Posted 10:46 AM
by The Moderator
http://www.thenation.com/outrage/index.mhtml?bid=6
It was barely noted in the media, but this week the UN General Assembly voted on a series of resolutions on disarmament and security. And as the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy reports, "The United States consistently voted against the most important resolutions on nuclear and space disarmament."
The vote for bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force was 173 yeas against one truculent American nay.
We long ago signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- the treaty we roll up and use to smack the noses of places like Iran when they seek nuclear weapons -- and Article Six of the NPT requires us to work toward eliminating our own nuclear weapons stocks. Yet a Japan-sponsored resolution calling for all states to keep their word on this point was approved with 164 yeas against 2 nays -- with the United States and India opposing.
A resolution calling for negotiations to prevent nuclear weapons in space was adopted by a vote of 174 to zero. There were four abstentions: The United States and three client states, Israel, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. (Those three may object to such a dismissive characterization -- but when a place like Micronesia implies it can't countenance any roadblocks in its inexorable march to domination of outer space, then I'm sorry but the client-state shoe fits.)
There were several other embarrassingly lopsided votes, and the Lawyers' Committee lays them all out here.
