7
Prime Minister of Great Britain, and I note that thecurrent Defense Minister and the Foreign Ministerin the predecessor government made similar com-ments. In a speech given in New Delhi on Jan. 21,2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared:
And let me say today: Britain is prepared
to use our expertise to help determinethe requirements for the veriableelimination of nuclear warheads. And
I pledge that in the run-up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in
2010 we will be at the forefront of the
international campaign to accelerate dis-armament amongst possessor states, to
prevent proliferation to new states, and
to ultimately achieve a world that is freer
from nuclear weapons.
I also attach great importance to a speech before
the Plenary Session of the Conference on Disar-
mament in Geneva on February 12, 2008, by Rus-
sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Referring to
our essays, he said that we “argued in a convincing
manner in favor of the need to continue nuclear
disarmament,” and he noted that these ideas are“in line with Russia’s initiatives, though there are,
of course, aspects that call for further discussion
in seeking agreement on specic ways of resolvingthese not-that-simple tasks.”And now on his newly established White Houseweb site, President Obama has posted this state-ment:
Obama and Biden will set a goal of aworld without nuclear weapons, and
pursue it. Obama and Biden will always
maintain a strong deterrent as long as
nuclear weapons exist. But they willtake several steps down the long roadtoward eliminating nuclear weapons.
They will stop the development of new
nuclear weapons; work with Russia to
take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles
off hair-trigger alert; seek dramatic reduc-
tions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set
a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban
on intermediate-range missiles so that
the agreement is global.
Finally, there’s the problem of timing. How doyou know when the moment has arrived to make a
push? Once a process is started and gains support,
I believe, momentum will be built. That is alreadyhappening. I believe also that success in such anundertaking will have highly desirable side conse-quences. People throughout the world will heave a
sigh of relief. They will be able to say to themselves,
from A to nearby B, you can solve the problem. Bycontrast, if someone asks you to create a construc-
tion site free of accidents, you can put up guardrails
and other safety devices, but the minute you thinkthe problem is solved, you’ve lost. The issue is allabout attitudes. You have to realize that the prob-
lem is not soluble but needs constant attention and
work. Only then do you have a way to minimize ormaybe even eliminate accidents.
Two Kinds of Problems
Some of the most intractable international issuesare like the second class of problems. Palestinians
and Israelis claim the same land and so play a zero-
sum game. Anyone can write down a solution on
paper, but the answer goes deeper. You have to work
at the problem all the time and be willing to take onpossibilities, not just probabilities. Constant atten-tion can keep the situation from deteriorating and,eventually, an accommodation might emerge, as in
Northern Ireland. When considering our work on
any problem, especially those presented by nuclearweapons, we should ask: Are these rules being ap-plied and, if not, why not? To paraphrase PresidentTeddy Roosevelt, even if you have a big stick, speaksoftly, rmly, and in a manner that will be sustainedby the evolving facts. And remember that surprisesalways lie down the road, especially for those whoare complacent.
The third guidepost is developing support in key
and powerful constituencies in country after coun-try. Obviously, in the end, heads of government are
the essential leaders in this effort. In the HooverInstitution-Nuclear Threat Initiative approach, we
have endeavored to cast the issue as
non-
partisanrather than bipartisan. We realize there are plentyof issues to argue about, but we urge that they bediscussed on their merits without getting mired inpartisan divides. I am glad to say, for example, that
three-fourths of the former Secretaries of State, Sec-
retaries of Defense, and National Security Advisers
alive today, Democrats and Republicans, support
our efforts as outlined in
The
Wall Street Journal
es-
says. I am glad to add that even those who have not
signed on to the ultimate goal of a nuclear-weapons-free world agree that many of the steps are desirable.I am heartened by the positions taken recently by the
Practical steps toward the goal of aworld without nuclear weapons havebeen identied. Attainment of the goal isa real possibility.
Add a Comment