In a “no news is news” story, The Washington Post reports that, in spite of nominal support from President Obama in April 2009, neither Senate Democrats nor the White House is enthusiastic about seeking ratification of the CIFTA treaty. That is good news. CIFTA is the Spanish acronym for the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. Negotiated under the auspices of the Organization of American States, it was signed by President Clinton in 1997, but it has not yet …
As the U.N. General Assembly meets this week, arms control and disarmament are likely to be hot topics on the agenda. It is important for the United States not to pursue any means of multilateralism that would damage U.S. national interests, including any agreement to reduce arms. The Obama Administration should not cede any authority to an intensely bureaucratic forum that seeks to limit U.S. capabilities. In his chapter in ConUNdrum, Heritage Senior Research Fellow Baker Spring, argues that any effort to disarm the United States constrains America’s ability to …
Those following the debate over the New START treaty inked by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in April know that both governments dispute what it means. Russia says it’ll impose real restrictions on U.S. missile defenses. U.S. officials brush off those claims. The dispute centers on language in the preamble linking strategic offensive and defensive weapons and claiming such linkage “will become more important as strategic nuclear arms are reduced.” Treaty supporters in the U.S. say this language is merely rhetorical; it won’t restrict our ability to defend against missiles from …
It’s no secret that President Obama has a great interest in nuclear arms control. In Prague last year, the President said, “So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” President Obama chaired a session of the United Nations Security Council last September to shepherd to approval a resolution aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons. As for curbing nuclear proliferation and overseeing disarmament efforts, the President’s recently concluded Nuclear Security Summit relies heavily on voluntary …
The New START Treaty, which was signed on April 8th, 2010, in Prague, is being heralded by the Obama Administration as a major national security accomplishment. However, it is coming under close scrutiny and criticism by the leading US experts. This is not surprising as the document raises grave concerns – either directly in the text of the treaty or through implicit linkages and deals that were made during negotiations. Such concerns have prompted some U.S. senators to consider requesting the negotiating record of the treaty and the supporting documents …
Ambassador John Bolton’s encyclopedic knowledge of the history of arms control deserves the respect of all senators, who in all likelihood will be asked to consider granting consent to the ratification of the NEW START arms control agreement with Russia later this year. By paying close attention to the details of this long and complex arms control treaty with Russia for reducing strategic nuclear launchers, delivery systems and warheads, Bolton is raising very important and disturbing questions about NEW START and its negative implications for U.S. national security in a …
On January 12th William Hartung posted a criticism of Ariel Cohen’s January 8th New York Times op-ed on the START follow-on treaty. Instead of a substantive response, Hartung has created a straw man, proceeds to valiantly demolish it, and in the process twists our op-ed. Hartung charges us with being misleading and alarmist. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our main concern is that the START follow on treaty may not adequately address nuclear modernization, verification, and will link the performance of the treaty to limitations on missile defense. …
On October 30, the United States voted with the majority in the General Assembly to support U.N.-sponsored negotiations to regulate the conventional arms trade. The vote was 153-1, with the pariah state of Zimbabwe the lone hold out. More significantly, some of the world’s more ethically challenged arms traders – the states of China, Russia, Iran, Syria, India, Pakistan, and Cuba – abstained in the vote. U.S. support for the negotiations reversed the policy of the Bush Administration, but the U.S. agreed to participate only if the negotiations were conducted …
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. would seek a “strong international standard” in the control of the conventional arms trade by “seizing the opportunity presented by the Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations.” But the participation comes with a caveat: the U.S. will actively support negotiations only if the conference “operates under the rule of consensus decision-making needed to ensure that all countries can be held to standards that will actually improve the global situation.” As we have noted before, the …
