Letter: Treaties and disasters

President Obama’s administration produced a Nuclear Posture Review.

This included a plan to assure the effectiveness of our nuclear stockpile, but specifically avoided any development of new weapons. Total funding for this effort was estimated to be $5 billion:

The administration is determined to invest something like $1.3 trillion in “updated” and new nuclear weapons.

This activity violates the spirit and purpose of the ratified Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which came into full force in 1970.

In 1996, a text for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was passed by a large UN vote, and opened for signature. It has not entered into force, due to the failure of two nuclear powers to ratify it.

These countries are the U.S. and China.

All of Europe, including Russia, is on board.

The violation of the NPT by the U.S. exacerbates drivers for nuclear proliferation.

The club of three non-signatory nuclear powers (India, Israel and Pakistan) was joined by North Korea, which withdrew as an NPT signatory.

As the CTBT is not in effect, they are free to test. This club is likely to enlarge, with the odds approaching certainty for nuclear weapons disasters.

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Letter: Treaties and disasters."