motionless for pro abortion rights activists gathered at a watch policy in a suburban town near kansas city, where they started back to the decision. we had worked so hard. yeah, we're back in the last couple of months to really, you know, with voters about it. and really what it, what was a state was our constitutional rights in our freedom. and so, you know, a coalition of voters across the political spectrum keep together today and voted no, they voted no to protect their neighbors. they voted no on changing the constitution and really demonstrated our free rates here in kansas are alive along. ah, this is al jazeera and these are the top stories now u. s. house speaker, nancy pelosi is in taiwan, but she's met, present, saw in when off to have visit to parliament. she reiterated washington's commitment

to protect democracy on the south govern island. now more than ever, a meritus solidarity with tom i want is crucial, and that is the message we are bringing here to day to day. the world safe is the choice between democracy and autocracy. america's determination to preserve democracy here in taiwan and around the world remains iron clad. it's really clear that while china has stood in the way of taiwan participating and going to certain meetings that they understand, that they will not stand in the way of people coming to taiwan. but also looking at russia invasion of ukraine earlier this year has made security over the taiwan strait. another focus of world wide attention aggression against democratic taiwan would have a tremendous impact on the security of the entire in the pacific. and facing deliberately heightened to military threats. ta one will not back down. we will

firmly uphold our nation sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy. or china has condemned closes visits and says it has nothing to do with protecting democracy. it's military has conducted joint air and see drills near taiwan so, so suspending imports and exports of several goods, top southeast asian diplomats are meeting in cambodia for the se in summit and security concerns on top of the agenda. those include the crisis and me and my intentions about tie one more than $5000.00 in the nation. us and all the troops are holding a joint military training exercise until august 14th. daniel jewell is expected to be the biggest yet, and will include 14 countries, the 1st cargo ship carrying grain to leave ukraine. since russia invaded more than 5 months ago, is now in turkey. and inspection team has set off and boats wards the, reserving to carry out checks before the vessel heads on to lebanon. on yes, tens, warring parties have agreed to extend

a 4 month choose for 2 more months just hours before it was due to expire. you and envoy p. m in said the choice between the government and who the rebels will now last until october. the 2nd there's the headlines and use continues. harris, i was 0 as after inside start let's get to the bottom line. what does a new forever proxy war mean for america and nato? it's very hard to say where the escalations stopped. is it a mistake to open up? is that a pandora's box? if you want to be ready for the next pandemic, you figure out this one, the bottom line, your weekly taken us politics in society. one miscalculation the world faces nuclear annihilation. the head of un wounds were the most dangerous times since the cold war. nuclear armed nations, calling for disarmament. but do they have the will to eliminate you can with this is inside story. ah

blow welcome to program on can vanelle the treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons has been credited with keeping the world safe. nearly every country has signed the agreement known as the m p t, which aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promote the peaceful use of atomic technology. but the un secretary general wants the world is just one dangerous miscalculation away from nuclear conflicts and toner. quoterush says the threat is at its highest level since the end of the cold war. rushes invasion of ukraine has dramatically raised the stakes. their concerns about china's rapid uptake of nuclear weapons. the u. n. is hosting a conference to review ways to strengthen the treaty at some nation's believe to hold nuclear weapons including israel, india, and pakistan on not attending. we'll bring in our guests in a moment at 1st,

this report from kristen salumi at un headquarters in new york. the un secretary general kicked off the 10th review conference of the n p t by sounding the alarm today humanities. just one muse. understanding when use calculation away from nuclear, elation we have been extraordinary lucky so far, but lucky is not the strategy. his pessimism stands in sharp contrast to when russia in the united states signed on to the treaty in 1970. this is indeed an historic occasion. it was the height of the cold war, and the goal was to prevent a nuclear conflict. nations of the world moved from a period of confrontation to a period of negotiation and a period of lasting peace. as recently as january, the 5 permanent members of the un security council, who also happened to be the officially recognized nuclear weapons states, the united states, the united kingdom, russia, china, and france, all pledge not to further disseminate nuclear weapons. but a month later,

