Obama’s nuclear summit to focus on al-Qaeda and Tehran
In the wake of the recent new START Treaty signed by the United States and Russia, the summit has set an ambitious agenda, namely adopt tight guidelines to secure existing enriched uranium stocks around the world.
“The threat of nuclear war, as we used to think about it during the Cold War, has actually decreased,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. However, “the threat of nuclear terrorism has increased”.
For this reason, “We want to get the world's attention focused where we think it needs to be with these continuing efforts by al Qaeda and others to get just enough nuclear material to cause terrible havoc, destruction and loss of life somewhere in the world," she said.
Indeed, most countries have an interest in limiting the threat of nuclear terrorism, according to Steven Pifer, an expert with the Brooking Institute,
On the sidelines of the summit, US President Obama is holding bilateral talks with foreign leaders. He began yesterday by meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and South African President Jacob Zuma.
Among today’s meetings, which include the leaders of Jordan, Malaysia, Armenia and Ukraine, the most important one is with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The level of the yuan, which according to the US is being held artificially low, should be on the discussion table.
One notable absence from the summit will be that Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who will be represented instead by Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor. The Israeli leader chose to stay away out of concern that Egypt and Turkey might raise the issue of Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which the Jewish State has never officially acknowledged. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has complained that the international community has in fact ignored it.
The summit will also be an opportunity to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran (and North Korea) has not been invited to the gathering.
“At the end of the day what has to happen is the Iranian government has to decide that its own security is better served by not having nuclear weapons, than by having them,” US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said. Through “a combination of economic pressures”, “more missile defence, and cooperation in the Gulf,” the United States can “show them that any attack, we can defend against”.
US Secretary of State Clinton echoed her cabinet colleague. “Let no one be mistaken," she said. "The United States will defend ourselves and defend our partners and allies.”
For its part, Iran’s clerical regime appears ready to go ahead with its own plans. Iranian authorities announced today that the country’s first nuclear power plant will go on stream in the southern province of Bushehr next summer, IRNA reported today.
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21/09/2021 10:10
