UN Conference on Nuclear Nonproliferation Ends in Failure

[onedomino]

Nuclear Treaty Review Ends in Failure, Envoy Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=azMWDArmAfY4&refer=asia#

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- A United Nations review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty ended in failure today, according to a Japanese delegate who said no agreement was reached on new steps toward disarmament or measures to block nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

“We lost an opportunity to send out important messages on issues such as North Korea, Iran and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,'' Japanese envoy Mine Yoshiki told reporters at the UN. “Some countries put the emphasis on nonproliferation, some on disarmament, and we could not get any agreement.''

None of the three committees created to deal with the issues of disarmament, proliferation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy and terms of withdrawal from the treaty presented a substantive report. Brazilian diplomat Sergio Duarte, president of the conference, told reporters there would be no outcome document because “very little has been accomplished.''

The conference, a once-every-five-year review of the 1970 treaty, began on May 2 with Secretary-General Kofi Annan telling delegates that “the consequences of failure are too great to aim for anything less'' than new measures to block proliferation of nuclear weapons and reduce the number of existing arms.

Missed Opportunity

Annan, who is in Sudan, “very much regrets'' that the conference ended “without substantive agreement,'' according to a statement released in New York today. Annan said delegates “missed an opportunity to strengthen our security against the many nuclear threats.'' (There's an authoritive voice on disarmament!)

The U.S. called for amendments to the treaty to block the development of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea, or a determination to refer those issues to the UN Security Council. Delegations led by Egypt and Iran demanded assurances of the nuclear powers that they wouldn't attack non-nuclear nations, and that they would ratify the proposed test ban treaty.
Neither side compromised and the delegates didn't adopt an agenda until May 11 or refer key issues to committees until May 19, leaving too little time for agreements.

“Acute Failure”

“This appears to be the most acute failure in the treaty's history,'' Thomas Graham, a U.S. envoy to disarmament talks under Democratic U.S. President Bill Clinton told reporters at the UN yesterday. “It comes at a time when the treaty is under heavy pressure, weaker than it has ever been because of the Iranian and North Korean situations, and will have an effect on keeping the regime going.''

Diplomats put much of the blame on the U.S., saying the Republican Bush administration wasn't willing to reaffirm disarmament commitments made at previous conferences or allow discussion of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East that would include destruction of Israel's undeclared arms. Israel, which has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, has not ratified the treaty. (Why would America agree to disarmament when hostile states such as North Korea and Mullahstan are developing nuclear weapons? Why would America agree to a Middle East free zone, meaning Israel would have to disarm, when that state is surrounded by hostile governments and Iran, which is developing nukes has vowed to destroy Israel?)

“You need to compromise, show recognition for the key priorities of other states,'' Paul Meyer, head of Canada's delegation, said in an interview. “The positions of the vast majority of states have to be acknowledged, but we did not get that kind of diplomacy from the U.S.'' (It would have been surprising if America was not criticized by the Liberal Government in Canada.)

Conference Sabotaged

Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to the UN, said Egypt and Iran sabotaged the conference by blocking agreement on an agenda until May 11. He said the U.S. wanted to use the “precious'' remaining time to deal with the emerging problems of Iran and North Korea rather than discussing past disarmament commitments.

North Korea, which has said it has nuclear weapons, withdrew from the treaty in 2003 and didn't attend the conference. U.S. officials met North Korean representatives at the UN on May 13, the first such meeting in six months, amid efforts to convince the communist country to restart talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear weapons that include the U.S., Japan, China, South Korea and Russia.

Iran agreed last November to suspend its enrichment of uranium, a program the U.S. believes is meant to produce nuclear weapons, during talks with the U.K., Germany and France. Iran said after a May 25 meeting with European nations, known as the EU-3, that it would continue the suspension while they prepare a “detailed proposal'' to end the crisis.

North Korea, Iran

Jackie Sanders, U.S. envoy to the conference, told delegates today that any agreement “must include the permanent cessation of Iran's enrichment-related and reprocessing efforts, as well as its dismantlement of equipment and facilities related to such activity.'' She said North Korea must agree the “complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement'' of its nuclear programs.

Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the UN, told delegates the U.S. has violated the treaty by building new nuclear weapons systems, refusing to sign the test ban treaty, planning to attack non-nuclear nations and signing a nuclear cooperation agreement with Israel.

“The extremist attitude reflected in these documents and practices seem to indicate that no lessons have been learned form the nightmares of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,'' Zarif said. (Iranians should know about nightmares. Their country is the modern poster boy for theocratic nightmares.) If history is any guide, nuclear arms are in the most dangerous hands.''

Iran is “committed to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and nonproliferation regime, and will spare no effort in that regard,'' Zarif said. (An unmitigated lie.)

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[kancer43]

it's pretty messed up...



TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was getting ready to resume some uranium enrichment-related work, despite warnings from Washington and the European Union that doing so would see its nuclear case sent to the U.N. Security Council.

Iran, which insists its atomic ambitions are peaceful, is threatening to re-start uranium processing but has promised to maintain its freeze on actual uranium enrichment, a process which can be used to make bomb-grade fuel.

"We have decided to resume part of our activities in Isfahan," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, referring to the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility in central Iran.

"We have still not decided which activities (will be resumed) and when ... We are at a decision-making stage and whether we reach an agreement (with the EU) or not we will do this," he told a weekly news conference.

Britain, Germany and France, who are leading the EU's nuclear negotiations with Iran, say a resumption of uranium processing work at Isfahan would violate an agreement struck by the two sides in Paris in November.

Under that agreement, Iran committed to freezing all nuclear fuel manufacture and reprocessing as long as it remained in talks with the EU trio.

Iran has said it has not broken off the talks with the EU, but is unhappy with the pace of the negotiations and does not believe it is breaking the Paris agreement.

"Our decision to resume part of our activities in Isfahan is fully compatible with the essence of the Paris agreement," Asefi said.

Should Iran start up uranium processing work at Isfahan it would put the EU under heightened pressure from Washington to back its calls for Iran's case to be sent to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

The EU trio has said it would support U.S. calls for Security Council action if Iran resumes enrichment.

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