Nobel Prize sends a nuclear message to Trump

Yahoo - AFP, Francesco FONTEMAGGI, 6 October 2017

The Nobel Peace Prize award to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons (ICAN) is seen as a message to US President Donald Trump

The Nobel committee spurned an opportunity to celebrate the Iran nuclear deal, but still found a way to send a message to US President Donald Trump.

Trump is a stern critic of the 2015 accord, and US officials say that he intends to tell the US Congress next week that Tehran is not honoring its side of the bargain.

He is also engaged in a perilous game of brinksmanship with nuclear-armed North Korea, threatening "fire and fury" and exchanging insults with young dictator Kim Jong-Un.

Some supporters of the deal had hoped the jury would honor the architects of the Iran deal and in doing so send a message to Trump about the power of diplomacy.

In the end the committee chose not to provoke Trump by handing prizes to Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif or former US secretary of state John Kerry.

But in celebrating the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) they sent a strong message about the world's concerns over nuclear escalation.

"The message that has been communicated is a more subtle indirect messaging," said Melissa Dalton, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It's potentially a message and an encouragement to uphold the JCPOA as a commitment that the US has made with allies to non-proliferation," she said, referring to the Iran deal.

ICAN is a global civil society movement pushing for a global treaty to ban nuclear arms, one that was signed by 122 countries -- although none with such weapons -- in July.

The US reacted coolly to the award, and a State Department spokesman said Washington has no plans to sign the treaty.

"This treaty will not make the world more peaceful, will not result in the elimination of a single nuclear weapon, and will not enhance any state's security," he told AFP.

Speaking in Geneva, ICAN head Beatrice Fihn made an explicit link between the award and concerns about Trump's attitude to the Iran deal and non-proliferation efforts.

Next week, Trump is expected to announce he is "decertifying" Iran's compliance with the 2015 agreement it signed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Officials insist this will not sink the deal itself but open the way for Congress to possibly develop new measures to punish other aspects of Iran's behavior.

Global opinion

Trump has called the deal an "embarrassment to the United States" but rather than scrap it he is exploring a risky middle path to turn up the pressure on Iran.

Ever scornful of the record of his Nobel laureate predecessor Barack Obama, the US leader is unlikely at this stage to be influenced by a Norwegian committee.

But the timing of the award underlines the extent to which his hostility to the pact is out of step with global opinion, including with US allies in Europe.

And even if, as is now expected, the accord survives Trump's Washington maneuvers, his position may have weakened his ability to negotiate with another foe: North Korea.

The US strategy to deal with Kim's nuclear bravado is to use sanctions and diplomacy -- backed by a credible military posture -- to bring him to the negotiating table.

But doubts hanging over the Iran deal make success less likely, say observers, including Jung Pak of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

"Even if North Korea and the US came to an agreement, Kim has no reason to think that an agreement would stick from one US administration to the next," he warned.

"The message is loud and clear, the US cannot be trusted."

Washington's European allies are also nervous that Trump's criticism of the deal will encourage US hardliners to undermine the entire agreement.

"We told the administration: certification or not, that's not our problem, this is an American domestic issue," one Western diplomat told reporters.

"But beware of a demarche that would endanger the agreement. Our concern now is what the Congress will do if Trump doesn't certify," he said.

There are some hawks in Washington who will seize on any opportunity to toughen the US stance -- despite the international solidarity symbolized by the Nobel award.

Influential conservative Senator Tom Cotton is known to have Trump's ear and he advises pushing ahead with both decertification and new sanctions.

"If anything, certifying the disastrous deal with Iran will show the North Koreans that we lack the will to confront them," he said, arguing that Kim would respect a strong stance.

"Isn't it curious that North Korea's nuclear and missile tests have accelerated so rapidly since we agreed to the Iran deal?"

World map showing organisations in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) pic.twitter.com/Lq3CpSSEQP

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 7, 2017

A huge dome is shown in 1980 covering a crater left by one of the 43

nuclear blasts on Runit Island, in the Marshall Islands, the fallout from

which is expected to last 25,000 years (US Defence Nuclear Agency/AFP)

Related Articles:

Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear powers over failure to disarm

Islanders afraid to go home 60 years after Bikini Atoll H-bomb

Ten nations urge new push for non-proliferation - (30 April 2011)

“.. Westerwelle told journalists that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the international Nuclear Test Ban Treaty should be adopted by all countries, adding that the production and mining of all fissile material for nuclear weapons should be banned internationally. He called for resuscitating the Geneva Disarmament Convention.

Attending the talks with Germany were Japan, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Chile, Poland, Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Last year, these countries formed the group Friends of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. ..”

The Netherlands abstains in UN nuclear weapons vote

‘Those silly things are still there’: US nukes stored in Netherlands

22 American nuclear bombs are stored in the Netherlands: media
WikiLeaks confirms presence of US nuclear arms in Netherlands

Nuclear Powers to Sign Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
China calls for joint efforts to advance nuclear disarmament
Xi says China will stick to denuclearization of Korean peninsula


"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”