President Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

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Remarks by the President at the Acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize - The White House [link]

• But let me now turn to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.
• First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior -- for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. 
• One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: All will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work towards disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I'm working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russia's nuclear stockpiles.
• But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.

Obama's Peace Prize Brings Hope for a World without Nukes - Paul Averill Liebow in the Bangor Daily News [link]

• Today, President Barack Obama, one of the most respected men of our age, will receive the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee has been very clear that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is awarded “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a World without nuclear weapons.” 
• The president said we will now take concrete steps toward a nuclear weapons-free world. To end Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy. We will negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians and seek to extend this worldwide. ... We will aggressively pursue our ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
• These are indeed challenging goals. It was the United States that led the world to a global ban on the testing, use and production of chemical and biological weapons. We can do the same for nuclear weapons.
• As the Nobel ceremony happens, it is important to remember that the real prize is the health and well-being of all humanity. 

U.S. Envoy Returns from Talks with North Korea - New York Times [link]

• North Korea and the United States share an understanding of the need to reconvene six-nation talks and carry out a 2005 agreement to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons programs, President Obama’s special envoy said on Thursday after returning from the North’s capital.
• But the diplomat, Stephen W. Bosworth, said that he and North Korean officials failed to agree on when and under what conditions North Korea would return to the six-party conference, Washington’s main vehicle for diplomacy with the North for six years until the government in Pyongyang pulled out earlier this year.
• “We identified some common understanding on the need for and a role of six-party talks and the importance of implementation of the 2005 joint statement,” Mr. Bosworth said at a news conference in Seoul. But, he said, “It remains to be seen when and how” North Korea will return to talks.

Obama Launches Senate CTBT Push - Bill Gertz's Inside the Ring in the Washington Times [link]

• The effort is being led by Jon Wolfsthal, an arms-control specialist at two think tanks until he became a national-security aide to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and a staffer on the White House National Security Council in January.
• Mr. Wolfsthal was making the rounds in the Senate on Wednesday, checking to see if the administration can drum up the 67 votes needed - a two-thirds majority - to ratify the treaty, which prevents underground nuclear tests.

Arms Control: No Longer Just for Men - Politico [link]

• If men have largely built the world’s nuclear arsenals, a small corps of women is working to dismantle them.
• The U.S. team is led by Rose Gottemoeller, the chief negotiator for START, under the supervision of Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher and, ultimately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
• Two other women — Susan Burk and Bonnie Jenkins, both with the title of ambassador — are in charge of strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and coordinating efforts to stave off loose nukes, respectively. And the bench is even deeper.
• Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, says there’s a notable difference. “Ever been to an arms control meeting?” he asked. “It’s all old white guys.”

Nuclear Weapons: The Modernization Myth - Kingston Reif in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [link]

• The belief that the United States is the only declared nuclear power that isn't modernizing its nuclear arsenal is fast becoming an article of faith in nuclear weapon policy circles.
• From this belief arises a dangerous argument: U.S. allies and adversaries are adding new nuclear weapons and capabilities, while Washington is allowing its nuclear forces to atrophy. 
• By narrowly defining "modernization" as the production and deployment of new warheads and delivery vehicles, an inappropriate standard is set by which to judge the health of a nuclear arsenal. What matters far more than the age of warheads and other equipment is whether a country has a reliable, credible deterrent. Viewed in this light, the United States cannot be said to be falling behind: Washington takes continual steps to ensure that its arsenal remains dominant, and indeed, its nuclear arsenal remains second to none.
• So those who continue to argue that Washington doesn't show enough interest in modernizing its nuclear weapons should be forced to answer a simple question: If given the choice, would they trade the U.S. nuclear arsenal for the Russian or Chinese nuclear arsenals?