Obama to call for elimination of all nuclear weapons

[DavidS]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090404/pl_nm/us_obama_europe

PRAGUE (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will call for the elimination of all nuclear weapons across the globe, in remarks on Sunday he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.


Visiting Prague during an eight-day visit to Europe, Obama plans to deliver what his aides have billed as a major speech on weapons proliferation.
Obama, who is making his debut on the world stage, said in Strasbourg, France on Friday that he would lay out an agenda to secure the world's loose nuclear materials and halt the spread of illicit weapons.


He added that he wanted to offer an agenda "to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons."


"Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," Obama said.


Obama, a former U.S. senator who succeeded President George W. Bush in January, has long shown interest in the issue of halting weapons proliferation and wants to make it a signature foreign policy issue for his new administration.


"The president has been very focused on these issues of proliferation for many years," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough told reporters.

 

[xsited1]

he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.

Keep dreaming Mr. Obama!

 

[DavidS]

he hopes will lend credibility to his message in atomic disputes with Iran and North Korea.

Keep dreaming Mr. Obama!

This is very naive of him. Ambitious, but naive.

 

[Sherry]

Yeah right, and who will volunteer to go first?? Will it be China, or Russia, or Israel, or how about.....nobody in their right fucking mind is that naive to believe we'll all start shitting rainbows and kittens.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

!!! Wow! That's awesome. Finally something to like about Obama!

= )

 

[KittenKoder]

It's a pipe dream, a good one, but highly unrealistic and impossible to pull off.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

What do you mean by that? All we need is a couple of idiots with a PhD and a screwdriver. How tough can it possible be?

 

[WorldAHope]

It's a pipe dream, a good one, but highly unrealistic and impossible to pull off.

So is everything, until it is attempted. Light bulbs, powered flight, vaccines, and Columbus sailing across the uncharted ocean to find the New World. And every baby born.
Thank God this country has people who are able to imagine the important good things that can and SHOULD be accomplished, and then have the guts and smarts and drive to make an effort.

Were the "NO" people of any influence over human events, we'd still be in the dark ages.
We aren't because they aren't. And never will be.

A World Without Nuclear Weapons: The International Dimension: Events: U.S. Institute of Peace

Ronald Reagan: A Nuclear Abolitionist
By David Krieger

With the USS Ronald Reagan in Santa Barbara, it is worth reflecting on Ronald Reagan’s legacy with regard to nuclear weapons. According to his wife, Nancy, “Ronnie had many hopes for the future, and none were more important to America and to mankind than the effort to create a world free of nuclear weapons.”

President Reagan was a nuclear abolitionist. He believed that the only reason to have nuclear weapons was to prevent the then Soviet Union from using theirs. Understanding this, he argued in his 1984 State of the Union Address, “A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with them entirely?”

Ronald Reagan regarded nuclear weapons, according to Nancy, as “totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization.”

In 1986, President Reagan and Secretary General Gorbachev met for a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. In a remarkable quirk of history, the two men shared a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. Despite the concerns of their aides, they came close to achieving agreement on this most important of issues. The sticking point was that President Reagan saw his Strategic Defense Initiative (missile defenses) as being essential to the plan, and Gorbachev couldn’t accept this (even though Reagan promised to share the US missile defense system with the then Soviet Union). Gorbachev wanted missile defense development to be restricted to the laboratory for ten years. Reagan couldn’t accept this.

The two leaders came heartbreakingly close to ending the era of nuclear weapons, but in the end they couldn’t achieve their mutual goal. As a result, nuclear weapons have proliferated and remain a danger to all humanity. Today, we face the threat of terrorists gaining possession of nuclear weapons, and wreaking massive destruction on the cities of powerful nations. There can be no doubt that had Reagan and Gorbachev succeeded, the US and the world would be much safer, and these men would be remembered above all else for this achievement.

 

[dilloduck]

He should go for world peace too and he could win the Miss America Pagent.

 

[DavidS]

Well, those who feared he was going after your guns might be a little off the mark. He's going for ALL your weapons!

 

[Sherry]

That's it. I'm going to take a martial arts class so I can go kung fu on his ass. He can't take that away from me.

 

[KittenKoder]

That's it. I'm going to take a martial arts class so I can go kung fu on his ass. He can't take that away from me.

Don't give them any ideas ...

 

[DavidS]

That's it. I'm going to take a martial arts class so I can go kung fu on his ass. He can't take that away from me.

Meanwhile the secret service will have you bent in a hundred different positions, and break a few of your bones while doing it. Can you please leave the threats against Obama in the Hannity forums? He's the fucking President of the United States of America for crying out loud.

 

[Sherry]

That's it. I'm going to take a martial arts class so I can go kung fu on his ass. He can't take that away from me.

Meanwhile the secret service will have you bent in a hundred different positions, and break a few of your bones while doing it. Can you please leave the threats against Obama in the Hannity forums? He's the fucking President of the United States of America for crying out loud.

I haven't checked out the Hannity forums, but maybe I should. So now you support government sanctioned torture?? Even though you asked nicely, I'll continue to be a smartass. Hope you don't mind, but tough shit if you do.

 

[garyd]

David this has about as much chance of actually occurring as you do of spitting directly on the surface of the moon. It's just more leftist form over substance crap that the people on the inside throw out occassionally to make idiots like you feel all warm and fuzzy.

 

[auditor0007]

Yea, the whole world will listen to Obama. We'll all get rid of our nukes except for N. Korea and Iran.

 

[Toro]

When did Jimmy Carter become a black man?

 

[Midnight Marauder]

You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. This is mindless peacenick pandering, there's no "ambition" anywhere in it... Unless he takes it to the level of "us first" then it's ambition, and annihilation.

Noble though the thought might be.

 

[elvis]

When did Jimmy Carter become a black man?

Good question.

 

[WorldAHope]

You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. This is mindless peacenick pandering, there's no "ambition" anywhere in it... Unless he takes it to the level of "us first" then it's ambition, and annihilation.

Noble though the thought might be.

Say what you want, but cutting back on teh excessive arsenal of nuclear weaponry would reduce the number of missiles pointed around the world, and would also reduce military budgets by tens and maybe hundreds of billions each year, and free up a lot of personnel for other duties. Not this year, but when a drawdown commences. We have so many nukes, we could reduce by half and still outnumber the rest of the wordl.
Trick is, do the reduction so that no terrorists or blackmarketeers get their hands on any fissionable or radioactive material.
THAT is the real danger.

Nuclear weapons are not covered under the 2nd Amendment. Reducing their numbers will not reduce anyone's security. They keep nobody safe.
We can accomplish more with one bullet to Kim Jong Il's head and each of his whacked out subordinates than we can with a trillon dollars in nukes.

Until that day, we will keep subs off the coast of Korea, in the Sea of Japan ready to launch Seals or missiles.