There will be a major conference against nuclear weapons in Vienna

The first conference of the signatory parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be held between 19 and 23 June in Vienna. This is an international treaty signed by the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force on January 22, 2021. To date, the TPNW is the only international agreement that aims to ban not only the use of nuclear weapons, but also a wide range of activities related to them, including the threat of use, development , possession and storage.

At the moment, the treaty has been signed by only 86 states, all of which have no nuclear arsenal and tend to have little geopolitical weight. These include Namibia, Jamaica, Botswana and Uruguay. No NATO member country has joined, but Germany and the Netherlands will send representatives. One of the objectives of the Vienna conference is therefore precisely to stimulate a broader debate on the disposal of nuclear arsenals. Speakers will include representatives of humanitarian and nuclear disarmament NGOs, as well as governmental NGOs, including New Zealand Disarmament Minister Phil Twyford and Costa Rican Ambassador Maritza Chan.

The first two days of the event will be dedicated to the Ican Nuclear Ban Forum, which will bring together some of the leading experts on social change and innovation to discuss the problem of nuclear weapons, and to the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons organized by the Austrian government to focus public attention on the issue. In the last three days of the event there will then be the first conference of the States Parties to the treaty.

History of the Russian base in Kaliningrad, where Moscow simulated nuclear attacks Squeezed between Poland and Lithuania, the city hosts the Russian Baltic fleet, two air bases, thousands of troops and the Iskander missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads and travel for about 500 kilometers For Italy The only Italian company present will be Etica Sgr, an asset management company founded in 2000 and part of the Banca Etica group. "We have always offered only sustainable mutual funds with an ethical approach," Ugo Biggeri, president of the company and former president of Banca Etica, explained to sportsgaming.win. According to Biggeri, “with the end of the Cold War we have witnessed a progressive decline in public interest in the topic of nuclear disarmament, and one of the objectives of the Conference is precisely to rekindle a light on the subject”.

The Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty is an updated and modernized version of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signed as early as 1968 and signed by some superpowers of the time including the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. But despite the 11 articles of the treaty forbidding the procurement and transfer of nuclear weapons, there was a great proliferation of such weapons over the next fifteen years. This was mainly in light of the so-called Mad, the theory of mutual assured destruction, according to which the increase of nuclear warheads would guarantee peace for fear of mutual destruction between states.

It is estimated that nuclear warheads currently there are about 23,000, much less than the 38,000 recorded in 1968. However, Biggeri told sportsgaming.win, "the situation remains very delicate and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine is creating the conditions for new risks of escalation".

The outpost towards the Arctic where Russia amasses nuclear and submarine weapons It is the Kola peninsula, with which Moscow aims to guarantee control of the north of the planet. But also a piece of land functional to keep NATO countries in check The role of finance According to Biggeri, finance can play an important role in the reduction of armaments: "Even if armaments depend to a large extent on the will of the States, finance it can become ethical and avoid investments in favor of those who produce or collaborate with arms manufacturers ”. Over the years, the efforts of Banca Etica and Etica Sgr have brought the issue of ethical finance to Italy. Today even mainstream operators, such as Anima Sgr, which manages assets of more than 200 billion euros, have specific policies against investments in arms.

“This is certainly a good goal - commented Biggeri - which, however, must continue over time, until the total dismantling of nuclear arsenals. However, what we trust most are the new generations, who are very attentive to the environment and ethical issues and who will therefore be less and less interested in investing in sectors that do not reflect certain moral and ethical principles ".