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My plan to drop the bomb

Written by Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, as seen in the Washington Times on Thursday, August 6, 2009.

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 marked an end and a beginning. The close of the World War II ushered in a Cold War, with a precarious peace based on the threat of mutually assured destruction.

Today the world is at another turning point. The assumption that nuclear weapons are indispensable to keeping the peace is crumbling. Disarmament is back on the global agenda -- and not a moment too soon. A groundswell of new international initiatives will soon emerge to move this agenda forward.

The Cold War's end, 20 years ago this autumn, was supposed to provide a peace dividend. Instead, we find ourselves still facing serious nuclear threats. Some stem from the persistence of more than 20,000 nuclear weapons and the contagious doctrine of nuclear deterrence. Others relate to nuclear tests -- more than a dozen in the post-Cold War era, aggravated by the constant testing of long-range missiles. Still others arise from concerns that more countries or even terrorists might be seeking the bomb.

For decades, we believed that the terrible effects of nuclear weapons would be sufficient to prevent their use. The superpowers were likened to a pair of scorpions in a bottle, each knowing a first strike would be suicidal. Today's expanding nest of scorpions, however, means that no one is safe. The presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States -- holders of the largest nuclear arsenals -- recognize this. They have endorsed the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, most recently at their Moscow summit, and are seeking new reductions.

Many efforts are under way worldwide to achieve this goal. Earlier this year, the 65-member Conference on Disarmament -- the forum that produces multilateral disarmament treaties -- broke a deadlock and agreed to negotiations on a fissile material treaty. Other issues it will discuss include nuclear disarmament and security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon states.

In addition, Australia and Japan have launched a major international commission on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. My own multimedia "WMD - WeMustDisarm!" campaign, which will culminate on the International Day of Peace (Sept. 21), will reinforce growing calls for disarmament by former statesmen and grass-roots campaigns, such as "Global Zero." These calls will get a further boost in September when civil society groups gather in Mexico City for a United Nations-sponsored conference on disarmament and development.

Although the U.N. has been working on disarmament since 1946, two treaties negotiated under U.N. auspices are now commanding the world's attention. Also in September, countries that have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will meet at the U.N. to consider ways to promote its early entry into force. North Korea's nuclear tests, its missile launches and its threats of further provocation lend new urgency to this cause.

Next May, the U.N. will also host a major five-year review conference involving the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which will examine the state of the treaty's "grand bargain" of disarmament, nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. If the CTBT can enter into force, and if the NPT review conference makes progress, the world would be off to a good start on its journey to a world free of nuclear weapons.

My own five-point plan to achieve this goal begins with a call for the NPT parties to pursue negotiations in good faith -- as required by the treaty -- on nuclear disarmament, either through a new convention or through a series of mutually reinforcing instruments backed by a credible system of verification. Disarmament must be reliably verified.

Second, I have urged the Security Council to consider other ways to strengthen security in the disarmament process, and to assure non-nuclear-weapon states against nuclear weapons threats. I have proposed to the council that it convene a summit on nuclear disarmament, and I have urged non-NPT states to freeze their own weapon capabilities and make their own disarmament commitments. Disarmament must enhance security.

My third proposal relates to the rule of law. Universal membership in multilateral treaties is key, as are regional nuclear-weapon-free zones and a new treaty on fissile materials. President Obama's support for U.S. ratification of the CTBT is welcome -- the treaty only needs a few more ratifications to enter into force. Disarmament must be rooted in legal obligations.

My fourth point addresses accountability and transparency. Countries with nuclear weapons should publish more information about what they are doing to fulfill their disarmament commitments. While most of these countries have revealed some details about their weapons programs, we still do not know how many nuclear weapons exist worldwide. The U.N. Secretariat could serve as a repository for such data. Disarmament must be visible to the public.

Finally, I am urging progress in eliminating other weapons of mass destruction and limiting missiles, space weapons and conventional arms -- all of which are needed for a nuclear-weapon-free world. Disarmament must anticipate emerging dangers from other weapons.

This, then, is my plan to drop the bomb. Global security challenges are serious enough without the risks from nuclear weapons or their acquisition by additional states or nonstate actors. Of course, strategic stability, trust among nations, and the settlement of regional conflicts would all help to advance the process of disarmament. Yet disarmament has its own contributions to make in serving these goals and should not be postponed.

It will restore hope for a more peaceful, secure and prosperous future. It deserves everybody's support.

By Ban Ki-moon

9 Months: Our Nuke Free Baby

Now, just because we`re heading home in less than a day (we arrive in SEATAC before we leave Tokyo, apparently), don`t go getting comfortable and thinking this Journey is done. It`s not, we`re just getting started.

But beginning on August 12th the mission is no longer peace, the mission is no longer apologies, the mission is not even reconciliation (although each remains important to our group in particular). No, mission from this day forward is ensuring that there is never another Hiroshima, never another Nagasaki. Starting August 12th, we begin preparations for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat review, which will take place in New York on May 10th. We have nine months to leave out the kitchen sink and focus on this one effort: to ensure that no more nuclear weapons are used in our world. It doesn`t matter what you think about the Just War doctrine, it doesn`t even matter whether you think it was right or wrong for the US to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; what matters is that we as a world cannot continue to improve the technology which brought hell to earth 64 years ago, which deported an entire community from Bikini indefinitely, which has left countless of our own country treating radiation sickness in Nevada.

What can you expect from the 18 of us in the next nine months? Dialogue with our leaders, mayors, the Bangor Commander. Presentations and panels, including visits from the Hibakusha we`ve met while here in Japan, discussion groups, and video screenings of a documentary based on this very journey. Direct preparations for the NPT Review Conference, including sending as many people as we can from as many backgrounds and perspectives to New York, and getting support from all our communities for the Hiroshima Nagasaki Protocol. You can expect this and much more, and we need your help. Stay posted for ways that you can get involved in the action.

For now, check out the text of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Protocol at http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/filestorage/409/File/2/Hiroshima-NagasakiProtocol.pdf.

Obama VS Nuclear Weapons

''In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold.'' President Obama, April 5, 2009, Prague


In speeches in Prague on April 5th and Cairo on June 4, President Obama declared a turning point in US policy toward nuclear weapons that stretches beyond US interests, stating that “no single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons.” The President is optimistic that his strategy will result in allies both rewriting their nuclear treaties and enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

This approach includes:
• Reduction of the role of nuclear weapons' in the US national security strategy and aggressive pursuit of U.S. Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT),
• Continued negotiations with Russia to reduce warheads and stockpiles with the ultimate goal of signing a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which would reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to no more than 1,500 nuclear weapons each,
• Development of a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material in the world within four year,
• A United States hosted Global Summit on Nuclear Security within the next year, and
• Negotiation of an agreement with Iran to avert that nation's development of nuclear weapons.

In Prague, Obama expressed the moral responsibility that the US has to act due to its history with nuclear weapon use, noting that “we cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.”

To opponents of disarmament, Obama states that “some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked -- that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable.”

Does Obama’s strategy fulfill our responsibility? Share your comments below.