crisis of European security occurred due to the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has led to the loss of mutual trust with Russia, Putin stressed.

He called it just “a matter of time” for NATO to accept Ukraine as a member state and then build facilities on its territory so that the level of military threats to Russia will rise dramatically.

As Moscow asked the United States and NATO for security guarantees, the Western countries precisely ignored Russia’s fundamental concerns and nothing has changed in their position, Putin noted.

In such a condition, Russia “has every right to take retaliatory measures to ensure its own security,” the president said.

Putin said he is aware that the West is trying to “blackmail” Russia again with sanctions, but he believes that sanctions will continue just because Russia exists, regardless of the situation in Ukraine.

After recognizing the independence of the LPR and the DPR, Putin instructed the Russian armed forces to ensure peace in the two “countries.”

Earlier in the day, the Russian Security Council held an extraordinary meeting, when the country’s top officials supported the recognition of the two “republics.”

On Monday evening, Putin had phone conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who “expressed their disappointment” with Putin’s plan to recognize the LPR and the DPR, but meanwhile they showed readiness to continue contacts, according to a Kremlin statement.

Published : February 22, 2022

By : Xinhua

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They also agreed on the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and “to do everything to achieve it.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin pledged to “avoid an escalation, reduce risks and preserve peace” in eastern Ukraine during a phone call on Sunday, the French presidential office said in a press release.

According to the Elysee, Macron and Putin have agreed to resume the work within the framework of the Normandy format on the basis of the exchanges and proposals made by Ukraine in recent days, and to enable a meeting of the trilateral contact group to be held in the next few hours with the aim of obtaining “a commitment to a ceasefire” from all the stakeholders.

They also agreed on the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and “to do everything to achieve it,” adding that French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the coming days and several consultations will be held in Paris.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures at his annual press conference in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Evgeny Sinitsyn)

“The diplomatic work should make it possible to progress on the basis of the latest exchanges by involving all the stakeholders … in order to achieve, if the conditions are met, a meeting at the highest level to define a new order of peace and security in Europe,” said the press release.

Macron also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by telephone over the weekend.

“President Zelensky has confirmed his determination to not react to the provocations and to respect the ceasefire,” the Elysee said in another press release.

On Saturday, France urged all its nationals currently in Ukraine to leave the country and advised citizens to postpone their trip there. 

Refugees arrive at a temporary accommodation site in Rostov Region, Russia, on Feb. 19, 2022. (Photo by Svetlana Lomakina/Xinhua)
 

Published : February 21, 2022

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40012545

Scholz said on Saturday that diplomatic channels are still the means to solve the Ukrainian problem but warned against “being naive.”

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that diplomatic channels are still the means to solve the Ukrainian problem but warned against “being naive.”

He made the remarks in his first speech at the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC), which will last through Monday.

The conflict in Ukraine shows no sign of easing, and “there is a danger of another war in Europe,” he said.

Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has been a major concern for Russia, is not on the agenda either now or shortly, he noted.

Regarding Germany’s decision not to supply weapons to Ukraine, Scholz said that his country had strict regulations on arms exports and that Berlin had provided financial support to Ukraine instead.

Scholz stressed the importance of the transatlantic partnership, noting that Germany will ensure compliance with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the collective defence clause.

Russia has repeatedly urged NATO to halt its eastward expansion as the intergovernmental military alliance led by the United States has further enlarged even after the Cold War.

At a press conference held with Scholz in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that postponing Ukraine’s possible accession to NATO will resolve nothing for Russia and that Moscow wants its security concerns to be addressed seriously. 

Published : February 20, 2022

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The combat readiness of the troops and the reliability of the weapons were checked, the Kremlin said. Russia’s Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Black Sea Fleets were involved in the drills.

MOSCOW, Feb. 19 — Under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s strategic deterrence forces conducted large-scale drills on Saturday as the Ukrainian crisis has flared up.

Putin watched the exercise from the situation centre at the Kremlin together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russia’s Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Black Sea Fleets were involved in the drills, according to the statement.

The Aerospace Forces launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, while ships and submarines of the Northern and Black Sea Fleets fired Kalibr cruise missiles and Tsirkon hypersonic missiles against sea and ground targets.

An Iskander ground-based cruise missile was launched from a training ground in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia, and a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from northwest Russia’s Plesetsk cosmodrome against a target on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Tu-95MS strategic bombers fired cruise missiles, while the Karelia strategic nuclear submarine of the Northern Fleet launched a Sineva ballistic missile from the Barents Sea towards the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Kremlin said that the strategic deterrence exercise was “planned previously,” during which the combat readiness of the troops and the reliability of the weapons were checked.

All the tasks were completed in full and all the missiles hit the designated targets, it added.  

Xinhua

Published : February 20, 2022