Thank you for this interesting and informative post. You are completely correct, Australia is complicit in the proliferation of Nuclear arms because of it's abject deferment to, and material support for the USA's endless warmongering.
It is long past time for a total ban, but like the ban on chemical and biological warfare, it will have no effect, because the USA's 'doctrine of exceptionalism' states that they are unaccountable for anything they do. They are above and beyond all laws.

Interesting article.

Presumably the ICJ would send its sheriff to enforce its judgment.

However sometimes - often - it is the fact that a court is armed only with judgment that makes it so influential.

One thing about nuclear weapons is that since their proliferation there hasn't been any of the major world wars that there were before. Compare the 70 years since 1945 with the 31 years before.

J K J. The U.S.A has been at war with the world for over a century, and Australia has aided and abetted them. Syria has become at least the 14th country in the Islamic world that U.S. forces have invaded or occupied or bombed, since 1980.
: Iran (1980, 1987-1988), Libya (1981, 1986, 1989, 2011), Lebanon (1983), Kuwait (1991), Iraq (1991-2011, 2014-), Somalia (1992-1993, 2007-), Bosnia (1995), Saudi Arabia (1991, 1996), Afghanistan (1998, 2001-), Sudan (1998), Kosovo (1999), Yemen (2000, 2002-), Pakistan (2004-) and now Syria.
In May, 2013, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether it should revise the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). A committee member asked a senior Pentagon official, Assistant Secretary Michael Sheehan, how long the war on terror would last; his reply: “At least 10 to 20 years.” At least. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed afterward “that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today — atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted.” As Spencer Ackerman put it: “Welcome to America’s Thirty Years War,”
The USA has murdered some 60 million people since the end of the WWII, as Andre Vltchek explained in his recent book with Noam Chomsky.
The U.S.A and its allies can butcher millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Somalia, in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Papua, Kashmir, Syria and Ukraine.
The USA overthrew every decent government in Africa, in the Middle East, Asia and until recently, in Latin America. It liquidated peaceful and secular Muslim governments and replaced them with thugs or extremists. And you say there has been no war.
André Vltchek’s latest book is with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare.

Looks like an opportunistic attempted court case in which the highly dependent aid recipients, Marshall Islands, will embarrass even more aid out of the US.* This is the settle out of court method.

It would be interesting to know the percentage of lawyers representing the Marshall Islands who are not liberal American lawyers from Boston or California?

I don't think the Marshallese are expecting China and Russia to pay up?

* Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#Foreign_assistance :

US government assistance is the mainstay of the economy. Under terms of the Amended Compact of Free Association, the U.S. is committed to provide US$57.7 million per year in assistance to the Marshall Islands (RMI) through 2013, and then US$62.7 million through 2023, at which time a trust fund, made up of U.S. and RMI contributions, will begin perpetual annual payouts.

The US Army maintains the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll. Marshallese land owners receive rent for the base, and a large number of Marshallese work there. The main airport was built by the Japanese during World War II.

The only tarmac road through the capital was built partly by the Taiwanese and partly by the Americans.

ybgirp

Yes indeedy. I hope you're not a statist are you?

"And you say there has been no war."

I didn't say that. Go back and read what I wrote.

Plantagenet, They would not have needed such aid if their islands hadn't been all but destroyed by the USA.
JK.J, No, I'm not a statist, and I can't see the relevance. You said there'd been no major world wars. In what sense are the endless wars over most of the globe, mentioned in my post, conducted by the USA and it's allies not major wars? I imagine the Syrians think it's pretty major, as do the Libyans; Iraqis... And the despoliated countries of Central America ground down under vile USA installed dictators after decades of terrible war think it's pretty major. And all the innocents burned to death by drone strikes, and... you get the picture... Or is a war only major if it's us being attacked?

You are wrong ybgirp

Most other small South and Central Pacific Island nations and territories, which importantly have Never had Nuclear Tests, heavily depend on foreign aid. They also rely on their younger, more educated workers travelling to such places as NZ and the US and then remitting money back to their islands.

The Marshalls would still rely on aid and remittances nuclear tests or not.

THE MARSHALLS HAVE IT BETTER THAN MOST

In addition to sizable US aid and remittances the US has a base on the Marshalls that is a big money earner for Marshallese.

* Note: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands#Foreign_assistance :

US government assistance is the mainstay of the economy. Under terms of the Amended Compact of Free Association, the U.S. is committed to provide US$57.7 million per year in assistance to the Marshall Islands (RMI) through 2013, and then US$62.7 million through 2023, at which time a trust fund, made up of U.S. and RMI contributions, will begin perpetual annual payouts.

The US Army maintains the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll. Marshallese land owners receive rent for the base, and a large number of Marshallese work there.

CONCLUSION

The whole matter of the article looks like an opportunistic attempted court case in which the highly dependent aid recipients, Marshall Islands, will embarrass even more aid out of the US.* This is the settle out of court method.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of lawyers representing the Marshall Islands are actually Marshallese. I venture that they are mainly US lawyers looking to pad out their career reputations and get piece of the the actions from the US Treasury (converting from pro bono to fee status).

I don't think the Marshallese are really expecting any country other than the US to pay up.

Plantagenet, I realise you are writing about the present situation, and it is irritating to consider historical reasons for this, however it is instructive to see that actions have consequences. You are correct in stating that "most other small South and Central Pacific Island nations and territories, which importantly have Never had Nuclear Tests, heavily depend on foreign aid. They also rely on their younger, more educated workers travelling to such places as NZ and the US and then remitting money back to their islands." This is a direct result of the invasion and occupation by Europeans, with predictable social upheaval. War, which is an evolutionary imperative for humans, is the direct cause of all the problems that now face us, including the rise in so-called terrorism. Destroy a country and you'll get retribution. A physical response is impossible for tiny island states, but good luck to them in their quest for economic redress...they have little of use left of their former homelands.

ybgirp

I said there were no major world wars.

You misrepresented me as saying there were no wars.

I told you to read what I wrote.

You misrepresented me as saying there were no major wars.

Grow up. If you want to discuss it, then stop misrepresenting me at every turn. And if you think, to quote your example, that the war in Bosnia in 1998 qualifies as a "major world war" compared with the first or second world wars, then there's nothing to talk about.

Yes any war is major for those who are in it. Yes I agree with you about American military imperialism. However my point is only that, without nuclear weapons, it is possible and even probable that the major powers of the world would have been up to more of the kinds of wars of which WWI and WWII were examples, which would have been much more destructive given that they haven't actually warred with nuclear weapons since 1945.

The relevance of statism is that if one thinks giving more power to the state is the solution to the problem, it's no advance on the original problem.

G'day ybgirp

Yes certainly the islanders all over the Pacific should have been quarantined from the big bad civilised world.

This includes the Maoris in New Zealand.

Ship's passing these islands since the 1500s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan should have magically just kept on going.

The islanders could continue to live on sweet potato, rats and fish - dying at the hunter-gatherer age of 40.

Cheers

Thanks JK.J I apologise for irritating you.
My point, Plantagenet, was that because of the way the pacific islands were colonised they deserve compensation. It isn't necessary to destroy cultures in order to trade with them.

I began reading ybgirp's post and it began...

"J K J. The U.S.A has been at war with the world for over a century,"

Another loony tune. I stopped reading.