Mikhail Gorbachev:The Senate’s Next Task: Ratifying the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

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MIKHAIL GORBACHEV
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/opinion/29gorbachev.html?hp

JUST a few weeks ago, the fate of the New Start nuclear arms treaty seemed to hang by a thread. But since last week, when the United States Senate ratified the treaty, which reduces the size of the American and Russian nuclear stockpiles, we can speak of a serious step forward for both countries. I hope this will energize efforts to take the next step to a world free of nuclear weapons: a ban on all nuclear testing.

In the final stretch, President Obama put his credibility and political capital on the line to achieve ratification. That a sufficient number of Republican senators put the interests of their nation’s security, and the world’s, above party politics is encouraging.

The success was not without cost. In return for the treaty’s ratification, Mr. Obama promised to allocate tens of billions of dollars in the next few years for modernizing the American nuclear weapons arsenal, which is hardly compatible with a nuclear-free world.

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Universal ratification of the test ban treaty would be a step toward creating a truly global community of nations, in which all share the responsibility for humankind’s future.

[RandomThoughts]

1. what a joke,

They can't even get the beer and travel money correction right, they wont be looking after most people.

A control state for the benefit of a few is not a global community.