Jimmy Carter: Undermining peace

[bananas]

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jimmy_carter/2007/09/undermining_peace.html

Undermining peace

By abandoning nuclear arms agreements the US has been sending mixed signals to nations with the ability to create nuclear weapons.
Jimmy Carter

September 9, 2007

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At the same time, no significant steps are being taken to reduce the worldwide arsenal of almost 30,000 nuclear weapons now possessed by the United States, Russia, China, France, Israel, Britain, India, Pakistan, and perhaps North Korea. A global holocaust is just as possible now, through mistakes or misjudgments, as it was during the depths of the cold war.

The key restraining commitment among the five original nuclear powers and more than 180 other nations is the 1970 non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Its key objective is "to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology ... and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament." In the last five-year review conference at the United Nations in 2005, only Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea were not participating - the first three have nuclear arsenals that are advanced, and the fourth's is embryonic.

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Knowing since 1974 of India's nuclear ambitions, I and other American presidents imposed a consistent policy: no sales of nuclear technology or uncontrolled fuel to India or any other country that refused to sign the NPT. Today, these restraints are in the process of being abandoned.

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India's leaders should make the same pledges, and should also join other nuclear powers in signing the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. Instead, they have rejected these steps and insist on unrestricted access to international assistance in producing enough fissile material for as many as 50 weapons a year, far exceeding what is believed to be India's current capacity.

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