Thread: Nuclear arms conference collapses without deal

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After a month of bickering, the 188 signatories to the global pact against atomic weapons ended their conference on Friday with no agreement on new steps to combat the danger of a nuclear holocaust and many blamed the United States and Iran.

The review of the nuclear 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty was characterized by divisive debates over North Korea, Iran's nuclear enrichment ambitions, Israel's presumed atomic arsenal and U.S. plans for new and improved atomic weapons.

When the conference began on May 2, countries had hoped to agree on a plan to plug loopholes in the treaty that enable countries to acquire sensitive atomic technology and to hear from Washington and the four other NPT members with nuclear weapons that they remained committed to disarming.

But it quickly descended into procedural bickering, led by the United States, Iran and Egypt, and ended after approving only a document that listed the agenda and participants.

In a clear swipe at Washington, which angered developing countries by refusing to reaffirm previous pledges to scrap its own nuclear arsenal, Canada's chief delegate blasted countries that tossed aside earlier commitments.

"If governments simply ignore or discard commitments whenever they prove inconvenient, we will never be able to build an edifice of international cooperation and confidence in the security realm," Ambassador Paul Meyer, the head of Canada's delegation, said in a speech to the conference.

The United States has denied undermining the conference. Privately, U.S. officials blamed Iran and Egypt, who they said hijacked the block of non-aligned nations in an attempt to focus criticism on the United States and Israel.

NUCLEAR THREAT

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan regretted that nations missed a "vital opportunity to strengthen our collective security against the many nuclear threats to which all states and all peoples are vulnerable."

He warned that the inability to take action was "bound to weaken the treaty and the broader-based regime over time," U.N. spokesman Stephan Dujarric said.

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he was not surprised there were no breakthroughs as the world is too divided on how to address the nuclear threat The treaty is still there. It will continue to work, but it will continue to work with the same shortcomings," he told Reuters from Vienna. "I think the best thing is to move forward and not to engage in recriminations over who is to blame."

Nine countries possess 30,000 atomic weapons, nearly all of them in the United States and Russia. Dozens more nations could build a bomb if they wanted to.

By signing the NPT, the acknowledged nuclear powers -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France -- pledged to eventually scrap their deadly arsenals but have not done so.

U.S. officials said that since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the most urgent issue was not disarmament but proliferation and the possibility that terrorists could obtain atomic weapons.

"Much has changed since we last met five years ago," Ambassador Jackie Sanders told the conference. In addition to North Korea withdrawing from the NPT and announcing it has nuclear weapons, Iran appears to want the bomb, she said.

"Iran's nuclear weapons program, previously shrouded in secrecy and deceit, has been exposed, as have Iran's violations of its (NPT) obligations," she said.

Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, slammed the United States for not disarming as called for by the NPT and invoked memories of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Japan.

"The extremist attitude reflected ... seems to indicate that no lessons have been learned from the nightmare of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If history is any guide, nuclear arms, ladies and gentlemen, are in the most dangerous hands," he said

Seems many nations feel the need to reach the level of MAD in order to guaruantee there security. I'm curious to hear from members of the board as to any ideas or answers they might have on how to deal with this issue?

I'm sure this topic has come around before I became a member but there are many veterans members here that I'd very much like to hear from if you have the time, so if you wouldn't mind putting in your 2 cents I'd appreciate.

My own answers I've come up with I don't like very much....