russia invaded ukraine, while russia claims full compliance with the n p t. others consider that a threat and is engaged in reckless, dangerous nuclear saber rattling with its president warning that though supporting ukraine self defense, quote, risk and consequences such as you have never seen in your entire history. and then there's the iran nuclear deal agreed in 2015. it was heralded as a step towards reducing proliferation until the u. s. withdrew. now iran says it has enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon. you don't want you to enter, you don't motor, move a little while few nations have gone as far as north korea and trying to build them . and i nuclear campaign or say other countries are expressing a new willingness to host them as a deterrent. that's what frightens valerie. a has a nuclear expert from ukraine attending the conference. so there is

a widespread belief that nuclear weapons have prevented a big war. and it turned out not to be true signatories to the n p t. r. meant to gather every 5 years in an attempt to advance the goal of disarmament this year. thanks to global tensions. experts say there's little hope of action. christine salumi al jazeera, the united nations, or the head of around atomic agency says his country has the ability to make a nuclear bomb, but doesn't plan to an advisor to iran. supreme leader made similar comments to al jazeera last month. so by the us it's no secret that we have become a nuclear threshold states and this is a reality. it's also no secret that we have the technical capabilities required to manufacture a nuclear bomb. but we don't want that global watchdog say, despite a small decrease in the number of warheads. now, thea,

the total nuclear arsenal is expected to grow in the next decade. just 9 countries hold the world's estimated stock pile of 12700 nuclear warheads. more than 90 percent of them belong to russia in the us. the 2 nations have been jointly retiring there. austin, on getting rid of a total of $3660.00 warheads, but many still remain. the u. s. has been scaling back, its non strategic nuclear weapons, which are shorter and range and have less explosive force while russia has largely kept its stockpile. ah, let's bring our guests in vienna. robert kelly, a distinguished fellow at the start comb, international piece research institute. he's also a former director at the i a e, a, the international atomic energy agency in the hor, robbie ok, sorry, director at the center for security and policy research at the university of la whore and author of the book. the blind i u. s. non proliferation policy towards pakistan from 40 to clinton and in washington,

richard cubits. a senior fellow and director at partnerships and proliferation prevention at the stimson center. he's previously worked for the state department on counter proliferation. everyone. welcome to you all. i'd like to start with you . robert kelly antenna potato says he's worried that crises with nuclear on the tones could escalate. how serious is the threat right now that nuclear weapons could actually be used? i don't to do large between the designated nuclear weapon states the permanent 5 or would be very concerned about south asia and india and pakistan maybe using some of their reserve to not use nuclear weapons. the concerns and ukraine right now, probably real, but i don't see them as, as rising to a very high level right now. ok. which a careful this u. s. secretary of state gave a big speech about how invested the u. s. is in lowering the threat of nuclear war,

but do the main nuclear powers that we've talked about? do they actually want nuclear weapons eliminated or do they just want to stop others from having them? well, thank you for the invitation. i certainly believe there's an interest at least in the part of the bio ministration, which you can see in president biden's statements for the reducing the u. s. nuclear nuclear arsenal. but i think the question has always been how to do that without actually increasing the risk of nuclear conflicts in the process. i'm not so sure about some of the other nuclear powers at this point in particularly given the russian federation, as you noticed, noted in your report, references to nuclear weapons in its current recent unprovoked threats. and there may be other countries that also have limited interest in nuclear disarmament at this time for me i work with so under secretary

she's the un secretary general derossi's were a miscalculation away, i would point and side with that professor scott sagan, believing that the more states would do their weapons, the greater the risk of accident, sabotage or miscalculation. so i think there is a, it's not necessarily a hypocritical position to be in to want to try to reduce your weapons stockpiles while preserving and making sure that you, you increase actually increase the risk of use of nuclear weapons in the process. ok, robbie actor in the hall, you see the, the nonproliferation treaty is as, as a sort of gatekeeper with these, with these main players. can you just walk us through that? thank you so much for having me on the show. i've all this my game, this position that in the nation non issue jean,

