Blix Says U.S. Impedes Efforts to Curb A-Arms

[cal04]

Hans Blix, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, said today that American unwillingness to cooperate in international arms agreements was undermining the effectiveness of efforts to curb nuclear weapons. Saying it was essential that Washington act to end the stagnation of arms limitation, Mr. Blix said: "If it takes the lead, the world is likely to follow. If it does not take the lead, there could be more nuclear tests and new nuclear arms races."

Mr. Blix, who left his arms inspection post in 2003 shortly after the invasion of Iraq, made his comments in the introduction to a 225-page report by a Swedish-financed international commission, delivered today to the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. The panel, with Mr. Blix as chairman and members from more than a dozen countries, listed 60 recommendations for nuclear disarmament.

It concluded that treaty-based disarmament was being set back by "an increased U.S. skepticism regarding the effectiveness of international institutions and instruments, coupled with a drive for freedom of action to maintain an absolute global superiority in weaponry and means of their delivery."

Mr. Blix, 77, a Swedish constitutional lawyer and the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981 to 1997, was disparaged by the Bush administration for failing to turn up weapons of mass destruction during the three years he headed up the United Nations inspection team in Iraq.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/world/01cnd-nations.html?hp&ex=1149220800&en=f00c6fc3fdff80ff&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Barrett808]

1. I'd say blowing Brewster Jennings qualifies as "impeding" arms control

This may be the biggest reason to impeach.

[Stockholm]

2. More information

The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commissions website:

http://www.wmdcommission.org/

The full report:

http://www.wmdcommission.org/files/Weapons_of_Terror.pdf (227 pages)

Listen to Dr. Blix comment the report:

mms://qstream-wm.qbrick.com/05088/DrHansBlix.wmv

[CHIMO]

3. Blix condemns 'militaristic' US

A former UN weapons inspector has urged Iran and Israel to end their nuclear activities and criticised the US for seeking militaristic remedies to disagreements.

The recommendation was one of 60 put forward in a report prepared by the 14-member Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, an initiative of the Swedish government set up in 2003.

"If it takes the lead, the world is likely to follow. If it does not take the lead, there could be more nuclear tests and new nuclear arms races," Blix said in the introduction to the report.

Yet Blix said that the US had "looked more to its own military power for remedies" instead of strengthening international treaties and institutions.

The report also rejected the argument that nuclear weapons were dangerous only in the hands of "rogue states".

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E5BCA4FA-4360-492C-BDC6-DD99F0A02E7D.htm

[burrowowl]

4. Outing Plame

and refusing to abide by international treaties, the U$ is a rogue nation.

[EFerrari]

5. So Does David Albright. Over the Swiss Khan probe:

Thursday, June 01, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version

US frustrates Swiss nuclear smuggling probe

Daily Times Monitor

A Swiss investigation into an international nuclear smuggling network is being hampered by a lack of cooperation from the United States, according to a report by website Swissinfo.

Authorities in Bern say they asked US officials for judicial assistance a year ago but have yet to receive a reply. Washington’s failure to respond to “multiple” Swiss appeals was revealed last week by former Un weapons inspector David Albright, says the report.

He told a US hearing into the “nuclear trafficking ring run by Dr Qadeer Khan” that he found the lack of cooperation by the US “frankly embarrassing”. “It is difficult to understand the actions of the US government. Its lack of assistance needlessly complicates this important investigation,” said Albright, who is president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.

The Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it still expected a response to its requests for assistance. “We are confident we will get an answer because it is in the best interests of Switzerland and the US that the criminal investigation led by the Swiss authorities in nuclear proliferation can be carried out successfully,” spokesman Hansjürg Mark Wiedmer told Swissinfo.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5c06%5c01%5cstory_1-6-2006_pg7_2

[struggle4progress]

6. Study Wants Nuclear Weapons Outlawed

By EDITH M. LEDERER , 06.01.2006, 05:41 PM

A study led by former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix called Thursday for outlawing nuclear weapons and reviving global cooperation on disarmament including security guarantees to curb the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

As long as any nuclear, chemical and biological arms remain in any country's arsenal, "there is a high risk that they will one day be used by design or accident," the two-year probe by the independent Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission concluded.

Despite the end of the Cold War the stocks of such weapons remain "extraordinarily high" including 27,000 nuclear weapons, about 12,000 of them still actively deployed, the commission said, making 60 recommendations to free the world from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

At a news conference launching the 227-page report entitled "Weapons of Terror," Blix stressed that "the first line of defense against the spread of nuclear weapons is indeed to make states feel that they don't need them" - which must be rooted in foreign policy not military action ...

http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/ap/2006/06/01/ap2788273.html

Oooh! Little Johnny Bolton ain't gonna be happy with Hans, since Johnny's whole mission is to destroy international cooperation on stuff like this ...

[Vidar]

7. Thank you again Mr. Blix