Banks in front line of nuclear arms campaign
Is there any further proof needed of the endemic link between capitalism, militarism and destruction? It just makes good business sense to invest in the potential for world annihilation. This precisely is why capitalist modernity must be recognised as the structural embodiment of nihilism...DS
UNITED NATIONS - The world's nuclear weapons industry is being funded - and kept alive - by more than 300 banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers in 30 countries, according to a new study. And these institutions have substantial investments in nuclear arms producers. Released by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 180-page study says that nuclear-armed nations spend over US$100 billion each year assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to launch them.
Much of this work, the report points out, is carried out by corporations such as BAE Systems and Babcock International in the UK, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in the United States, Thales and Safran in France, and Larsen & Toubro in India. "Financial institutions invest in these companies by providing loans and purchasing shares and bonds," says the report, described as the first of its kind.
Titled Don't Bank on the Bomb: The Global Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers, the study provides details of financial transactions with 20 companies heavily involved in the manufacture, maintenance and modernization of US, British, French and Indian nuclear forces. A coordinated global campaign for nuclear weapons divestment is urgently needed, it says. Such a movement could help put a halt to modernization programs, strengthen the international norm against nuclear weapons, and build momentum towards negotiations on a universal nuclear weapons ban, it adds. "Divestment from nuclear weapons companies is an effective way for the corporate world to advance the goal of nuclear abolition."
The study appeals to financial institutions to stop investing in the nuclear arms industry. "Any use of nuclear weapons would violate international law and have catastrophic humanitarian consequences. By investing in nuclear weapons producers, financial institutions are in effect facilitating the build-up of nuclear forces," it says.
In a foreword to the report, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu writes, "No one should be profiting from this terrible industry of death, which threatens us all." The South African peace activist has urged financial institutions to do the right thing and assist, rather than impede, efforts to eliminate the threat of radioactive incineration, pointing out that divestment was a vital part of the successful campaign to end apartheid in South Africa. The same tactic can - and must - be employed to challenge man's most evil creation: the nuclear bomb, he said.
Tim Wright, ICAN campaign director and co-author of the report, told IPS some of the financial institutions identified in the study "have already indicated to us they intend to adopt policies proscribing investments in nuclear arms makers". Asked how confident he was of the success of the divestment campaign, Wright said, "Our divestment campaign will probably be most successful in places where opposition to nuclear weapons is strongest, for example, Japan and Scandinavia."
He said more and more banks are coming to accept that some kind of ethical criteria should be applied to investment decisions, and manufacturing weapons capable of destroying entire cities in an instant is clearly unethical. Of the 322 financial institutions identified in the report, about half are based in the United States and a third in Europe. The study also singles out Asian, Australian and Middle Eastern institutions.
However, the institutions most heavily involved in financing nuclear arms makers include :
Bank of America, BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase in the United States; BNP Paribas in France; Allianz and Deutsche Bank in Germany; Mistubishi UJF Financial in Japan; BBVA and Banco Santander in Spain; Credit Suisse and UBS in Switzerland; and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland in Britain.
The report emphasizes the humanitarian, legal & environmental arguments for divestment, noting the unique destructive potential of nuclear weapons.. read on:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NC09Dj02.html
Also see:The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global grassroots organisation, has thrown a virtual bombshell: In a trailblazing report, it reveals the funders and manufacturers of 20,000 nuclear weapons in the possession of nine nuke-armed nations, which have a collective destructive force equivalent to 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs. Yet, undeterred by the annihilation their existing arsenal can cause, each year, the nine – the U.S., Russia, China, the UK, France, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea – are spending a combined total of more than US$100 billion on weapons of mass destruction by assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to launch them. Don’t Bank on the Bomb: The Global Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers is the first major global report on the financing of companies that manufacture, modernize and maintain nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. It identifies more than 300 banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers from 30 countries that invest significantly in 20 major nuclear weapons producers.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/08032012-ican-discloses-funders-and-makers-of-20000-nuclear-weapons/
And: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is pleased to support today’s launch of a groundbreaking report by ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - on the global financing of the nuclear weapons industry.The comprehensive study, entitled Don’t Bank on the Bomb, identifies more than 300 banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers in 30 countries with substantial investments in nuclear arms producers...The UK is home to 41 of the 322 financial institutions found to be supporting major nuclear weapons companies – the second largest amount out of the 30 countries covered by the report. Of these, the most heavily involved in financing nuclear arms include Barclays, HSBC & the part-publicly owned banks Lloyds & Royal Bank of Scotland. 5 of the twenty major nuclear weapons companies listed in the report – Babcock International, BAE Systems, Redhall Group, Rolls Royce & Serco Group – are UK-based.
Download the Report: http://www.dontbankonthebomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DivestmentReport.pdf
'what is granted under fear can be retained only as long as the fear lasts'
M.K Gandhi. Hind Swaraj, or Indian Home Rule (1909)
See also:
Closing the Circle: article on Revolution in Frontier
UNITED NATIONS - The world's nuclear weapons industry is being funded - and kept alive - by more than 300 banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers in 30 countries, according to a new study. And these institutions have substantial investments in nuclear arms producers. Released by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 180-page study says that nuclear-armed nations spend over US$100 billion each year assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to launch them.
