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Ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – the start of a peace race

This article on website    http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/starting-a-peace-race-with-the/page-3/#ixzz1k84rR2Am  contains archival viewing of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy

Starting a Peace Race with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,  William Lambers — BC Culture, 20 Jan 12, We need to challenge all these countries. But not to an arms race; rather to what President Kennedy called a “peace race.” This is our best hope for unifying the world in eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons and lifting this burden off all peoples.

This unity must first begin at home between Democrats and Republicans. A starting point should be ratifying a pact eliminating all nuclear weapons testing, finally finishing a job started long ago by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy…..  But decades later, what Ike and Kennedy started is not yet finished. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) still needs to be ratified.

This treaty goes a step further than the limited one of 1963 and bans all nuclear test explosions, including underground. The United States and seven other nations have yet to approve this treaty for it to take effect. Russia has already ratified it.
The U.S. Senate rejected the treaty in 1999 and the bipartisan
cooperation of 1963 was absent, with almost all Republicans voting
together against it. Now, in 2012, is the time to reconsider
ratification for the sake of America’s national security.
Resuming nuclear weapons testing places additional costs on an arsenal
that already costs Americans at least $52 billion a year. Progress
toward nuclear disarmament is needed to reduce this burden which
drains our treasury. But costs alone are not the only issue.
What would Russia and China’s reaction be should we resume nuclear
weapons tests? As the Russian deputy foreign minister said, his
country intends to fully comply with its CTBT commitment, “if other
nuclear states do likewise.” But if we resume nuclear testing, will
Russia follow? What will China do? Would a new arms race come next?
The CTBT is an important step toward nuclear disarmament, because you
reach a wall in arms reductions if you are leaving the door open to
new nuclear testing and development.
A CTBT would increase momentum toward gaining a disarmament agreement
with Russia on tactical nuclear weapons, and offer hope of arms
reductions in Asia, where China and rivals India and Pakistan have
nuclear weaponry…..
Nuclear weapons in the world is a shared risk among all nations, for
the cost of the armaments, the danger of terrorist theft, and the
international tensions are a burden all countries feel. It is in the
interest of all nations to end nuclear testing once and for all, and
work toward further agreements reducing the nuclear menace.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/starting-a-peace-race-with-the/page-3/#ixzz1k84rR2Am

January 21, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general