Non-Proliferation: Where was the US?

When ten nations gathered to work on nuclear non proliferation, the US was not among them.  This nation should be at the forefront of non-proliferation.  It is hypocrisy that the US makes such a stink over North Korea’s weapons development and Iran’s potential for weapons development, but ignores it in India, Pakistan, and especially Israel.

Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany and six other nations urged other countries in the international community Saturday to renew efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear material.

The goal of their initiative is to "work toward achieving nuclear disarmament and a strengthening of the international non-proliferation regime," the foreign ministers of the 10 countries said in a joint statement.

The group said it is urgent to reduce the "danger to humanity posed by the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons" and to achieve tangible results on the path toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

The production of fissile material for nuclear weapons should be banned internationally "to curb the risk of future nuclear arms races and reduce the danger of non-state actors getting such material into their hands," the ministers said.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also told journalists in Berlin that the group agrees that the international treaty banning nuclear tests should be swiftly adopted by all countries. In addition, nuclear weapon states should show greater transparency regarding their arsenal, he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd lamented that one year after the latest review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, "we have seen very little practical work done."

The treaty, which came into force in 1970, is one of the international community’s main set of rules regarding nuclear disarmament and the prevention of proliferation. There are 190 states who are party to the treaty, but four nations that are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons – India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – have not endorsed it… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

The other six nations involved are Chile, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Poland and Turkey.  Of course the knee jerk reaction is to assume that the US is standing back out of unwillingness to take on Israel, but our involvements in India and Pakistan make avoiding that hornets’ nest equally likely.