Much of this work, the report points out, is carried out by corporations such as BAE Systems and Babcock International in the UK, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in the United States, Thales and Safran in France, and Larsen & Toubro in India. "Financial institutions invest in these companies by providing loans and purchasing shares and bonds," says the report, described as the first of its kind.
Titled Don't Bank on the Bomb: The Global Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers, the study provides details of financial transactions with 20 companies heavily involved in the manufacture, maintenance and modernization of US, British, French and Indian nuclear forces. A coordinated global campaign for nuclear weapons divestment is urgently needed, it says. Such a movement could help put a halt to modernization programs, strengthen the international norm against nuclear weapons, and build momentum towards negotiations on a universal nuclear weapons ban, it adds. "Divestment from nuclear weapons companies is an effective way for the corporate world to advance the goal of nuclear abolition."
The study appeals to financial institutions to stop investing in the nuclear arms industry. "Any use of nuclear weapons would violate international law and have catastrophic humanitarian consequences. By investing in nuclear weapons producers, financial institutions are in effect facilitating the build-up of nuclear forces," it says.
In a foreword to the report, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu writes, "No one should be profiting from this terrible industry of death, which threatens us all." The South African peace activist has urged financial institutions to do the right thing and assist, rather than impede, efforts to eliminate the threat of radioactive incineration, pointing out that divestment was a vital part of the successful campaign to end apartheid in South Africa. The same tactic can - and must - be employed to challenge man's most evil creation: the nuclear bomb, he said.
Tim Wright, ICAN campaign director and co-author of the report, told IPS some of the financial institutions identified in the study "have already indicated to us they intend to adopt policies proscribing investments in nuclear arms makers". Asked how confident he was of the success of the divestment campaign, Wright said, "Our divestment campaign will probably be most successful in places where opposition to nuclear weapons is strongest, for example, Japan and Scandinavia."
He said more and more banks are coming to accept that some kind of ethical criteria should be applied to investment decisions, and manufacturing weapons capable of destroying entire cities in an instant is clearly unethical. Of the 322 financial institutions identified in the report, about half are based in the United States and a third in Europe. The study also singles out Asian, Australian and Middle Eastern institutions.
However, the institutions most heavily involved in financing nuclear arms makers include :
Bank of America, BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase in the United States; BNP Paribas in France; Allianz and Deutsche Bank in Germany; Mistubishi UJF Financial in Japan; BBVA and Banco Santander in Spain; Credit Suisse and UBS in Switzerland; and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland in Britain.
The report emphasizes the humanitarian, legal & environmental arguments for divestment, noting the unique destructive potential of nuclear weapons.. read on:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NC09Dj02.html
Also see:The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global grassroots organisation, has thrown a virtual bombshell: In a trailblazing report, it reveals the funders and manufacturers of 20,000 nuclear weapons in the possession of nine nuke-armed nations, which have a collective destructive force equivalent to 150,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs. Yet, undeterred by the annihilation their existing arsenal can cause, each year, the nine – the U.S., Russia, China, the UK, France, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea – are spending a combined total of more than US$100 billion on weapons of mass destruction by assembling new warheads, modernizing old ones, and building ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to launch them. Don’t Bank on the Bomb: The Global Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers is the first major global report on the financing of companies that manufacture, modernize and maintain nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles. It identifies more than 300 banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers from 30 countries that invest significantly in 20 major nuclear weapons producers.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/08032012-ican-discloses-funders-and-makers-of-20000-nuclear-weapons/
And: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is pleased to support today’s launch of a groundbreaking report by ICAN - the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - on the global financing of the nuclear weapons industry.The comprehensive study, entitled Don’t Bank on the Bomb, identifies more than 300 banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers in 30 countries with substantial investments in nuclear arms producers...The UK is home to 41 of the 322 financial institutions found to be supporting major nuclear weapons companies – the second largest amount out of the 30 countries covered by the report. Of these, the most heavily involved in financing nuclear arms include Barclays, HSBC & the part-publicly owned banks Lloyds & Royal Bank of Scotland. 5 of the twenty major nuclear weapons companies listed in the report – Babcock International, BAE Systems, Redhall Group, Rolls Royce & Serco Group – are UK-based.
Download the Report: http://www.dontbankonthebomb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DivestmentReport.pdf
'what is granted under fear can be retained only as long as the fear lasts'
M.K Gandhi. Hind Swaraj, or Indian Home Rule (1909)
See also:
Closing the Circle: article on Revolution in Frontier
The military spending map of the world
Annihilation as world religion
Paul Fussell, ex-soldier, literary Scholar & critic
Book review: War Is Still a Racket
Book review - An Enduring Condition: On War Time
Eternal war (Chapter n+1) - Panetta’s Pacific Vision
Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir by Arif Jamal
The End of the new world order
