A key UN conference that failed to break ground on dealing with the spread of nuclear weapons showed how much the world has changed since the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty came into effect in 1970.
Thirty-five years ago, at the height of the Cold War, the treaty "set into place one of the most important security bargains of all time, states without nuclear weapons pledged not to acquire them while nuclear-armed states committed to eventually give them up," the Washington-based Arms Control Association said in a booklet on the conference.
This neat bargain, which some have called the most successful treaty of all time for keeping the number of nuclear weapons states from being in the dozens, has been shaken in past years with reports of a new wave of proliferation.
North Korea allegedly has the bomb, the US charges that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and the discovery of transnational smuggling of nuclear materials and technology has raised fears of terrorists acquiring atomic weapons of mass destruction.
In such a post-Cold-War, post-September 11 world, the 188-nation treaty's contract of "exchanging disarmament against non-proliferation is a false equation. We must seize the reality that the main challenge today is monitoring the peaceful use of nuclear energy" as such use can be turned to weapons purposes, a European diplomat told reporters.
This was the issue which dominated the conference at UN headquarters in New York from May 2 until Friday and eventually paralyzed hope of making any progress since points of view were so divergent.
The US, one of five nuclear weapons states that have signed the treaty, insisted on the need to focus on cracking down on suspicious nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran, as well as the threat of international terrorists getting their hand on the bomb.
Iran meanwhile won widespread support from non-aligned countries in demanding that its right to peaceful atomic activities be recognized, despite US charges that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
And the US resisted being bound by disarmament promises made at previous review conferences in 1995 and 2000 but non-aligned nations said nuclear weapon states were not living up to their obligations and that disarmament remained as important as fighting non-proliferation according to the treaty.
In addition, in an intransigence that surprised diplomats here, Egypt blocked any progress after its demands that Israel be sanctioned for possessing nuclear weapons and not signing the treaty were rejected.
"People thought they could fix things with business as usual" but non-proliferation problems "can only be resolved when top policy people in government focus on them," UN nuclear chief ElBaradei said, urging world leaders to consider the matter at a UN summit in September.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS