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7/5/2009 [Total Votes: 666, Hits: 604]Print

In recent years, the idea of abolishing nuclear weapons idea has been gaining support from a wider range of people, including political elites of various countries.

• The initial debate was generated by the twin articles in January 2007 and January 2008 by the veteran diplomats George P Shultz, William J Perry, Henry A Kissinger and Sam Nunn – the four of them have been in high-offices of military and diplomatic decision-making during cold war.
• This appeal gathered momentum this year with first the IAEA Director-General Dr Mohamed ElBaradei charting out his five steps towards abolishing nuclear weaponsⁱ, then the UK Prime-Minister Gordon Brownⁱⁱ and finally the US President Barak Obama in his Prague Speechⁱⁱⁱ resurrected the dream of a world without nuclear weapons.
• Mikhail Gorbachev, as somebody who signed the first treaties on real reductions in nuclear weapons, came out in support of the call by Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn. He wrote in The Wall Street Journal (January 31, 2007) : "It is becoming clearer that nuclear weapons are no longer a means of achieving security; in fact, with every passing year they make our security more precarious."^iv
• The Oslo Conference on Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, organized on March 4, 2008 in Norway was attended by a number of international experts and representatives including George Perkovich, George P. Shultz, Sam Nunn, Hans Blix, Sergio DUARTE, and the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Mohamed Al Baradei, the Secretary General of IAEA. The conference concluded with good discussion and received good media coverage.
• Global Zero – it is a campaign launched in Paris Dec. 8-9, 2008 by 100 political, military, business, faith and civic leaders from across political lines. It called for Step-by-Step Plan for phased, verified reductions to zero nuclear weapons. It was announced that a Global Zero World Summit would be convened in early 2010 bringing together hundreds of leaders. At its public launch, also released the results of their recently commissioned poll of 21 countries that shows overwhelming worldwide public support for an international agreement to eliminate all nuclear weapons.
• The Social-Democrat German ex-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, along with the county’s former President Richard von Weizsäcker and former ministers Egon Bahr and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, published and article titled “Towards a Nuclear-Free World: A German View” in International Herald Tribune, 9 January 2009. They endorsed the US President Barak Obama’s call in Berlin to overcome the Cold War mindset. Their article asserted that “Cooperation, our century's keyword, and secure stability in the northern hemisphere can become milestones on the route to a nuclear-weapon-free world.” ^v
• In a letter titled “UK does not need a nuclear deterrent” to The Times on 16 January 2009, the British army veterans Field Marshal Lord Bramall, General Lord Ramsbotham and General Sir Hugh Beach imphasised the need to de-value nuclear weapons in national security. They urged to sees nuclear weapons to be vital to the secure defence of self-respecting nations. They also underlined the fallacy of independence of nuclear deterrence in British context and appealed to abandon the Trident plan.^vi
• The article “Start worrying and learn to ditch the bomb” in The Times authored jointly by former British Foreign Secretaries Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Lord Hurd and Lord Owen along with the NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson also underlines the possibilities of talking about dramatic reduction of world’s nuclear weapons in more realistic and achievable terms. ^vii
• Similarly, the Australian Prime-Minister Kevin Rudd’s initiative of International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament after his visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum^viii, an article by distinguished Italian statesmen^ix, and the speech by the Defence minister of Norway in Pugwash Conference in Canada^x also indicate the growing support for nuclear elimination in the global ruling elite.

End Notes:

i. http://www.acronym.org.uk/docs/0902/doc03.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/17/gordon-brown-iran-nuclear-programme

iii. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/05/obama-prague-speech-on-nu_n_183219.html

iv. “The Nuclear Threat” http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/01/31_gorbachev_nuclearthreat.htm

v. “Towards a Nuclear-Free World: A German View”, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/opinion/09iht-edschmidt.1.19226604.html.

vi. “UK does not need a nuclear deterrent” , www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5525682.ece

vii. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4237387.ece?openComment=true

viii. Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister, Australia, “International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament”, Media Release, July 9, 2008. http://www.pm.gov.au/media/release/2008/media_release_0352.cfm

ix. Massimo D’Alema, Gianfranco Fini, Giorgio La Malfa, Arturo Parisi and Francesco Calogero, “For a World Free of Nuclear Weapons”, Corriere Della Sera, July 24, 2008. http://www.gsinstitute.org/pnnd/updates/20.html

x. Government of Norway, International Conference on “Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons”, Oslo, Norway, February 26-27, 2008. http://disarmament.nrpa.no/

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