Vladimir Kozin: 6 Obstacles to Nuclear Zero
[Vladimir Kozin is chief of the foreign journalists’ accreditation section of the Foreign Ministry’s press center. The opinions reflected in this comment are his own.]
Sixty-five years ago, on July 16, 1945, in the desert outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first nuclear device was tested. This marked the beginning of the nuclear age.
After that, it didn’t take long for leading scientists and world leaders to start lobbying for a nuclear-free world.
As far back as June 1946 — three years before the Soviet Union became a nuclear power — Moscow proposed to Washington that all nuclear weapons be destroyed by September of that year. The proposal was rejected.
Addressing the United Nations in September 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union liquidate all of their nuclear weapons.
Then, in 1986, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed a phased plan requiring all seven nuclear states to eliminate their arsenals by 2000.
Since then, there have been a host of nongovernmental organizations and politicians who have called for freeing our planet from nuclear weapons. Global Zero, which was initiated in December 2008, has proposed a four-phased program for a nuclear-free world by 2030. More than 20 current and former heads of state, including Gorbachev, are signatories to the Global Zero initiative. In addition, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, Federation Council Senator Mikhail Margelov and former Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have signed the initiative.
Unfortunately, there are six obstacles that, if left unresolved, will prevent the vision of a nuclear-free world from becoming a reality...
Read entire article at Moscow Times
Sixty-five years ago, on July 16, 1945, in the desert outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first nuclear device was tested. This marked the beginning of the nuclear age.
After that, it didn’t take long for leading scientists and world leaders to start lobbying for a nuclear-free world.
As far back as June 1946 — three years before the Soviet Union became a nuclear power — Moscow proposed to Washington that all nuclear weapons be destroyed by September of that year. The proposal was rejected.
Addressing the United Nations in September 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union liquidate all of their nuclear weapons.
Then, in 1986, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed a phased plan requiring all seven nuclear states to eliminate their arsenals by 2000.
Since then, there have been a host of nongovernmental organizations and politicians who have called for freeing our planet from nuclear weapons. Global Zero, which was initiated in December 2008, has proposed a four-phased program for a nuclear-free world by 2030. More than 20 current and former heads of state, including Gorbachev, are signatories to the Global Zero initiative. In addition, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, Federation Council Senator Mikhail Margelov and former Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have signed the initiative.
Unfortunately, there are six obstacles that, if left unresolved, will prevent the vision of a nuclear-free world from becoming a reality...