President Obama To Call For Elimination Of All Nuclear Weapons

[babylonsister]

Obama to call for nuclear-free world
Reuters

By Caren Bohan and Jan Lopatka Caren Bohan And Jan Lopatka – 1 hr 19 mins ago



PRAGUE (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in remarks on Sunday he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.

Visiting Prague during an eight-day visit to Europe, Obama plans to deliver what his aides have billed as a major speech on weapons proliferation.

Obama, who is making his debut on the world stage, said in Strasbourg, France on Friday that he would lay out an agenda to secure the world's loose nuclear materials and halt the spread of illicit weapons.

He added that he wanted to offer an agenda "to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons."

"Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," Obama said.

Obama, a former U.S. senator who succeeded President George W. Bush in January, has long shown interest in the issue of halting weapons proliferation and wants to make it a signature foreign policy issue for his new administration.

"The president has been very focused on these issues of proliferation for many years," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough told reporters.

"Tomorrow, I think you'll hear the president, in a very comprehensive way, outline many of the things that he's been talking about and working on for some time," McDonough said.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090404/pl_nm/us_obama_europe

[Thrill]

1. Hopefully they give him an IV and plenty of claritin so it will be vintage Obama

during this speech without the head cold.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Oh sure, I get rid of my nukes and then my neighbors start coming

in my yard, kicking my dog, rutting up my yard and taunting me to madness. I'm not having it.

[Ian David]

3. And right after we get rid of the last one, THAT is when the Martians attack!

Seriously though...

Eliminating nukes would be a good thing.

[DRoseDARs]

14. It's the off-plane-of-the-ecliptic asteroids I'd be worried about...

No, seriously: Nukes are ALL we've got to defend ourselves with, feeble as they may be against petaton-sized Chunks of Doom whizzing about in areas of the sky not currently scanned (which is like 90% of the sky).

In the immortal words of Turanga Leela, answering Bender Bending Rodriguez's question as to their fate: "Yeah, we're boned."

[MADem]

4. Back in December, Obama asked Henry Kissinger to go to Russia for him.

Why Henry? Because the Russkies like him.

What was his task? To lay the groundwork to enable Team Obama to broker this deal.

Obama didn't even wait to be sworn in--he got Henry working on this so that the details would be fleshed out sufficiently to be announced during this overseas tour.

I'd say that's some pretty impressive foresight.

Obama gets full marks from me for this. He was able to put partisan divides aside for the greater good of the planet. AND...he got the ball rolling EARLY. Impressive.

By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow


Friday February 06 2009

Henry Kissinger, the pioneer of Cold War detente during the Nixon era, has made a return to front-line politics after US President Barack Obama reportedly sent him to Moscow to win support from Vladimir Putin's government for a nuclear disarmament initiative.

It is believed that the 85-year-old former US secretary of state met President Dmitry Medvedev for secret negotiations in December.

According to Western diplomats, during two days of talks Mr Kissinger courted Russian officials in an attempt to win support for Mr Obama's initiative, which could see Russia and the US each cutting their nuclear arsenals to 1,000 warheads....Mr Obama apparently chose Mr Kissinger for his consummate diplomatic skills and his popularity in Moscow, an affection earned by his open acknowledgment of Russia's international resurgence.

Despite his pariah status with many in the Democratic Party, the president forged relations with Mr Kissinger during his election campaign. The compliment was returned when the 85-year-old veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations said last month that the president was in a position to create a "new world order" by shifting US foreign policy away from the hostile stance of the Bush administration.

Further demonstrating his willingness to work with his opponents on foreign policy issues, Mr Obama turned to two veteran Republicans steeped in Cold War experience to press home his plans.

Shortly after Mr Kissinger's trip, Richard Lugar, a Republican senator who has worked on nuclear disarmament issues for 30 years, also visited Moscow. George Schultz, another former secretary of state, has also played a role.

....

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/us-sends-kissinger-to-broker-nuclear-deal-1630155.html

[Adsos Letter]

5. As much as I would like to see this happen, I don't see it happening...

Who goes first?

Who makes sure nobody keeps a couple around..."just in case?"

The "just in case" being the fear of a "previously" nuclear power, that they might be losing a war they consider of ultimate national interest.

Or, the ability to produce a couple quickly...in the same event suggested above...the technology still exists to rapidly produce nuclear weapons...that Pandora's Box that got opened 60 years ago.

I hate simply stating the "nice sentiment" argument, but I honestly don't see how this can be done without first doing away with war as a means of settling international disagreements. We tried it after WWI, and again after WWII...two of the largest, most destructive wars the planet has experienced...and we STILL couldn't/can't seem to get past it...the powerful nations adhere to the strictures/rulings of organizations like the League and the UN until they feel it is not in their national interest to do so...then they don't.

I wish it could be true...but I just don't see how it can be. Maybe I am just too old, and this puzzle will have to be worked out by younger minds, more optimistic about the ability of human nature to expand in positive directions regarding nationalism and violence.