can you best categorized as organized boxy, and we all leave that organize all to see is an inherent fond of the conflicts international system. very states behavior is inconsistent, the norms and principles. dorothy endorse, and the international system we all understand is unpredictable and complex, and the rules and norms of the system. they constantly josh to the states national interest making it difficult to remain consistent behavior. so one would argue that if these inconsistencies and behavior exist, the new norm should be established. but seeing that over boston decades, no new norms have been established to deal with in consistency. and i believe that, you know, this organized the ball coffee has been a development of popular nowadays. and there has been selected norms of nonproliferation that have been projected in on it. and there's plenty of examples

you know, that needs to be, that is in the interest of countryside, us and others, allies of their allies to pick and choose country that benefit from the license. can you give an example in the interest? yeah, so for example, you know, when in 2013 us where to go shading with it on in order to stop at programs are not having the ambition to develop nuclear weapons. it was signing a nuclear cooperation agreement, re weight. and it decided that it is going to provide, you know, heavy fuel for you know, reactive. and the reason i'm at that point in time also had very additional human rights. there was no order gene for new security in place. yet this elective case of liberation was happening. while on the other hand,

i want to throw it over to robert kelly to get your take on that is this organized hypocrisy by some of those main powers. i'm thinking about all costs that the deal between the u. s. a trailer in the u. k. to let us railey a get nuclear power submarines which, which china is obviously very concerned about. you know, is there some pump chrissy going on? there's nature boxy there and i think giving us over to lawyers and accountants as shown there, easy to get the wrong end of the stick. the problem right now is that australia has 6 small diesel submarines that they use to coastal offense and some where they are, the french offered them replacements for those same machines. what has happened is the u. s. u k way then they stab the french in the back and condense the australians that they need 8 nuclear submarines that are capable of launching missiles at the chinese main. where from the south china sea,

that's the big problem. they're not nuclear missiles. they want to launch, but land attack missiles it, australia has turned its entire program upside down from coastal defense to attacking china. and if you don't think that's going to cause problems, just watch what's happening with china. they that you as a major threat and to the earlier come, would like say that russia has made some very threatening comments. donald trump made the same comments about his red button a couple of years ago. and the hell that he would rain down north korea. so lot of people can make big talk, but let's see if you're a real need just before we move on, mr. kelly from you, you told her about, you know, russia, i guess it's been accused of nuclear saber rattling, but then at the beginning of this, of this conference, these talk happening, president putin wrote, we proceed from the fact that it can be no win isn't a nuclear war and it should be, it should never be unleashed. so is that really nuclear saber rattling or is

a rush, or i think the door for discussions. i think what we're missing here is there are several different scenarios we should be looking at. if there's a problem between, but mostly the americans in the russians who don't work for decades with arms control and then there are larger issues of the perm 5 and they're larger and she's yet of the perm 5 plus states, some kind of lincoln runs, but are not part of the mpg where you put north grammar rooms is difficult to say. so i think what we're thinking here is the bi lateral issue between russia and the united states. you know, there's danger there, but that it's complicated by nato, of course, because the other nato members are nuclear umbrella states. but that i think is where we might be concentrating where you can fit in washington d. c. how has the war in ukraine changed the calculation around warfare and around u. k weapons in around nuclear deterrence?

well, i think that's the impact is, is still to be determined. but the immediate situation is, i think it's hard in some positions in terms of those who are supporting the ban treaty, for example. but at the same time it is move some other states that has not been in prior in prior years. support of let's say, an extended nuclear umbrella, mainly sweden and gentlemen, towards nato, which i think russia did not really anticipate or, or hope what happened as a result of the 2nd invasion of your brain. so i certainly think it does have some additional impacts. we personally, having worked at the united nations as well as state department, i would have it. i think it's going to be very difficult for us diplomats to trust

