UN Secretary General: Global Cooperation Needed to Eliminate Nuclear Threat

Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today, Thursday, April 29, 2010:

A New Ground Zero - Ban Ki Moon in the International Herald Tribune [link]

• On Aug. 29, 1991, shortly after independence, the president of Kazakhstan closed the [Soviet test] site [Semipalatinsk] and abolished nuclear weapons. It was a tangible expression of a dream that has long eluded us — a world free of nuclear weapons.
• The United Nations is destined to be at the center of these efforts.  Looking ahead, I have proposed a U.N. conference later this year to review the implementation of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. We will host a ministerial-level meeting to push the pace on bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force, and I have urged leaders to begin negotiations for a binding treaty on fissile materials.
• In October, the General Assembly will consider more than 50 resolutions on various nuclear issues. Our aim: to take the many small steps, today, that will set the stage for a larger breakthrough tomorrow.
• All this work reflects the priorities of our member states, shaped in turn by public opinion. Everyone recognizes the catastrophic danger of nuclear weapons. Just as clearly, we know the threat will last as long as these weapons exist. The Earth’s very future leaves us no alternative but to pursue disarmament. And there is little prospect of that without global cooperation.

Obama's Atomic Choices - David Hoffman for Foreign Policy [link]

• In drafting the [Nuclear Posture] review, the administration seems to have paid close attention to politics, with an eye toward winning Senate ratification of the new strategic arms treaty with Russia. Obama avoided decisions that could become possible targets for treaty opponents, and appears to have been especially careful to court all the fractious interests involved, including Congress and U.S. allies.
• The document declares that the "fundamental role" of U.S. nuclear weapons is to "deter nuclear attack on the United States, our allies and partners." The document said that the United States would eventually like to get to the point where the "sole" purpose of nuclear weapons is to deter nuclear attack, but not yet.
• Obama has not finished with nuclear weapons policy, but just begun.
  

No Excuses for EU on Disarmament - The New York Times [link]

• When the 189 signatory states of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty meet in New York next week for the start of a review conference that will last until the end of May, the Europeans will for the first time have a U.S. president who is committed to reducing nuclear weapons worldwide.
• This is a big chance for Europe to support President Barack Obama’s policies. But the 27-member bloc is divided over how to deal with disarmament. Its two nuclear power members, Britain and France, have big interests in preserving that status.
• The Obama administration believes that further reductions would raise the credibility of the nonproliferation regime. Such cuts might even send a signal to India, Pakistan and Israel, which have nuclear weapons but have not signed the treaty. It could even reassure the nonnuclear countries that have signed the treaty that disarmament could become a reality.

Kerry Girds for Fight to Ratify Arms Pact - The Boston Globe [link]

• Senator John F. Kerry, who today will lead the effort to ratify a new arms control pact with Russia, said he expects a tough fight for passage because partisanship has seeped into what has historically been bipartisan cooperation on nuclear weapons pacts.
• He expressed confidence that he will be able to get at least the minimum 67 votes for passage, but perhaps not nearly as many as for previous treaties.  “I could argue that 68 is 84 in 2010,’’ Kerry said. “My goal is to pass it. If it is 68 votes it is 68 votes. So be it. That is a lot of senators these days.’’
• Kerry yesterday vowed to give voice to all viewpoints as the committee reviews the pact in the coming weeks. “The way to ratify it is to fully explain it, vet it, and thoroughly address any kinds of concerns that people may have,’’ he said. But he said he hopes to complete the task on a “fairly fast-paced schedule.’’