In boost for President Obama, Belarus gives up nuke material

[bigtree]

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

ASTANA, Kazakhstan -- In a sudden turnaround, the former Soviet republic of Belarus announced Wednesday that it will give up all its weapons-grade uranium - fresh momentum for anti-proliferation efforts even as the U.S. welcomed Iran's decision to resume talks on its controversial nuclear program.

On a day of whirlwind diplomacy capped by the Belarus deal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised Iran's return to nuclear talks, urged Europe to do more in Afghanistan and insisted that recent WikiLeaks disclosures would have no lasting effect on U.S. relations around the world.

The Belarus decision is a diplomatic victory for President Barack Obama, who has set a goal of securing all the world's nuclear materials within four years as a centerpiece of his strategy for denying nuclear weapons to terrorists.

Belarus, which had been a holdout, was banned from an April nuclear security summit hosted by Obama, along with Iran and North Korea.


read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120101034_pf.html

[Enrique]

1. kudos for a serious accomplishment

non-proliferation will probably be his biggest legacy. :thumbsup:

[MineralMan]

2. Good job, Mr. President and Secretary Clinton!

Well done.

[bigtree]

3. kick

[Subdivisions]

4. Cool. Now how about some jobs here at home? n/t