Nuclear Disarmament:

The Myth of UN Conference…Again

Rasa - President Donald Trump was elected on a platform to end America’s permanent “War on Terror” and make world “come to its senses” about nuclear weapons. Just like his predecessors, he failed on every one of these measures.

News ID: 428497

Date: 28 March 2017 - 22:39

RNA - In addition to Muslim ban and refugee restrictions, the White Supremacist president has expanded the bogus “War on Terror” with major military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Somalia. He has also involved Special Operation units and private contractors to escalate the devastating war and hunger in Syria and Yemen – with no UN mandate and certainly no legal justification.

It gets worse: President Trump has also ordered his administration to set itself up as leading opposition to any nuclear disarmament deal at the United Nations. This comes as the UN has begun talks on negotiating a global nuclear weapons ban (March 27-31). It is doing so in the face of intense opposition from the United States and its main allies France, Britain, and Australia.

The UN General Assembly agreed back in December to try to negotiate such a deal, but in the face of opposition from the US, it appears unlikely any deal will be possible. US officials are insisting that whatever sort of deal is reached, the US must retain its own nuclear arsenal. With tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, this is hardly surprising:

1- As maintained by President Trump, war-party Washington will continue to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," never falling behind in its weapons capacity. Trump says the US must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capacity "until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."

2- Trump's call for a nuclear arms race is the most dangerous thing he has said yet: "Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all." This line of thinking is horrifying. It not only ignores disquieting facts about nuclear weapons and threatens to further implode the UN effort to reduce nuclear armaments, but also increases the risk of a nuclear catastrophe. Trump's push for nuclear proliferation is the worst possible option. Here's why: Enough nukes already exist to destroy planet earth over and over again.

3- The path the Trump White House has chosen already is a future in which the US will never pursue a world without nuclear weapons, nor will it ever decrease the risk of a miscalculation that could lead to a nuclear disaster. It’s a future in which the US will always have atomic weapons ready to fly at a moment’s notice. The implication is that the US will never get rid of its nukes, even if the rest of the world does, and even if these weapons of extinction would put American lives at risk.

4- The world is not moving toward nuclear disarmament and the United Nations attempt to work out a ban on nuclear weapons is not going anywhere either. The UN conference is not only facing intense opposition from the US, but also from France, Britain, and Australia. These allies have no intention to move toward disarmament or abide by their legal treaty obligations as required under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

5- Failure to reach an agreement on banning nuclear weapons could also kill the Mideast nuclear ban initiative. The participants in the UN conference say the UN should convene another conference on a regional ban of nuclear weapons. They also demand Israel immediately join the NPT. The problem is, Israel likewise has no intention to give up its nukes and any talk of NPT membership is but dirty politics. Worse still, other nuclear weapon states - China, France, Russia, India, Pakistan and North Korea – are also not moving away from nuclear weapons.

That said, the world is still facing a historic opportunity to prohibit nuclear weapons. This is the moment to stand up for International Law, multilateralism and international institutions. The United States and its NATO allies are by any standard required to seize this opportunity and participate actively in the UN negotiations of a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.

The alarming evidence presented by physicians, physicists, climate scientists, human rights organizations, humanitarian agencies and survivors of nuclear weapons attacks has been successful in changing the discourse, and opened space for greater engagement from civil society, international organizations and states. Because the humanitarian and environmental consequences of using nuclear weapons would be global and catastrophic, eliminating such dangers is also the responsibility of the United States and its main allies in accordance with their obligation to ensure respect for International Humanitarian Law.

The more nuclear weapons exist and are upgraded, the more likely they are to be used - either intentionally or accidentally - and expose our species to the risk of an unprecedented nuclear calamity and possibly a horrifying extinction. A step-by-step approach toward global disarmament, therefore, could be the only solution at the UN conference. The nuclear weapon states shouldn’t expand their nuclear arsenals. Instead, they should continue to reduce their weapons stockpiles, ideally until they are all gone. This is not easy but straightforward.

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