MEDIA REACTION: TOWARDS A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000643



SIPDIS



STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO



STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU



E.O. 12958 N/A

TAGS: KMDR, KPAO, PGOV, OPRC, NP

SUBJ: MEDIA REACTION: TOWARDS A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD



1. Hira Bahadur Thapa, a former high-level official

at Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an

opinion piece on Friday, July 17, 2009 expressed

optimism at the possibility of moving towards a

nuclear free world given the understanding and

commitments by the U.S. President Barack Obama.

Writing in government-owned The Rising Nepal with an

estimated 5,000 circulation, Thapa envisioned that

the world could become nuclear free based on

President Obama's commitment to turn that vision

into a reality.

2. Excerpts: "The much expected, high profile

summit meeting between the two presidents of the US

and Russia in Moscow has generated a lot of interest

in the debate over arms control. People around the

world had pinned considerable hope on the possible

outcome of the US-Russia summit. US President Obama

and Russian President Medvedev had met first in

London last April when leaders of the emerging

economies had gathered to discuss the global

economic crisis. They had then reaffirmed their

commitment to work seriously towards making a world

free of nuclear weapons. Their reaffirmation in

this regard was considered significant because the

US and Russia possess about 85% of the world's

nuclear stockpiles."

3. "... The events that took place in the mid-

nineties, especially the indefinite extension of the

NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons) and the conclusion of the CTBT

(Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty),dominated

the ongoing negotiations for arms control

agreements. The euphoria created by the indefinite

extension of the NPT in 1995 - the only universal

legally-binding instrument to stem the proliferation

of nuclear weapons - could not last long. The

reason was the failure of the major nuclear powers

to fulfill their commitment to ratify the CTBT.

This treaty is believed to be the global legal

instrument to ban all kinds of nuclear tests along

the deployment of nuclear weapons. Had this

important treaty been ratified by all, the most

crucial being the US, the scenario in world nuclear

disarmament would have changed dramatically. The

failure on the part of the world's acknowledged

nuclear powers like the US, UK, France, Russia and

China to make CTBT effective embarrassed the non-

nuclear weapon states, which then impacted

negatively on disarmament negotiations."

4. "... The president working closely and

collaboratively with his Russian counterpart wants

to remake the nuclear world in which they promise to

reduce their nuclear arsenals to roughly 1500

warheads. In their minds, they are also making

efforts to halt nuclear programs in countries like

Iran and North Korea though some may dislike to

hear. However, one can contend that increased

cooperation between the US and Russia even in the

field of civilian nuclear commercial activities may

yield the desirable result. We all agree that the

issue of nuclear security involves a number of

challenges and more so the endeavor to strengthen

the regime of nuclear non-proliferation. It is in

this regard that the NPT needs to be saved from

being eroded."

5. "President Obama has made a nuke-free world his

paraphrase. He seems to be very much committed to

see his vision translated into a reality. He can

produce the results if he pursues his constructive

engagement with Russian President Medvedev as seems

to be the case now. His renewed commitment to

submit the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

(CTBT) before the US Senate where his party commands

a comfortable majority only underscores the point

that there might be noticeable progress in nuclear

disarmament. President Obama believes that the

CTBT's coming into effect can be a powerful first

step towards a nuclear-free world. There is no

logic to view him as a dreamer based on what he has

done so far."

MOON