Group items tagged

Moscow and Washington want to reach a deal on a key nuclear disarmament treaty before US President Barack Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, a Kremlin source was quoted as saying Friday. The source, quoted in the Kommersant daily, said the Obama administration wanted to sign an agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before the Nobel ceremony and that Moscow was willing to oblige. "On December 10 the ceremony for awarding Nobel laureates will take place... Our partners want the document to be signed before the Nobel Peace Prize is given to Barack Obama," the Kremlin source was quoted as saying.

Moscow and Washington want to reach a deal on a key nuclear disarmament treaty before US President Barack Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, a Kremlin source was quoted as saying Friday. The source, quoted in the Kommersant daily, said the Obama administration wanted to sign an agreement on replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) before the Nobel ceremony and that Moscow was willing to oblige. "On December 10 the ceremony for awarding Nobel laureates will take place... Our partners want the document to be signed before the Nobel Peace Prize is given to Barack Obama," the Kremlin source was quoted as saying.

Federal Parliament's Treaties Committee has recommended the Government delay ratifying a treaty to sell uranium to Russia because of fears about the country's nuclear weapons program. The treaty was signed last year by the former Howard Government. But after examining the proposal, the committee says it should not go ahead until Russia separates its civil and military nuclear facilities.

The 65-nation Conference on Disarmament broke a dozen years of deadlock Friday and opened the way to negotiate a new nuclear arms control treaty. Diplomats welcomed the adoption of a "program of work" as a breakthrough for the conference, which has been stalemated since it wrote the nuclear test ban treaty in 1996. The program refers to nuclear disarmament in general, but it indicates a top candidate for a new treaty is one to ban production of so-called "fissile materials" - highly enriched uranium and plutonium - needed to create atomic weapons.

In a speech on 5 April 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic, US President Barack Obama said that his Administration will: negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia this year; immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in nuclear weapons; and seek to build "a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so that countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation" (1).

An Israeli official on Wednesday criticized a U.S. call to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as hard to understand, citing the pact's failure to prevent countries from obtaining atomic arms. "It is therefore hard to understand why there should be such an insistence on a treaty that has proven its inefficiency," a senior official at the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller urged Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea to join the treaty. Israel does not confirm or deny foreign reports it has what arms control experts assume to be a sizeable atomic arsenal.

U.S. President Barack Obama set out his vision for a world free of nuclear weapons on Sunday, vowing to involve all states with atomic weapons in the process of reducing arsenals. Obama also said North Korea had broken the rules with a rocket launch earlier on Sunday and called on Pyongyang to abandon its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Russia and the United States said on Saturday they would start talks on a new deal to cut nuclear warheads before the end of the month. On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama agreed to pursue a new arms deal, in accordance with U.S. and Russian obligations in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Here are some key facts about the treaty, regarded as the cornerstone of global efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons: * PURPOSE OF THE NPT:

Central Asia became the fifth nuclear-weapon-free zone in the world Saturday, drawing praise from the head of the United Nations. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all ratified the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, which establishes a region-wide prohibition on research, testing or possession of nuclear weapons. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the ratification and entry into force of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty Saturday as a step forward for the region's compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the United Nations reported.

"U.S. missile defense plans are a threat to Russian national security and have slowed down progress on a new arms control treaty with Washington, Russia's top military officer said Tuesday. Gen. Nikolai Makarov said that a revised U.S. plan to place missiles in Europe undermines Russia's national defense, rejecting Obama administration promises that the plan is not directed at his country. "We view it very negatively, because it could weaken our missile forces," Makarov, the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks. Makarov's comments are the strongest yet on the revamped U.S. missile effort and signal potential new obstacles to an agreement on a new nuclear arms reduction treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expired Dec. 5."

