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Hitchhiker
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: Ontario, Canada
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 Mon May 02, 2005 7:22 pm UN reviews nuclear treaty |
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| CBC.ca wrote: | UN set to review 1970 nuclear treaty
Last Updated Mon, 02 May 2005 19:52:00 EDT
CBC News
UNITED NATIONS - Negotiators from 189 nations begin reviewing the international treaty designed to halt the spread of nuclear weapons on Monday, amid fears that actions by Iran and North Korea are making it irrelevant.
* INDEPTH: Nuclear North Korea
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty came into effect 35 years ago at the height of the Cold War, when the former Soviet Union and the United States were locked in an unnerving arms race.
The 1970 treaty promised a world free of nuclear weapons.
* INDEPTH: United Nations
Today, U.S. President George W. Bush says the treaty actually helps regimes like those running Iran and North Korea.
Bush administration officials believe North Korea may be on the verge of its first nuclear test, while Iran is again threatening to restart nuclear enrichment and may soon develop its own bomb.
* FROM MAY 1, 2005: North Korea test-fires short-range missile
The treaty lets countries such as these legally develop nuclear power plants, then simply leave the treaty, without any penalties, and go on to use newly acquired materials and technology to make a bomb.
"We must also prevent governments from developing nuclear weapons under false pretenses," Bush said in a recent speech.
In particular, he calls North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Il "a dangerous person" who could soon have the world's most dangerous weapon in his hands.
Many other nations taking part in the month-long review of the treaty say it is the U.S. and other big nuclear powers that are ignoring the treaty by not reducing their own arsenals.
* FROM APRIL 28, 2005: Russia defends controversial sales to Syria, Iran
Daryl Kimball, the director of the Arms Control Association, said the Bush administration is repudiating the treaty at every turn.
It has rejected a ban on nuclear tests, cancelled the anti-ballistic missile treaty and is even toying with building new types of nuclear weapons, Kimball said.
* FROM APRIL 29, 2005: U.S. launches controversial rocket
"In their mind's eye, the problem of nuclear weapons is a problem of dangerous weapons in the hands of dangerous regimes, rather than looking at nuclear weapons as inherently dangerous."
Joe Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is worried that the review of the treaty will turn into a deadlocked failure because of a lack of leadership from countries such as the United States, which is sending only mid-level officials to the talks.
"If this conference fails, if the Iranian crisis is unresolved, if North Korea consolidates as a nuclear weapons state, you can imagine a very different and darker future five years from now," he warned at congressional hearings last week.
Copyright �2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved |
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/02/nuclear-treaty050502.html
Wikipedia's entry on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
They just had the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, on the news as an advocate for Mayors for Peace. They're using the conference to promote their 2020 Vision, which is a plan for the complete destruction of all nuclear warheads by 2020.
I sure hope some good comes of this, nuclear weapons make me uneasy.
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Founder
Dominion Leader
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 12755
Location: Gamma Quadrant
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| Mon May 02, 2005 10:01 pm |
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The only way I'd ever support the US destroying its nukes, is if EVERY other nation did it FIRST.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Mon May 02, 2005 10:11 pm |
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| Founder wrote: | | The only way I'd ever support the US destroying its nukes, is if EVERY other nation did it FIRST. |
Agreed. Exactly. We can't leave the country that has some of the most enemies out of every country without weapons while a country like, say, North Korea, still has them.
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Hitchhiker
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Mon May 02, 2005 10:32 pm |
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| Founder wrote: | | The only way I'd ever support the US destroying its nukes, is if EVERY other nation did it FIRST. |
The only way I'd ever support any country destroying its nukes is if every nation did it at the same time. 
That way, all stockpiles would be destroyed at the same time, and no one would have to go "first." I agree that it would be unfair to force the U.S. to disarm while other nations have the potential to wage nuclear warfare, just as it would be unfair to force another nation to disarm while other still have the potential.
I think that the best course is a gradual destruction of all stockpiles, however. Keep in mind that because the U.S. has the most weapons to destroy.
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Zeke Zabertini
Captain
Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 4832
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| Mon May 02, 2005 10:49 pm |
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I still think we should get rid of all but five or ten warheads. That way we'll be mostly disarmed, but still have enough to glass anyone dumb enough to use nukes on us. If everyone did that, even an all-out nuclear war wouldn't totally destroy humanity. I like that concept.
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