Obama’s nuclear summit is so EPIC
This is cross-posted from New Era News, where I posted it originally, but I figure why not put it in my juice box as well. giggles.
I’m not one to get super-pumped about international relations, treaties, and agreements. I like drama and gossip, and tend to start snoring once anyone gets into details of international anything (yes, I understand this makes me a “typical” American).
The new exception to my boredom is President Obama’s Nuclear Summit, which unofficially began when he and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia signed the new START Treaty (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). When I first heard of the signing of the treaty, I was super excited because continuing to reduce the amount of nuclear weapons in the world is not just good policy, but acknowledges that the nuclear threat no longer exists from established states (with Iran and North Korea being possible exceptions), but from non-state actors, like al Qaeda, getting ahold of loose nuclear material, or material not disposed of properly.
So, why does this matter to any of us????
1. The signing of the START treaty (if ratified by both Russia and the US) will get rid of 1/3 of the stockpiles of nuclear weapons each of these nations have. So, both nations will still be able to blow up the earth 7 or more times, but it is a step in the right direction.
2. Ukraine has agreed to transfer to non-weapon grade uranium to create energy and dispose of their weapon grade uranium by 2012, in a way that is supervised by the US (meaning that it is much less likely to get disposed of incorrectly or smuggled onto the black market). This is a very good example of how countries who do not have weapons, but do use nuclear energy, can help reduce the risk of nuclear material getting into the wrong hands.
3. A summit of 47 world leaders is very, very rare, and a huge departure from the previous administration’s practices of seemingly splitting everyone into friends and non-friends. It’s nice to see a presidential administration take on an issue as huge as nuclear proliferation and encourage everyone to sit at the table and build solutions and make agreements. Big things like this make me happy (call me a nerd).
4. This summit has led to the Chinese agreeing to put pressure on Iran to not develop nukes, which is HUGE.
5. This is another example of Obama using diplomacy instead of threats, or cowboy posturing, to actually solve complicated world problems, and make the US and world safer from a nuclear attack. Experts agree that unregulated nuclear material will result in a nuclear terrorist attack at some point, which puts not only the US, but almost every nation, at risk. Agreeing to do things responsibly, with oversight, helps reduce the risk of a nuclear terrorist attack.
I find this summit SO EPIC. It is a huge step forward for the US in terms of diplomacy, as well as for the world in terms of being safer from nuclear attack.
