Obama Sets Stage for World Free of Nuclear Weapons

[Tony Nuspl]

Physicians for Social Responsibility strongly supports President Barack Obama’s commitment to lead the international community towards a world free of nuclear weapons. On April 5 2009 in Prague, Obama stated “with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
President Obama first laid out the current threat that nuclear weapons and nuclear material pose:

“Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one...One nuclear weapon exploded in one city — be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague — could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be — for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.”

President Obama took responsibility to lead the world and meet this threat:

“As a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.”

President Obama said “the United States will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons,” with commitments to:

* “Reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same...we will begin the work of reducing our arsenal.”
* “Negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year... and we will seek to include all nuclear weapons states in this endeavor.”
* “To achieve a global ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.”
* “The United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons.”
* Start “a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years.”
* Hold “a Global Summit on Nuclear Security that the United States will host within the next year.”

President Obama ended his speech with a call to accept responsibility and through global partnership, take these steps towards a world free of nuclear weapons.

“There are those who hear talk of a world without nuclear weapons and doubt whether peace it's worth setting a goal that seems impossible to achieve. But make no mistake: We know where that road leads... Let us bridge our divisions, build upon our hopes, accept our responsibility to leave this world more prosperous and more peaceful than we found it. Together we can do it.”

Obama Sets Stage for World Free of Nuclear Weapons
By Jill Marie Parillo
http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Analysis_World_Free_of_...

Also see

Obama's Nuclear Challenge
By Jonathan Schell
April 15, 2009
This article will appear in the May 4, 2009 print edition of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090504/schell?rel=hp_picks

Obama's words disrupted a collective suicidal trance..

.

[Tony Nuspl]

In the U.S. Senate, "nuclear dinosaurs" are exploiting fear and common misconceptions to oppose efforts to reduce nuclear arsenals and end nuclear weapons testing -- putting Senate ratification of essential agreements like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in serious jeopardy.

[Tony Nuspl]

New government in Germany vows to rid the county of U.S. nukes

BERLIN – Germany's new center-right coalition government pledged Saturday to reform to pull all remaining nuclear weapons from the country.

Guido Westerwelle, the new foreign minister and leader of the pro-business Free Democrats, said at a joint news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel that he wants all nuclear weapons to be pulled out of Germany.

During the Cold War, the United States based nuclear weapons in Germany as part of its deterrent against Warsaw Pact forces. Since the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, it has removed 95 percent of those weapons.

The U.S. has not said how many nuclear weapons are still in Germany.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_new_gove...