In April, U.S. President Barack Obama declared in a speech in Prague that the United States was committed "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." In September he chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that unanimously supported this vision. Analysts and Western government officials say Obama's ability to begin delivering on his promise will be tested next year when Moscow and Washington resume haggling on an arms reduction pact and again at a key U.N. nuclear arms conference in May. They say success of a month-long review of the troubled 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will depend largely on whether U.S. and Russian negotiators can first agree on a successor pact to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

In April, U.S. President Barack Obama declared in a speech in Prague that the United States was committed "to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." In September he chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that unanimously supported this vision. Analysts and Western government officials say Obama's ability to begin delivering on his promise will be tested next year when Moscow and Washington resume haggling on an arms reduction pact and again at a key U.N. nuclear arms conference in May. They say success of a month-long review of the troubled 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will depend largely on whether U.S. and Russian negotiators can first agree on a successor pact to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty

As Japan on Tuesday renewed its call to India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), India put the onus on the US and China for taking a lead by ratifying the agreement and reiterated its commitment to ''universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory'' nuclear disarmament. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, left, shakes hand with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after signing a joint statement in New Delhi, on Tuesday. APJapanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh that Tokyo expected New Delhi to sign the CTBT soon. Singh reminded Hatoyama about India's impeccable non-proliferation record and its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. "I expressed the hope that India would sign and ratify the CTBT," Hatoyama told reporters here at a joint press conference with Singh. "Prime Minister Singh told me that if the US and China signed the treaty, it would create a new situation." Hatoyama is currently on a tour to India. He and Singh held the annual India-Japan summit on Tuesday.

As Japan on Tuesday renewed its call to India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), India put the onus on the US and China for taking a lead by ratifying the agreement and reiterated its commitment to ''universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory'' nuclear disarmament. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, left, shakes hand with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after signing a joint statement in New Delhi, on Tuesday. APJapanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh that Tokyo expected New Delhi to sign the CTBT soon. Singh reminded Hatoyama about India's impeccable non-proliferation record and its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. "I expressed the hope that India would sign and ratify the CTBT," Hatoyama told reporters here at a joint press conference with Singh. "Prime Minister Singh told me that if the US and China signed the treaty, it would create a new situation." Hatoyama is currently on a tour to India. He and Singh held the annual India-Japan summit on Tuesday.

"This week Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev will sign a new strategic arms reduction treaty. Since the US and Russia own 95% of the world's nuclear weapons, the signing of this treaty is the most significant step towards nuclear arms reduction since the original document was signed in 1991. Despite this advance, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is under increasing pressure. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are firmly back at the top of the political agenda and their importance at this time cannot be overestimated. Every country has a responsibility to contribute towards disarmament efforts, strengthening the non-proliferation regime and ensuring our nuclear security. At the same time, we also face the spread of nuclear technology as growing numbers of states harness the use of civil nuclear power for their increasing energy demands. States that can enrich uranium and reprocess spent fuel can more readily acquire the capability to create a nuclear weapon, so a truly international and non-discriminatory regulatory system is urgently needed to govern these technologies."

"The world's anti-war activists, including parliamentarians, civil society groups and diplomats, have succeeded in creating international treaties to ban a wide array of deadly weapons: anti-personnel landmines, blinding laser weapons, cluster munitions, dum-dum bullets and chemical and biological weapons. But "the most iniquitous weapon of all" - the nuclear weapon - has continued to escape a treaty aimed at eliminating its use, spread and production. Asked why a proposed nuclear weapons convention (NWC) has failed to get off the ground, Alyn Ware, global coordinator for Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), told IPS: "The nuclear weapon is both a military and a political weapon." "It projects power," he said, singling out the world's five most powerful, and by definition, permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - who are also the five declared nuclear powers. "

"Breaking the tradition of not naming countries, the first draft of the final document of 2010 Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to join NPT and CTBT. "The conference calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon States, promptly and without conditions, thereby accepting an internationally legally binding commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices," the first draft of the document said. "The conference also calls upon India and Pakistan to maintain moratoriums on nuclear testing and calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay and without conditions," it said."

