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Nuclear treaty falling apart as nations develop weapons
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By CHARLES J. HANLEY
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The Associated Press
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“You must come to terms with all the nuclear dangers that threaten humanity.” — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
**UNITED NATIONS **— “Considering the devastation that would be visited upon mankind …” is how it begins, a 2,400-word contract some would say saved the world.
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has helped keep the lid on that threat of devastation since 1970. Without it, dozens more countries might have joined the atomic-weapons club by now.
But the heart of the contract, the deal, grows weaker year by year. Cheaters are found on the inside, nuclear bombs on the outside. And some of the “undersigned” wonder whether they were handed a raw deal.
Kofi Annan last week opened a monthlong conference on the treaty with an appeal to its 188 member nations to repair the troubled treaty regime. “You must come to terms with all the nuclear dangers that threaten humanity,” the U.N. secretary-general said.
Those dangers lie not only in the Hamgyong Mountains, where North Korea might be readying its first nuclear test blast, and outside ancient Isfahan, where a long-secret uranium-fuel plant could help Iran build a bomb. Many also see danger at the Pentagon, where planners talk of new nuclear arms.
The treaty deal is basic: Countries without the doomsday weapons forever renounce them, in exchange for a commitment by five with the weapons — the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China — to negotiate toward giving them up. The “have-nots,” meantime, are guaranteed access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In an early blow to the treaty, three nations refused to sign on. Those outsiders — Israel, India and Pakistan — now have nuclear arsenals.
Then insiders Iraq, North Korea and Libya turned out to be cheaters. Two of those programs — Iraq’s and Libya’s — were shut down, but Washington now contends that Iran is a fourth case of “noncompliance,” building its uranium-enrichment plant with weapons in mind.
Treaty members recognize that rules must be tightened: U.N. nuclear inspectors must have more resources and authority to uncover cheaters; bomb-capable technology like uranium enrichment must be better controlled; members must not be able to leave the treaty, as North Korea did, with no consequences.
The Americans and French, in particular, say these noncompliance issues must top the agenda of the treaty conference, convened only once every five years.
But many delegates are demanding that the five nuclear powers’ obligations on the disarmament side be viewed as critically as the nonproliferation commitments of 183 others.
The “haves” don’t act like they will disarm anytime soon:
• Britain is studying an upgrade of its submarine-borne nuclear missiles.
• Russia boasts it is developing the world’s best new strategic weapons.
• The United States proposes “bunker busters” and other new warheads, talks of using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, and rejects the nuclear test-ban treaty.
Washington and Moscow have trimmed their arsenals considerably since the Cold War. But the U.S. plans to keep 5,000 warheads indefinitely, and the longer “indefinitely” goes on, the greater might be the urge for some — feeling threatened — to reach for the bomb.
thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/11593323.htm
http://www.thestate.com/images/common/spacer.gif
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
http://www.thestate.com/images/common/spacer.gif
The Associated Press
http://www.thestate.com/images/common/spacer.gif
“You must come to terms with all the nuclear dangers that threaten humanity.” — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
**UNITED NATIONS **— “Considering the devastation that would be visited upon mankind …” is how it begins, a 2,400-word contract some would say saved the world.
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has helped keep the lid on that threat of devastation since 1970. Without it, dozens more countries might have joined the atomic-weapons club by now.
But the heart of the contract, the deal, grows weaker year by year. Cheaters are found on the inside, nuclear bombs on the outside. And some of the “undersigned” wonder whether they were handed a raw deal.
Kofi Annan last week opened a monthlong conference on the treaty with an appeal to its 188 member nations to repair the troubled treaty regime. “You must come to terms with all the nuclear dangers that threaten humanity,” the U.N. secretary-general said.
Those dangers lie not only in the Hamgyong Mountains, where North Korea might be readying its first nuclear test blast, and outside ancient Isfahan, where a long-secret uranium-fuel plant could help Iran build a bomb. Many also see danger at the Pentagon, where planners talk of new nuclear arms.
The treaty deal is basic: Countries without the doomsday weapons forever renounce them, in exchange for a commitment by five with the weapons — the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China — to negotiate toward giving them up. The “have-nots,” meantime, are guaranteed access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In an early blow to the treaty, three nations refused to sign on. Those outsiders — Israel, India and Pakistan — now have nuclear arsenals.
Then insiders Iraq, North Korea and Libya turned out to be cheaters. Two of those programs — Iraq’s and Libya’s — were shut down, but Washington now contends that Iran is a fourth case of “noncompliance,” building its uranium-enrichment plant with weapons in mind.
Treaty members recognize that rules must be tightened: U.N. nuclear inspectors must have more resources and authority to uncover cheaters; bomb-capable technology like uranium enrichment must be better controlled; members must not be able to leave the treaty, as North Korea did, with no consequences.
The Americans and French, in particular, say these noncompliance issues must top the agenda of the treaty conference, convened only once every five years.
But many delegates are demanding that the five nuclear powers’ obligations on the disarmament side be viewed as critically as the nonproliferation commitments of 183 others.
The “haves” don’t act like they will disarm anytime soon:
• Britain is studying an upgrade of its submarine-borne nuclear missiles.
• Russia boasts it is developing the world’s best new strategic weapons.
• The United States proposes “bunker busters” and other new warheads, talks of using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, and rejects the nuclear test-ban treaty.
Washington and Moscow have trimmed their arsenals considerably since the Cold War. But the U.S. plans to keep 5,000 warheads indefinitely, and the longer “indefinitely” goes on, the greater might be the urge for some — feeling threatened — to reach for the bomb.
thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/11593323.htm