If we are a sane species, nuclear weapons will never be used. And nuclear weapons are not a good way to try and see if we are sane or what. They take a lot of money to build, and a ton of money to store. They are scary things to keep around even when not used. For some countries to have them, and then preach others to not have them, that is "nuclear apartheid," not my original phrase. The most powerful person on earth standing for a nuclear weapons free world is likely the biggest boost a non proliferation agenda will get.
I have wondered a long long time as to why someone powerful enough will not take this sane position. Finally President Barack has stepped out. He just reminded me why I came out to support him even before he announced he was running.
Text of President Obama in Prague Washington Post, United States we have an obligation to our common prosperity and our common humanity to extend a hand to those emerging markets and impoverished people who are suffering the most, which is why we set aside over a trillion dollars for the International Monetary Fund ......... We are targeting the same al-Qaida terrorists who have struck from New York to London ....... dangers that recognize no borders ...... The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that had existed for centuries would have ceased to exist. ......... 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 markets trade in nuclear secrets and materials. 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 in a global nonproliferation regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point when the center cannot hold. ........... New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague ....... as a nuclear power _as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon ......... my administration will immediately and aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ....... If we are serious about stopping the spread of these weapons, then we should put an end to the dedicated production of weapons grade materials that create them. ........ The basic bargain is sound: countries with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them; and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy. ......... a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank ........ We want Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations, politically and economically. We will support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy with rigorous inspections. ....... One terrorist with a nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. al-Qaida has said that it seeks a bomb. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. ....... a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. ....... turn efforts such as the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism into durable international institutions ......... When nations and peoples allow themselves to be defined by their differences, the gulf between them widens.
Amitabh Bachchan (via last.fm)![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=b1605979-0529-43b1-a694-0c7cbb8e6784)
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