US, Russia must work to halt nuclear proliferation: Obama
US: US President Barack Obama said Monday the United States and
Russia should lead the way in preventing nuclear proliferation by
restarting negotiations to cut their atomic arsenals.
“I think it’s important for the United States and Russia to lead the
way on this,” Obama told his first news conference.
He added that he has told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “it is
important for us to restart the conversations about how we can start
reducing our nuclear arsenals.”
With such a push, he said, “we then have the standing to go to other
countries and start stitching back together the non-proliferation
treaties that, frankly, have been weakened over the last several years.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her Senate confirmation
hearing on January 13 that the new administration would renegotiate the
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) expiring December 31.
Clinton said the new administration “will have a very strong
commitment to START treaty negotiations” which made little progress
under George W. Bush’s outgoing team.
State Department negotiators said there was no breakthrough in talks
in Moscow in December for a follow-on agreement to replace START-1.
They said a proposal on START from the previous administration
focused on limiting nuclear warheads, but Russia wanted to open up the
negotiations to limits on conventional forces and US plans for a missile
shield in eastern Europe.
Clinton also pledged to bolster the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
(NPT) that the Bush administration has been accused of neglecting.
Obama raised the issue of proliferation after he declined to
speculate when asked if he knew of a country in the Middle East which
has nuclear weapons.
“What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region
as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger,” he said.
Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear power in the Middle
East, with around 200 nuclear warheads, but has a policy of neither
confirming nor denying that.
The Jewish state has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty or allow international surveillance of Dimona nuclear plant, in
the southern Negev desert.
The United States, Israel and European allies fear Iran is building a
nuclear bomb under the cover of a uranium enrichment program. Iran
insists its program is peaceful. Analysts fear a nuclear arms race in
the region if Iran produces a bomb.
Washington, Tuesday, AFP
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