The fireworks at the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) conference in New York started late on Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, the atmosphere, which had in previous days been calm, felt like last July, when the last negotiating conference collapsed into failure. The fun began with an intervention on Wednesday by …
As the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) conference moved through its third day, the isolation of the United States became ever clearer. The U.S. position is that the current text of the treaty, negotiated last July, needs to be better drafted but should not be substantially changed. Yesterday, it became …
One of the most discussed issues at the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) conference is whether ammunition should be fully included in the scope of the treaty. Predictably, opinion at the conference is strongly (though not universally) in favor of full inclusion. This mistake illustrates the broader fallacies of the …
The morning’s discussion at the U.N. on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) brought into focus one of the underlying tensions among the nations negotiating the treaty. While the holier-than-thou contingent wants to use it as a way to restrain oppressive governments, the autocracies view it as a way to prevent …
On Friday afternoon—the traditional time to issue unpopular statements—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signaled the conditional commitment of the U.S. to the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The conditions were as important as the commitment: According to Kerry, the U.S. wants a “strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty” that …
A powerful group of Senators and Representatives came together on Wednesday to introduce a concurrent resolution expressing concerns with the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). This effort was led by Senator Jerry Moran (R–KS) and Representative Mike Kelly (R–PA), who united 28 colleagues in the Senate and 121 in the …