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Action Item: India's Nuclear Testing Policy
According to an op-ed, "Just Say No," published in the October 11 edition of the NY Times,
nuclear scientists in India have recently begun pressuring the
government to resume nuclear testing. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has resisted so far, but the pressure is mounting. The
resumption of nuclear tests in India would surely incite Pakistan to
also resume testing, which is a bad idea in an already volatile region.
It is imperative to make every effort to prevent a renewed arms race between India and Pakistan. Write to Indian Prime Minister Singh
and let him know that it is unacceptable for India to
resume testing nuclear weapons and it should ratify the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
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Daisy Alliance Represented at UN Panel Events
Bruce A. Roth, founder of Daisy Alliance and author of No Time To Kill,
and Holly Lindamood, Program Director, attended a three day panel event
hosted by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament
and the Middle Powers Initiative at the United Nations. The
panels, "Advancing the UN Secretary General's Five-Point Plan on Nuclear Disarmament," "Defining Success at the NPT Review Conference," and "Strengthening Space Security,"
were held during the UN General Assembly's First Committee on
Disarmament and International Security meetings in New York, from
October 12-14, 2009.
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Opinion
Spaced Out
This month's Daisy Alliance Blog is
an opinion piece focusing on the need to negotiate a comprehensive
framework for an international space security regime to prevent the
weaponization of space. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty established
that space should be utilized for peaceful purposes only, yet U.S.
policy since the Reagan Administration has contradicted that
fundamental concept through the introduction of anti-satellite weapons,
space based missile defense interceptors, and space-based global strike
weapons. To prevent a burgeoning space-weapons race or the
buildup of other weapons as a response to U.S. policy, it is imperative
that the U.S. begin incorporating space security into the international
security dialogue.
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Featured Articles
China's Balancing Act
Jonathan
D. Pollack, Professor of Asian and Pacific Studies at the U.S. Naval
War College, confronts the challenges faced by China in dealing with
North Korea in his Yale Global Online article "China's North Korea Conundrum: How to Balance a Three-Legged Stool."
Pollack argues that China is caught in a complex web. China's
friendly relations and economic support for North Korea has not
prevented North Korea from continuing along the nuclear path.
China is coming to the conclusion that it might need to take a more
direct stand. Pollack's article addresses the balancing act China
will face in determining its future foreign policy goals towards both
North Korea and the international community.
CTBT: What Now?
In her recent International Herald Tribune Op-Ed, titled "This Time, Ban the Test,"
Jessica Tuchman Matthews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, stresses the importance of CTBT ratification this
time around. Matthews notes that the technical reasons that may
have prevented ratification in 1999 no longer exist. Verification
can almost certainly be assured through the global monitoring
system. Computers remove the need for testing to assure
reliability. Without CTBT ratification, nuclear nonproliferation
and disarmament efforts will certainly take a beating.
Cold War Relics
A recent article in the Washington Post, "Lowering Alert Levels in U.S. and Russia,"
by Walter Pincus discusses the Cold War relic of hair trigger alert
status for nuclear weapons. Pincus argues that current alert
levels are more political statements now than military necessity, and
calls on the U.S. and Russia to make lowering alert levels part of the
bilateral arms control process. Including talks on alert levels
may invigorate START renewal talks.
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