The Foreign Ministry kept a written record of a meeting with the U.S. ambassador in 1968 in which he reminded ministry officials of a secret 1960 bilateral nuclear deal, a former senior ministry official said Tuesday, further contradicting government claims that no such pact existed. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's administration has been pressing the ministry to reveal whether there was a secret U.S.-Japan pact since assuming office last month. Up to now, the Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied the existence of a deal despite confirmation of the pact in declassified U.S. documents and statements by former Japanese vice ministers. According to the senior official, who once headed the ministry's former Treaties Bureau and who spoke on condition of anonymity, the records were maintained covertly by the Treaties and the North American Affairs bureaus at least until the end of the 1990s.

The Foreign Ministry kept a written record of a meeting with the U.S. ambassador in 1968 in which he reminded ministry officials of a secret 1960 bilateral nuclear deal, a former senior ministry official said Tuesday, further contradicting government claims that no such pact existed. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's administration has been pressing the ministry to reveal whether there was a secret U.S.-Japan pact since assuming office last month. Up to now, the Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied the existence of a deal despite confirmation of the pact in declassified U.S. documents and statements by former Japanese vice ministers. According to the senior official, who once headed the ministry's former Treaties Bureau and who spoke on condition of anonymity, the records were maintained covertly by the Treaties and the North American Affairs bureaus at least until the end of the 1990s.

U.S. negotiators working to conclude a new strategic arms treaty with Russia are discussing ways to continue nuclear weapons monitoring until the new accord can be ratified, a State Department spokesman said on Monday. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to work on a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads.

U.S. negotiators working to conclude a new strategic arms treaty with Russia are discussing ways to continue nuclear weapons monitoring until the new accord can be ratified, a State Department spokesman said on Monday. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed in July to work on a new treaty that would cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads.

As the Indo-US nuclear deal goes through the motions, India was today asked to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) by the UN organisation overseeing this non-proliferation measure. While announcing that Iraq had signed the CTBT in New York yesterday, the Executive secretary of the CTBT preparator commission Tibor Toth said India, North Korea and Pakistan must also become signatories to the treaty.

A new era of US diplomacy under Barack Obama is providing fresh momentum for a global ban on nuclear tests, monitors in a UN-backed group said Tuesday. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), drawn up in 1996, has been signed by 181 countries and ratified by 149. But it needs to be ratified by nine others, including China and the United States, before coming into force. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) said recent positive signals from the Obama administration will persuade other countries to ratify. A conference is being held in New York this month to speed up the process.

Concern over the U.S. strategic nuclear stockpile, illustrated by problems with a classified material called "Fogbank," has triggered quiet maneuverings on Capitol Hill related to negotiations to extend the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. That treaty expires at year's end. "Fogbank" plays a key part in the W-76, the nuclear warhead on the Navy's Trident II sub-launched intercontinental ballistic missile and the country's most numerous and important strategic nuclear weapons. Initially deployed in 1978, about 3,000 were produced with a planned 30-year life. In 2000, planning began for refurbishing about 2,000 W-78 warheads under the ongoing life-extension program being used to upgrade existing U.S. nuclear systems.

After a 10-year gap, the United States on Thursday rejoined a biannual conference designed to win more support - including from the U.S. Senate - for the treaty banning all nuclear bomb tests. The session brought together foreign ministers and other envoys from more than 100 nations that have ratified or at least signed the 1996 treaty. A speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton scheduled for later Thursday represented the first U.S. participation since 1999. The pact has lingered in a diplomatic limbo since a Republican-dominated Senate rejected it that year, but U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to now "aggressively" pursue ratification.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has reiterated India's commitment to non-proliferation but said New Delhi would not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in its present format as it is discriminatory and in favour of the nuclear weapon states. "Our position is very clear. We are totally in agreement that those who are signatories to the NPT, they must fulfil their treaty obligations. Because of this discriminatory nature, we are not signatories, but with the objectives of non-proliferation, we are with the rest of the world," he told journalists here on Sunday.