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AUSTRALIA: Rudd urges abolition of nuclear arms
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by Maireid Sullivan | June 9, 2008 at 07:31 pm
319 views | 12 Recommendations | 4 comments
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According to a report on int'l military spending from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, world military expenditures was up by 6 percent in 2007, with an estimated total at 1,339-billion dollars.
United States military spent 45 percent of that world total, at 547 billion dollars, an increase of nearly 60 percent since 2007.
Britain spent 59.7 billion dollars.
China spent 58.3 billion dollars. –an increase of more than 17 percent, and triple the amount in the past decade.
Japan has been quick to enter the war industry, with an expenditure of 43.6 billion dollars, taking it to number five in military expenditure ranking, after France.
The following report comes from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visited the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima on Monday and called on the international community to work together for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Rudd arrived in Japan on a 5-day visit on Sunday, his first since assuming office in December.
On Monday, he visited the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, where he laid a wreath at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims. He visited the nearby Peace Memorial Museum and viewed pictures and objects that are reminders of the devastation caused by the atomic bombing. Rudd listened as Museum Director Koichiro Maeda explained some of the exhibits.
Rudd told reporters that his visit to Hiroshima reminded him that the international community must make all possible efforts to abolish nuclear weapons to turn the 21st century into a century of peace.
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Maireid Sullivan
Melbourne, Australia
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 19:35 on June 9th, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. It's good stuff. Hope his Advice is cared by all the top players in nuke business.
at 19:37 on June 9th, 2008
The military industrial complex won't be discouraged. See what is happening with the EU Lisbon Treaty, when people 'notice' that they are being 'hoodwinked' by especially drafted confusing legislations.
at 04:39 on June 10th, 2008
Maireid Sullivan, I like this story. It's good stuff. I support Kevin Rudd and the good advice to abandon nuclear development. It's just no-good. Geothermal is much better for an energy resource. I might want to ask Mr. Rudd, why Australia exports so much uranium to China and elsewhere to countries who do nuclear development? www.//world-nuclear.org/info/inf48.html
at 16:35 on June 10th, 2008
Thanks for the GS, djermano.
The mining industry is definitely not government owned.
Australia's GDP is predominantly based on mining. Manufacturing is somewhere around 3%.
According to the Land Value Research Group http://www.lvrg.org.au/
Australia could collect an annual resource "rent" tax of 280 billion and is only collecting 40 billion.
If Australia collected just half of that resource tax, every single person could claim a dividend of between 35K and 49K tax free per year, - and we could provide all the infrastructure we need for a truly poverty free existence.
Hong Kong and Singapore - and Alaska, to a smaller extent, collect resource rent tax, and they are thriving.
It takes a powerful lobby to keep those profits private, rather than distribute them to all Australians. This land belongs to all of us - not just to those who have the where-with-all to exploit resources for private gain.
The question re exporting uranium is a hot topic here.