Greenpeace volunteers
project peace messages on to the bow of the
USS Blue Ridge, command ship of the US 7th
Fleet.
27/05/2005 — All the kings horses and all
the kings men failed to reach agreement on
reducing nuclear arms at the conclusion of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
Review Conference in New York. Now it's up
to you and me.
“Governments attending the four week conference
have failed to seize the opportunity of reducing
the nuclear threat, putting their own nuclear
self-interests before the desire for disarmament,”
said Greenpeace International’s Disarmament
specialist William Peden at the conference.
“This meeting needed to strengthen the treaty
and send a strong signal on disarmament and
on proliferation of nuclear weapons,” Peden
said. “It has failed to do that and as a result
the world is a far more dangerous place.”
The spectre of nuclear weapons in North Korea
and Israel, US intransigence on disarmament
and its imminent threat of a return to nuclear
testing, controversy over Iran, and concerns
over nuclear weapons usable plutonium production
programs in Japan and other countries reprocessing
all played a part in the collective failure
of the conference.
“The conference gridlock only emphasises
the need to bolster the disarmament side of
the process,” Peden said. “Unless and until
we get rid of all nuclear weapons, other countries
are going to want them – and that’s the destructive
dynamic we are witnessing.”
So what's next? Heads of state attending
the UN Millennium Review Summit in September
need to act on the challenge laid down by
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his opening
speech to the conference, to take disarmament
seriously.
The proposal by German Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer to remove US nuclear weapons from
Germany was a major positive to emerge from
the conference, and we think all European
countries that host US nuclear weapons should
follow suit.
Let's start with Turkey, which has 90 nuclear
weapons. Bordering on Iran, Iraq, Syria, and
Russia, the nuclear weapons there pose a real
risk to regional security, and ought to be
removed. 72 percent of the Turkish people
want Turkey to be nuclear-free. Why not send
a note to the Prime Minister asking him to
follow the will of his people? We've written
the letter for you, all you need to do is
fill in your name and address and click send.
And with the push of button, you're a peace
activist. Try it now!
Stand up for peace!
