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With
'Base Camps' to a Nuclear Free World
TOWARD
A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD
The
third preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2010 Review
Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) takes place at
the UN in New York May 4-15 against a background of increasing calls for
progress on nuclear disarmament and measures to strengthen the Treaty.
The NPT was concluded in 1968 and entered into force on March 5, 1970.
It is the founding document of multilateral non proliferation
endeavours. Ahead of the PrepCom,
Japan that has suffered nuclear catastrophes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
has urged nuclear powers to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons
as a step toward a nuclear free world since Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama announced on April 1 in London
that they had "committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear
free world".
Though they did not mention any deadline, the two leaders' joint
statement was significant. Not only because Russia and the United States
possess about 95 percent of nuclear weapons, but also because the
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and
Ronald Reagan in 1991 is the last of its kind and expires end of this
year.
GERMAN
PEACE MOVEMENT GATHERS MOMENTUM
It is
indeed an irony of history. The U.S.-led NATOs decision to station
nuclear weapons across Western Europe gave birth and clout to the German
peace movement. Thirty years later, it is back in the news, this time
vigorously campaigning for U.S. President Barack Obamas proposals.
READ
MORE
INDIA,
CHINA AND NPT
-
India has a flourishing nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000
MWe of nuclear capacity on line by 2020.
- China has electricity demand growing at 20 percent per year and a
rapidly-expanding nuclear power program. Nuclear capacity of at least
40,000 MWe is planned by 2020.
- India is already self-sufficient in reactor design and construction
and China has become so for second-generation units, but is importing
Generation-3 plants.
- India's uranium resources are limited, so it is focusing on developing
the thorium fuel cycle to utilise its extensive reserves of thorium.
- China's uranium resources are modest and it is starting to rely on
imported uranium. READ
MORE
THE
MOMENTUM BUILDS UP
"We
committed our two countries to achieving a nuclear free world."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama
announced on April 1 in London. Though they did not mention any
deadline, the two leaders' joint statement was significant. Not only
because Russia and the United States possess about 95 percent of nuclear
weapons, but also because the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in 1991 is the last of its
kind and expires end of this year. READ
MORE
CONDITIONS
TOWARDS ZERO
Japan
has proposed a resolution for the total elimination of nuclear weapons
to the United Nations General Assembly every year for the past 15 years
and has otherwise been engaged in active nuclear disarmament diplomacy.
In a move to take advantage of the growing momentum toward a nuclear
free world, Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone has put forward
an 11-point initiative for promoting global nuclear disarmament. READ
MORE
AT
A CROSSROADS
The
third preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2010 Review
Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) takes place at
the UN in New York May 4-15 against a background of increasing calls for
progress on nuclear disarmament and measures to strengthen the Treaty.
The NPT was concluded in 1968 and entered into force on March 5, 1970.
It is the founding document of multilateral non proliferation
endeavours. READ
MORE
LEARNING
FROM PREP COM 2008
A
world without nuclear weapons is no longer viewed as a perception
belonging to the realm of dreamers or even madcaps. It is very much a
realistic possibility provided those in possession of nuclear weapons
and fissionable materials soon decide to negotiate a series of
multilateral and unilateral measures. READ
MORE
WITH
BASE CAMPS TO THE MOUNTAIN-TOP
A
world without nuclear weapons is no longer viewed as a perception
belonging to the realm of dreamers or even madcaps. It is very much a
realistic possibility provided those in possession of nuclear weapons
and fissionable materials soon decide to negotiate a series of
multilateral and unilateral measures. READ
MORE
Norway
Seeks A New Push
Norway's foreign affairs minister Jonas Gahr Støre has called for
giving new priority to nuclear disarmament that has been assigned to
oblivion since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The collapse of the
Berlin Wall not only brought to an end the division of Berlin but also
paved the way for unification of Germany and the end of the Cold War
between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Good governance and human rights
took priority over disarmament because the nuclear threat was perceived
as having disappeared, the minister said in a brief interview. READ
MORE
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