their counterparts on the other side given what's instead. and in addition, i think, i think another thing that's another development is though, there may be some more serious discussion of the safety and security of nuclear power plants which given that what's happened in ukraine. but it is 7 pillars idea that's been endorsed by the governors that came from director general grossi. i think those that, that's a, that's a discussion that needs to be moved to the forefront. because we're, especially as we see an increase in interest in nuclear power around the world in order to address some of the issues related to climate change. i want to come back to you, robert after to talk a little bit more about this idea of hypocrisy. because when we talk about the main nuclear power is the u. s. u. k, russia,

china fonts. what about the other suspected nuclear powers? israel india, pakistan. why is it ok for them, i guess u. s. allies to, to have these weapons but not there is a theory. say iran i can get the great question. and then also, you know, today is the, the gatekeeping of the kind of power. they have a bi, you're writing the roles and to have them have not, and even, you know, with his writing in there and it's done better outside 3 entity and have you are considered to be illegitimate. nuclear weapons they call you on possess estates, but not you too big. so even with the electric on, you know, you're trying to control power and as to what it means to these countries. i believe that, you know, every site is right. for example, there's hardly any content that i have on user that can enrich, you know,

it drive isn't visible, nobody talks about his eyes, you can read and nobody talks about, you know, what you're shopping from. cheating, and you've been trees on very all the other countries that are on board except for right now, you're backing it. and also with this idea that you to one country was their thing . nuclear weapon has a different sense of rationality as compared to the b 5 who have as it, you know, they raised the more rational with their use of nuclear weapons. and these images are actually outside the b irrational. where runs from, where do you think that stem from this idea that, you know, the p 5 would take rational decisions. and, you know, other nations would not, where does that come from? so it has all of this been, you know, a bought off the broader security studies studies nija there, you know, united states being the 1st entry to require it generated this managers that you

know, the other ones more responsible. they've nuclear and any other new stake, you know it's, it's not going to be responsible. so what i do about nuclear responsibility somehow has been in generic. and now, you know, review to decades. it has come to the game, sort of the pay, the district of nuclear weapons and responsibility that, you know, i think it needs a new narrative. it needs, it, needs new generation to base this forward and question as to how are you was responsible when you are the ones who are the only country who have use use their ribbon on the country in the world who has had more number of accidents leading if those accidents, you know, actually detonated, you know, the world would have seen those weapons that are needed. you have high gives us new

entities, new countries of that you in your accident, the history of it and has learned that you know what is not to be done and i'm war . you know, this once again you can safety and give you 2 g. yes, we other ones, you know, who i want to think that i think all of this needs to be question and funding is thinking question that one rationality. you know, it's not to be to, to the other. you know, i just want to, i want to pass that over to robert kelly. was there something you wanted to add? add to that? i think 1st, the 1st reason that warning believes that there are some rationality in the weapons . lasting states is about 75 years of restraint and not using them. if we look at the enter, the introduction that you gave, someone said the large countries are down about $3000.00 weapons. i think they're more like 330000 weapons just been removed from the russian american stockpiles.

and if we look at what countries are growing their stockpiles today, the largest growth is in pakistan, and pakistan will surpass or the kingdom and france fairly soon in being or the 4th largest weapon states, no matter what kind of label on them. so if you're worried about who's increasing their stockpiles or news, dictating militaristic, lee, i'm sorry, media followed shortly by the p r k. yeah, i want to talk about north korea, because you can't really have a discussion about nuclear nonproliferation without talking about north korea. how does the, the d, p. ok, keeping nuclear weapons on the table, showing them off launching tests. how does that impact other nations and their ability or inability to reduce their stockpile? because if you have that clear threat on display, what does it do for the rest of the nonproliferation disarmament movement and also what does it mean to south korea? i think one person just to look at is one of the north phantom stockpile is real or

