Can President Obama Live Up to the Accomplishments of His Predecessors?
Nickolas Roth | Mar 27, 2012 |
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This post was originally published at http://www.democracyarsenal.org/ and also appeared on CNN's Global Public Square Blog.
President Obama was recently overheard saying to Russian President Medvedev that, assuming he prevails in the election this November, he would have more flexibility to negotiate on arms control issues. In response, some Congressional Republicans have implied that President Obama may have secret plans to aggressively pursue arms control in his second term.
Perhaps Republicans are concerned that the United States will cut its arsenal in half. Maybe they are concerned that President Obama will eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. Or, maybe they are concerned he would do something dramatic like try to negotiate the total elimination of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. Well, if he were to accomplish any of these tasks, he would be in good company. These are all feats attempted by Republican Presidents in their second terms. Every second term Republican President since the beginning of the nuclear age (i.e. Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and Bush II) proposed drastic changes to the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
nuclear guidance review, arms control, history, Nukes on a Blog (all tags)
Bringing Sexy Back: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Conference 2011
Patricia Morris | Aug 29, 2011 | 0 
Secretary Clinton delivers remarks at the CTBT Article XIV Conference at the UN 2009
Happy International Day Against Nuclear Tests! For a brilliant reminder of why a permanent legal ban on nuclear testing is vital, check out Daryl Kimball’s moving take over at Armscontrolnow.
Looking for another nuclear testing-related item to put on your calendar?
The “2011 Article XIV Conference” on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will be held September 23 in New York.
Hosted by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, this will be seventh conference on the ratification and implementation of the CTBT (for background information our site is chock full of CTBT resources, including a fact sheet here).
The CTBT calls for an indefinite ban on all nuclear test explosions in all environments, to inhibit the research and development of new nuclear weapons. Since opening for signature in 1996, 182 states have signed the treaty and 154 have ratified it. However, before the treaty can “enter into force” (i.e. be made into international law) the 44 countries that possessed nuclear power reactors or research reactors at the time the treaty was negotiated have to sign and ratify the pact. Nine of these countries still need to deposit their articles of ratification: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, the United States of America, India and Pakistan.
Representatives from all countries are invited to participate in the conference – whether they have signed or ratified the treaty or not. Those states that have already ratified the treaty use the conference to promote the treaty’s goals and urge states that have not done so to sign and ratify the treaty so as soon as possible. They will also propose concrete measures to hasten entry into force, such as by urging countries with nuclear weapons research programs to refrain from developing new nuclear devices.
The Cost of Peddling Arms in the Middle East
Patricia Morris | Apr 27, 2011 | 0 If the U.S. ties to the Egyptian military made you uneasy, brace yourself for more anxiety.
It's no surprise that the U.S. sells weapons abroad and that it's not always a great idea, but recent protests and revolts in the Middle East have (again) raised questions (and rightfully so) about the consequences of our arms sales abroad.
Check out the article here.
Security Matters, Arms Control, Arms Sales, Middle East (all tags)
