The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is in the news again, and this time, I
hope that the US Government will be willing to shed its hypocrisy, and will
be willing to ratify this important treaty once and for all.

As I have said many times before, how can the American Government expect
other nations to refrain from seeking nuclear weapons technology, when the
only nation to have ever actually used nuclear weapons on a foreign
population, has adamantly refused to ratify the treaty for years? It is the
epitome of hypocrisy, short and simple.

The USA needs to lead by example, but it hasn't done that in the least. It
complains about Iran, North Korea and Pakistan, when it has one of the
largest nuclear arsenals in the world...and let's not forget about Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.

As long as even one nation on this planet remains in possession of nuclear
weapons technology, we will never be safe. Nuclear weapons technology was a
devilish Pandora's Box which should have never been opened in the first
place.

Blessed are the peacemakers!

Following is an editorial from the New York Times. It makes a lot of sense.


The Test Ban Treaty

New York Times Editorial

May 24, 2009


Nearly 17 years ago, after more than 1,000 explosions, the United States
conducted its last underground nuclear test. President George H. W. Bush,
following Russia and France, announced a voluntary moratorium and the other
major nuclear powers -- Britain and China -- made the same pledge with more
or less enthusiasm. Since then, 180 countries have signed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty.

That's all very good news. The bad news is that the test ban treaty, which
would go beyond the voluntary moratorium and legally bind states to not
test, has never come into force.

That is because the United States and eight other nuclear-capable states
whose participation is required -- China, North Korea, India, Pakistan,
Indonesia, Iran, Israel and Egypt -- have not ratified it.

A formal ban on testing would make it harder for nuclear-armed states to
build new weapons, and place another hurdle in the way of any country --
Iran comes immediately to mind -- thinking of starting an arsenal. North
Korea's announcement that it had tested a nuclear device on Monday is a
stark reminder of the many dangers out there.

In September 1996, President Bill Clinton was the first leader to sign the
treaty. But the drive to bring it into force hit a wall three years later
when the Senate voted 51 to 48 against ratification, with most Republicans
opposed. President George W. Bush buried the pact even deeper during eight
destructive years in which he disparaged arms control and weakened the
international rules that for decades helped curb the spread of nuclear
weapons. So it is important that President Obama has vowed to "immediately
and aggressively" pursue ratification of the test ban treaty. He has asked
Vice President Joseph Biden to shepherd the treaty in the Senate.

The campaign got an important boost from two Republican former secretaries
of state, George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, who have urged ratification.
Mr. Shultz was right when he said in Rome last month that the old arguments
against the treaty -- cheaters might not be detected and the safety and
viability of American weapons could not be guaranteed without testing --
have been put to rest by advances in technology.

A task force led by former Defense Secretary William Perry, a Democrat, and
Brent Scowcroft, a Republican former national security adviser, also
concluded that the treaty is in America's national security interests.

Still, Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden will have to invest considerable effort and
political capital to win ratification. Senate sources say no more than 63
senators would now vote for the treaty, four less than the two-thirds
majority needed. Two key Republican senators who need to be won over are
John McCain, who said in the 2008 presidential campaign that the treaty
deserved another look, and Richard Lugar, former Foreign Relations Committee
chairman, who has said he would "study it thoroughly."

We hope they, and any others who are skeptical or undecided, will withhold
final judgment until the administration completes a review that aims to
answer their doubts with updated data. Another Senate defeat would probably
doom the treaty forever.

One can shrug and say that such treaties are leftovers from the cold war.
That is wrong, especially in a world where nuclear appetites are growing.

A test ban will make it technologically much harder for other countries to
press ahead with weapons development. And if Washington has any hope of
rallying diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions for constraining Iran's
nuclear ambitions or North Korea's program, it has to show that it, too, is
willing to play by the international rules. For both of those reasons, the
Senate needs to ratify the test ban treaty.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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