What a week for arms control.
Amid the cacophony of voices out there on arms control discussing issues from North Korea’s recent missile test to allegations against Iran, and just days after his joint announcement with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to pursue a successor to START, President Obama’s voice rang loud and clear this weekend in Prague when he gave what could be the most significant speech of the nuclear age.
Just one highlight?
“As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it…I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Not only did he call for a world free of nuclear weapons, but he explicitly outlined steps that reverse the Bush administration policy that made nuclear weapons a central tenet of American national security.
These steps included:
–A new treaty with Russia this year to reduce nuclear warheads and stockpiles – and then to move to further cuts with the other nuclear powers;
— “Immediately and aggressively” pursuing ratification of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty;
–Ending the production of fissile materials that can be used in nuclear weapons;
–Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty;
–Expanding international inspections to detect treaty violations;
–Securing all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years;
–Hosting a Global Summit on Nuclear Security within the next year.
Want to write a letter to your members of Congress, asking them to support this plan? Click here.
To read the entire speech, click here.