BTW: :hi:

[Political Heretic]

7. That's not necessarily the goal in such a statement

It's true we may never be in a 100% nuclear free world. But defining this as the vision of the United States is about helping to bring countries we want to deal with to the table and establishing trust. And with nearly 3000 nukes we can certainly start making cooperative demonstrations of our good faith along with Russia by reducing our own.

[Adsos Letter]

9. President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe

That is what I was responding to. And I take your point; certainly, we must be in the forefront of seeking peace in the world, and making the world a safer place. I am 100% behind that.

I do not think we will ever recapture the nuclear contents of Pandora's Box...and there are a lot of questions which flow from that. Nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament (two different things) also become two different things if/when nation-states shift from a peacetime to wartime footing.

[Political Heretic]

10. I understand the stated goal, I'm saying that's not necesarily the actual purpose of the statement.

I hear you, and seems like we're more or less on the same page. But I just wanted to clarify that what I meant was I think this statement is primarily intended as a signal - that the United State's aim is no longer to deny some countries nukes while hoarding its own. Rather the United States policy is now to push for the reduction and ultimately elimination of all nukes.

I know we may never get to that ultimate end, and I think the admnistration does too - but the change in attitude can help bring some of these countries to the table. I think.

[Adsos Letter]

13. We are, more or less, on the same page...

:thumbsup:

Perhaps I am too locked up in my old Cold War mentality to really trust the Russians...I admit this freely.

It may very well take younger-thinking minds than mine.

[Political Heretic]

6. I can't wait to hear this!

I appreciate VISION.

[Undercurrent]

8. Thanks, babylonsister!

I posted the same topic before I saw you had, so I deleted that post, and will post part of my OP here.

I'm happy about this. It's not to good to be too hopeful, but this is good.

I was a little kid when the potential of the world becoming a nuclear dead zone was pressed into our collective consciousness. I grew up with "duck and cover" drills, fall out shelters, and nightmares about the end of the life as we know it as a result of a nuclear exchange. Hope that sane minds would prevail was all I had. Now to have the President of the United States call for a nuclear-free world... well is a new day, and a first step in the right direction.



By JONATHAN S. LANDAY AND WARREN P. STROBEL
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will outline in a major speech on Sunday a blueprint for ridding the world of nuclear weapons that calls for the United States to reduce its reliance on history's deadliest arms and lead a new international effort to prevent terrorists from acquiring them.

The plan would reverse the previous administration's policy that made nuclear weapons a central pillar of U.S. security policy by preserving an arsenal of thousands of warheads, expanding the targets against which they could be used and embracing the development of new weapons.

Under Obama's proposals, the United States also would return to its earlier policy of negotiating complex international arms agreements, an approach that the George W. Bush administration viewed as being too cumbersome and restricting of U.S power.

Obama's plan reflects the idea that the dangers posed by the spread of nuclear arms can be curbed only if the United States leads in bolstering the global non-proliferation system, which experts say was badly eroded by the Bush policy, and by the Iranian, North Korean, Israeli, Indian and Pakistani nuclear programs.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/984758.html

[Cha]

11. What we've always

dreamed of and he's putting it there for the World. It only makes sense..it's the only Planet we have.

[FrenchieCat]

15. We are truly blessed. I hope some folks wake up an realize

what is happening so they can appreciate it.

My first protest march was against Nukes...and I was just a small kid in Paris!

[Cha]

25. You were

prescient:)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. ush wanted to proliferate it's good to know Obama is to get rid of

[BlooInBloo]

16. Wow. Just... wow.

[Number23]

17. Wow. That'll go over great with the defense industry folks

Things like make me entirely ambivalent. On one hand, I'm thrilled that Obama is taking a stand against nuclear weapons; on the other, there is no telling what the people who manufacture these weapons will do to keep themselves in business...

[AtomicKitten]

18. That's the Obama I voted for.

:fistbump:

[ruggerson]

19. We have to back him very vocally on this

because the rightwing will go apeshit.

[Forkboy]

20. No Nukes was what got me into politics way back when.

While this will never happen it's great to see Obama set it as a goal nonetheless. It's sets an example that needs to be set, restores the concept of trust when it comes to dealing with other countries for reducing the number of nukes and, most importantly, it's just the right thing to do.

[chill_wind]

21. Totally good agenda. K & R n/t

[Better Believe It]

22. Very good! Does that include Israel?

If President Obama doesn't publicly and clearly include Israel in his proposal (no U.S. President has ever acknowledged Israel's posession of nuclear weapons), I don't think Iran will have much confidence in President Obama's words.

[FrenchieCat]

23. I've always heard of Israel's nukes, but haven't had anyone provide the evidence.

Do you have some? I'm curious.

Obama = Bad
Iran = Good
in Better Believe it world.

[Better Believe It]

24. Yes. Do some research on the net. I can't right now but I'm sure someone can help you.

If not, drop me a note and I'll look tomorrow.

They have several hundred nuclear weapons and if memory serves me right one Israeli scientist is serving a very long prison term for exposing their development of nuclear bombs.