not. they have tested a number of weapons. most of those just, we can follow through their lineage and see what they were for. i don't think there thermonuclear just was, i was real, in the sense of being a weaponized device. and there's no sign that those were had ever been to the, to a missile. and just to see if the richie target. so the p r k may be accumulated weapons, but they're not human rating or weapon systems that can deliver a weapon to a target. ok. richard cupid, how it's the fight against climate change. complicated efforts toward the nuclear as ation because obviously energy is becoming more expensive. people are looking back towards nuclear options. so how is that kind of coloring the picture? well certainly i think a number of states have indicated that their real interest in expanding their nuclear power programs or in barking on a nuclear power program in the lighter climate change,

especially with small modular reactors, other new and advanced reactors systems. so in terms of, di, nuclear is ation. that's, that's an issue in terms of getting rid of nuclear weapons or preventing proliferation. it's more of, it's more of an issue of over time. you know, i think we've known from the beginning that if you learn a few things from nuclear power, they do have some application to potentially to developing programs. so the, the issue is always then, how do we promote the peaceful uses including nuclear power of nuclear energy while restraining the, any idea of moving towards a weapon system. and that's largely 3 safeguards is what we comprehensive safeguards agreement, which is what the international community is relied on the past. so it does complicate things because it creates more states that will be in

a position if they so choose to pursue a nuclear weapons program. they, however, that that's a big moving from being able to do it to choosing to do it. it is a very big step. i think there's a really interesting book recently by now rang called seeking the bomb that talks about hedging strategies. a number of states have moved to a point where they might be able to have a program, but they've so far chosen not to some others have actually maybe have more of as chosen to do so, but not tested, not move beyond that. so there's, there's a range of strategies related here, but i think the most important one is for states to be able to enjoy the peaceful uses of nuclear nuclear energy and nuclear technologies. but making sure that they don't choose to pursue a nuclear weapons. ok,

we're coming. i would note i part of our nuclear cooperation agreements. yeah. and push what you're saying. we're coming to the end of the program and what about 45 seconds left. so it's a very quick question to you. robert talk is the promise of nuclear that nonproliferation essentially on the fair because it keeps the power in the hands of those countries that can exploit them. i think they have much to be grateful or to the entity that it has the numbers low. but i do believe that this bargain is and even the discussion draft on you would see that russia and track that it has made is going to dominate. and it's again, going to come back to you then that you find this on the 5 can on this on the guys there is no broader beef in international security. if you just allow me a couple of seconds to, you know, i'd raise my hand to make, to make a comment about south asia being the nan flash point and both of my family,

you know, residue it of 2019 kalama bolivar prices between india and bosses son, rice, or nations for the rest of the pocket did not use in nuclear and words in the in di crisis, in the literature coming out from the rest, david pockets on the be the 12 years. and so i think there is a change out there that you should be brought about. we appreciate you coming from the rest the day. don't ask where you have the ownership of non use new countries like india office. i'm, you know, have your strain from using nuclear weapons and took several prices as much evidence to ok. we'll have to leave it there for time. thank you very much to all of i guess robert kelly robbie actor and richard, keep it and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website to l, just dot com and further discussion go to our facebook page that facebook dot com forward slash a j inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter. we are at

a inside story for me. kim's and l and whole team here in the oh, good oh, to sierra kenya, braces for a title contested votes. as the country goes to the poles and elections that will shape its future. the listening post examines and dissects the wealth media, how they operate, the stories they cover up to 5 years on the since me, on mars, muslim minority were forced from the country. we look at the plight of the rocking . i'll just say we're well showcase is the best documentary from across the network, including a new 3 part series, the sixty's in the arab world. as protest continue following the swearing in the new president could sri lanka, economic and political crisis lead to humanitarian 1 august,

which is the era no place. and so i gone would say the press retreat did of the car about a media hub and vital vantage point during the 1st truly televised war from the roof. we could see the regulation at the american embassy, where the most iconic images of the conflict and vietnam were transmitted to the world. this was the front row sheet to the final stages of the war saigon, caravel war hotels on al jazeera. oh, america stands with taiwan, u. s. how speak and nancy pelosi mates, ty, once president, china reacts with anger saying it will can.