New Mexico is abuzz with the news. Soon from our austere landscape
will rise a spanking new, state-of-the-art, plutonium bomb factory.
Setting pen to paper and thereby blessing the project was President
Obama, who had announced a year ago in Prague the goal of a
nuclear-free world, but with his recent budget, will actually increase
nuclear weapons production more than any other president since Ronald
Reagan.
Richard Nixon was the greatest peacemaker in U.S. history. He orchestrated the historic opening with Beijing. And he presided over the most significant arms control treaties of the détente period: the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the ABM treaty.
NPR (also) stands for Nuclear Posture Review. The Obama administration is required by Congress to draw up a Nuclear Posture Review to outline U.S. nuclear weapons policy for the next five years. For months the Department of Defense has been leading efforts in the administration to finish the NPR by mid January. The contents of the NPR should reflect President Obama's Nobel Prize-wining vision for a nuclear weapons-free future, and will show whether the Administration is ready to take concrete steps towards disarmament, turning impressive anti-nuke rhetoric into reality.
For the past 64 years the name "Hiroshima" has conjured a nightmare vision for all humanity: the unthinkable specter of instantaneous atomic annihilation. Only by personally visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two cities that have experienced atomic bombing, can one begin to grasp the threat posed by the world's present arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Just one bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," devastated Hiroshima in a split second.
I never much
liked the idea of arms control. During the Cold War, we managed our nuclear
arsenals rather than reduced them. We treated our nukes like huge, dangerous
animals. We restricted their movements but gave them ample care and feeding.
Until recently, getting rid of the animals altogether wasn't part of the
political agenda. After all, our leaders believed that these beasts were
useful. They scared away the covetous neighbors.
Since President Obama was named this year's Nobel Peace Laureate,
there's been a fruitful debate about the degree to which the award was
deserved or strategically useful. It's worth noting that the
president's strong support for the cause of nuclear disarmament was a
key reason he got the nod from Oslo. This support has not only come in
speeches, but also in a very interesting U.N. Security Council
resolution that he cared enough about to deliver to the council
personally and even chair the session in which it was adopted, an
unprecedented move for a world leader.
UNITED NATIONS - World powers Thursday adopted a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented Security Council summit hosted by US President Barack Obama.
"Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches," Obama told the 15-member body.
"Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city, be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris, could kill hundreds of thousands of people."
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president ever to take the gavel at the United Nations Security Council
next week, but those lobbying to eliminate the world's nuclear-weapon
stockpiles are hoping the session will be historic for its
circumstance, not just its pomp.
What's the Story?
VIENNA - Backers of a global pact banning nuclear tests said on Tuesday they would seize on U.S. President Barack Obama's disarmament initiatives to further their agenda at the United Nations this month.
Obama has voiced his support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which has yet to take force because his nation is among nine with significant nuclear activities that have not ratified it.
Today many will remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago, the world's first and only actual use of nuclear weapons. A reverent few will gather at Greenlake and other areas around Seattle to memorialize those killed, and tomorrow we will resume our lives, ignoring the lethal threat that lurks all around us.
