Obama unveils gist of US nuclear policy
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Fazle Rashid
AFTER signing the epoch-making deal of reducing the use of nuclear weapons with Russia, President Obama has convened a meeting of the nuclear states to be held in Washington. There was some scepticism about the success of the meeting with China threatening to skip the summit. Beijing has now decided to attend the meeting on condition that Washington would defer its decision to brand China as a currency manipulator.
President Obama has unveiled the gist of an American nuclear policy on Monday that will "substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons". Obama's policy is to take the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete and to create incentives for countries that give up nuclear ambitions, a front-page report in the New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday said in a front-page rep reported today.
President Obama said his policy will not apply to 'rogue states like Iran and North Korea'. The nuclear posture is for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organisations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China, Obama was quoted by NYT as saying. The United States is explicitly committing itself not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and are in compliance with Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty even if they attack the United States with biological and chemical weapons or launch a crippling cyberattack, the NYT said.
President Obama, however, assured the Americans that the safety and security of the country and the people will under no circumstances be compromised. He will host a summit on nuclear security to be attended by 47 world leaders. There are five declared nuclear states, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Germany is not a nuclear state. There are three states India, Pakistan and Israel who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The United Nations Security Council failed on Monday to include "Iran's nuclear programme on its agenda for April underling the likely slow road to sanctions". This was a setback for President Obama.
AFTER signing the epoch-making deal of reducing the use of nuclear weapons with Russia, President Obama has convened a meeting of the nuclear states to be held in Washington. There was some scepticism about the success of the meeting with China threatening to skip the summit. Beijing has now decided to attend the meeting on condition that Washington would defer its decision to brand China as a currency manipulator.
President Obama has unveiled the gist of an American nuclear policy on Monday that will "substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons". Obama's policy is to take the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete and to create incentives for countries that give up nuclear ambitions, a front-page report in the New York Times (NYT) on Tuesday said in a front-page rep reported today.
President Obama said his policy will not apply to 'rogue states like Iran and North Korea'. The nuclear posture is for a new age in which rogue states and terrorist organisations are greater threats than traditional powers like Russia and China, Obama was quoted by NYT as saying. The United States is explicitly committing itself not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and are in compliance with Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty even if they attack the United States with biological and chemical weapons or launch a crippling cyberattack, the NYT said.
President Obama, however, assured the Americans that the safety and security of the country and the people will under no circumstances be compromised. He will host a summit on nuclear security to be attended by 47 world leaders. There are five declared nuclear states, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Germany is not a nuclear state. There are three states India, Pakistan and Israel who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The United Nations Security Council failed on Monday to include "Iran's nuclear programme on its agenda for April underling the likely slow road to sanctions". This was a setback for President Obama.