Lugar, Nunn honored for nuclear security efforts

[bananas]

Source: Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and former Sen. Sam Nunn were honored Wednesday for their role in helping ex-Soviet states secure and dismantle huge stocks of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

The pair became the first recipients of a new prize, to be awarded every two years, to people or groups whose work prevents the proliferation of nuclear weapons and cuts the risk of their use.

The prize was awarded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York philanthropic foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank at a ceremony in the Peace Palace in The Hague. It will now carry the Americans’ names — The Nunn-Lugar Award for Promoting Nuclear Security.

The two authored the Nunn-Lugar Act in 1991 which set up the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program that is credited with helping former Soviet republics such as Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan rid their territories of nuclear weapons.

<snip>

In a statement, the Carnegie Corporation said the program the pair helped set up had ‘‘contributed to the deactivation of more than 7,500 nuclear warheads, neutralized chemical weapons, safeguarded fissile materials, converted weapons facilities for peaceful use, mitigated bio-threats, and redirected the work of former weapons scientists, and engineers, among other efforts.’’

<snip>

Read more: http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2012/08/29/lugar-nunn-honored-for-nuclear-security-efforts/N2JPgO4NiTR1VmryK9kcXP/story.html

[caraher]

1. This sort of thing counted against Lugar in his primary against Teahadist Mourdock

I wonder if Mourdock is remotely aware of the irony of his support for an end to direct election of senators... there's not a chance he'd get within sniffing distance of the US Senate if it weren't for the passions of low-information voters!

[kas125]

2. I live in Indiana and although I never agreed with Lugar about much of anything,

for his work on this, I was grateful.

[caraher]

3. Same here <nt>

[center rising]

4. I liked both Lugar and Nunn

Great on foreign policy and national security issues!!

[Tx4obama]

5. Here's something that was left out of the article regarding Lugar-Obama not many folks know about

-snip-

President Barack Obama has taken an interest in safeguarding nuclear materials since at least his first year in the Senate. Obama's first foreign travel as a U.S. senator was with Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in August 2005, when the two men visited nuclear weapons storage and dismantlement facilities in Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

The next spring, Lugar and Obama authored a Senate bill authorizing a program to provide assistance to foreign countries to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The bill's provisions were incorporated into a House bill that passed later that year. It was signed in January 2007.

The Lugar-Obama initiative is modeled after a 1991 bill authored by Lugar and former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. The Nunn-Lugar program provided U.S. funding and expertise to the former Soviet Union to dismantle stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons

-snip-

Full article/updates here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/382/secure-nuclear-weapons-materials-in-four-years/

NOTE: Part of what President Obama was awarded The Noble Prize was due to his work with Lugar, see below

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama 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.

-snip-

Full post here: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html

[CBHagman]

6. Thanks for posting that.

And yes, a great many people need to read that, not only here at DU but more broadly.