UN: Nuclear arms conference collapses without deal

[chomskysright]

Fri 27 May 2005 | 7:26 PM ET Get your weather forecast

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-05-27T222714Z_01_N27392942_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-NUCLEAR-ARMS-DC.XML

Nuclear arms conference collapses without deal
Fri May 27, 2005 6:26 PM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After a month of bickering, the 188 signatories to the global pact against atomic weapons ended their conference on Friday with no agreement on new steps to combat the danger of a nuclear holocaust and many blamed the United States and Iran. Full Article

....""If governments simply ignore or discard commitments whenever they prove inconvenient, we will never be able to build an edifice of international cooperation and confidence in the security realm," Ambassador Paul Meyer, the head of Canada's delegation, said in a speech to the conference.

The United States has denied undermining the conference. Privately, U.S. officials blamed Iran and Egypt, who they said hijacked the block of non-aligned nations in an attempt to focus criticism on the United States and Israel.

[chomskysright]

1. talking points: Why we cannot have John Bolton:

USE THIS HOWEVER YOU SEE FIT. ADD REFERENCED ITEMS TO IT IF YOU LIKE.





1. John Bolton has never spoken kindly about the UN and his well documented bullying behavior would exacerbate what is already a no-movement situation PRINCIPALLY because the U.S., under Bush, 'wasn't willing to reaffirm disarmament commitments...." . THE UNITED STATES IS BECOMING LESS AND LESS TRUSTWORTHY AS PER THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE. Bolton would exacerbate this and move us closer to total global warfare.

May 27, 2005

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0527-07.htm http://today.reuters.com/news/default.aspx
The U.S. called for amendments to the treaty to block the development of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea, or a determination to refer those issues to the UN Security Council. Delegations led by Egypt and Iran demanded assurances of the nuclear powers that they wouldn't attack non-nuclear nations, and that they would ratify the proposed test ban treaty.
Neither side compromised and the delegates didn't adopt an agenda until May 11 or refer key issues to committees until May 19, leaving too little time for agreements.
``This appears to be the most acute failure in the treaty's history,'' Thomas Graham, a U.S. envoy to disarmament talks under Democratic U.S. President Bill Clinton told reporters at the UN yesterday. ``It comes at a time when the treaty is under heavy pressure, weaker than it has ever been because of the Iranian and North Korean situations, and will have an effect on keeping the regime going.''
Diplomats put much of the blame on the U.S., saying the Republican Bush administration wasn't willing to reaffirm disarmament commitments made at previous conferences or allow discussion of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East that would include destruction of Israel's undeclared arms. Israel, which has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, has not ratified the treaty.
Blaming the U.S.


2. HE ASSISTED IN STOPPING THE FL RECOUNT IN 2000 AND HE HAS NO RESPECT FOR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041505D.shtml#1

"I'm with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count."
Those were the words John Bolton yelled as he burst into a Tallahassee library on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000, where local election workers were recounting ballots cast in Florida's disputed presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Bolton was one of the pack of lawyers for the Republican presidential ticket who repeatedly sought to shut down recounts of the ballots from Florida counties before those counts revealed that Gore had actually won the state's electoral votes and the presidency.


item 3: BOLTON HAS REPETITIVELY OBSTRUCTED THE ABILITY OF CONGRESS TO INVESTIGATE HIS SHARING OF TOP-SECRET INFORMATION IN ORDER TO PAVE THE WAY FOR A WAR IN IRAQ:

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/
".....if Bolton did share information or revelations from the intercepts, then American national security may have been undermined by Bolton's actions.
Without the intercept material, it is very difficult to compare Bolton's base of knowledge about the people and circumstances of some target the NSA was watching and what Bolton did either publicly or privately with the information he learned. In other words, if he shared such information with the Vice President's office, or with other officials across the government, then serious violations of protocol occurred...."


ITEM 4: MODERATE REPUBLICANS HAVE WITHDRAWN THEIR SUPPORT OF BOLTON re: BOLTON'S INABILITY TO ACT IN A DIPLOMATIC MANNER, SOMETHING WHICH WOULD CONTINUE TO UNDERMINE A WORLD COMMUNITY:


George Voinovich (R-PA):
"....I have based my decision on what I think is the bigger picture. Frankly, there is a particular concern that I have about this nomination, and it involves the big picture of U.S. public diplomacy. ...what message are we sending to the world community when in the same breath we have sought to appoint an ambassador to the United Nations who himself has been accused of being arrogant, of not listening to his friends, of acting unilaterally, of bullying those who do not have the ability to properly defend themselves? These are the very characteristics that we're trying to dispel in the world community.


ITEM 5: BOLTON MISLEAD THE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: DOES THE SENATE WANT TO SUPPORT SOMEONE THAT WILL NOT TELL THEM THE TRUTH?

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/bolton.pdf
VI. MISLEADING THE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
The record before the Committee demonstrates that Under Secretary Bolton did not live up to his reputation as a "straight-talker" during his testimony to the Committee. He made several statements to the Committee that were contradicted by others, at odds with available evidence, and may be fairly described as misleading, disingenuous or non-responsive


ITEM 6: BOLTON'S APPOINTMENT WILL 'FINISH OFF' THE MASSIVE EXODUS OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.

Ray McGovern spent 27 years as a CIA analyst, during which he chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared and briefed to senior White House officials the President's Daily Brief.

After Gates was confirmed, many bright analysts who scored high on integrity quit rather than take part in cooking "intelligence-to-go."

The 'kiss up/ kick down' intelligence people were the ones left as the ones with integrity left back in 2002. To confirm Bolton, is to create another wave of such leavings, stranding us with people who will not give us the truth but who will look over their shoulder to see who is telling them to do what. IS A BUNCH OF LIARS AND MANIPULATORS WHAT THE SENATE WANTS IN OUR INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY??

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052505A.shtml

[mom cat]

4. Excellent talking points. Thank you very very much.

:bounce::applause::bounce:

[wtmusic]

2. This is big

Here we go. All the hard work put in on nuclear disarmament treaties over the years: right out the window.

The world just became a lot more dangerous. :scared:

[sintax]

3. US has undermined virtually all international treaties

or ignored them if they became inconvenient.

-US opposed the Land Mine treaty

-US opposed and opted out of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

-US scrapped the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

-US opposed a Ban on Weapons in Space

-US opted out of the Biosafety Protocol

-US demands blanket exemption in the International Criminal Court

-US voted against the Child Welfare Rights Accord

-US opposed Sustainability Conference

-US opposed even a weakened Kyoto Protocol

-US Walked out of the Racism Conference in Durban South Africa

-US was the sole opposition to the International Right to Food Declaration

-US is the Worlds Largest Arms Exporter