A wasted chance on nuclear arms?

A wasted chance on nuclear arms?

This morning (Tuesday), members of the United Nations begin a
month of meetings on nuclear arms. Officially, it is the five-
year review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Unofficially, it is the greatest meeting ever held to discuss the
state of nuclear arms. It comes at a time of tension and some
danger. India and Pakistan are increasingly unfriendly to each
other, and to nuclear disarmament of any kind. The United States
and Russia are at technical odds over carrying out details of
their disarmament agreement known as START II.

No nation has had the temerity to test a nuclear device since
India and Pakistan tested each other's nerve. The major nuclear
powers have done all their testing in laboratories. That leaves
two serious problems for the UN conference to consider. The first
is the abject failure of the world to stop the development and
stockpiling of fissile materials -- the processed plutonium and
enriched uranium that power nuclear weapons. Diplomats call the
proposed treaty to stop stockpiling a "fissban". A cut-off treaty
is feared by China, whose nuclear arsenal is still relatively
small. India and Pakistan are completely silent, frantically
building their stores of fissile material against the day they
are legally banned from doing so.

The second is the refusal of many countries to consider
nuclear disarmament. Many non-nuclear countries -- and India --
openly threaten to discredit efforts at non-proliferation. It is
unfair to ban the ownership of nuclear weapons, such nations
claim, unless those who already own them agree to start
destroying them. In fact, nuclear weapons have been destroyed by
the hundreds by the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in recent
years. But many countries still resent the idea that the big
nuclear powers make all the rules on who can own, control and
transfer nuclear technology. Such rules, they claim, should come
under an international treaty with all nations having a say in
how it is implemented.

This is not necessarily a valid point. It is certainly
necessary for the nuclear powers to show they are willing to
dispose of their terrible weapons. And it is unrealistic for
those powerful countries to expect everyone else to follow their
rules. But it is enough that the U.S. and Russia destroy their
nuclear weapons, and when Britain and France offer to participate
in disarmament.

-- The Bangkok Post