OBAMA TO OPEN LANDMARK NUCLEAR SUMMIT
Capital FM
April 12 2010
WASHINGTON, Apr 12 – President Barack Obama will Monday open an
unprecedented nuclear security summit, warning that the atomic
aspirations of groups like Al-Qaeda are the top security threat to
the United States.
Obama will welcome leaders from 46 other nations to a meeting aimed
at safeguarding unsecured uranium and separated plutonium stockpiles
and averting the nightmare scenario of extremist groups acquiring
nuclear weapons.
On the eve of the largest summit chaired by a US president in 65
years, Obama on Sunday conjured up the horrific possibility of a
nuclear detonation in New York City, London or Johannesburg.
"The single biggest threat to US security, both short-term, medium-term
and long-term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization
obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said on the eve of the two-day
summit.
"This is something that could change the security landscape of this
country and around the world for years to come."
"We know that organizations like Al-Qaeda are in the process of trying
to secure a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they
have no compunction at using."
As well as presiding over the summit, Obama will hold a string of
bilateral meetings with world leaders.
Key will be his encounter with Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday in
talks likely to focus partly on US hopes that China will let its yuan
currency find a market level, after a period of Sino-US tensions.
Security blankets Washington as nuclear summit looms
Despite the focus on extremist groups, two states, however, Iran and
North Korea, which already has the bomb, will cast a shadow over the
two-day summit which opens on Monday.
Washington is leading an effort to toughen sanctions within weeks
on Iran over its nuclear program, which the United States and allies
say is aimed at producing weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
The White House will seek concrete commitments from world leaders
on securing stockpiles of separated plutonium and uranium, to ensure
that they cannot be stolen, smuggled or sold to extremists.
"The threat of nuclear war… has diminished. The threat of nuclear
terrorism has increased," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told
ABC News.
To kick off his counter-proliferation drive, Obama met Kazakhstan’s
President Nursultan Nazerbayev and South African President Jacob Zuma.
Kazakhstan handed over Soviet-era nuclear weapons after the end of
the Cold War, but is a key player in Washington as it bills itself
as the world’s top exporter of uranium.
South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons program in the 1990s, and
US officials praised its example, saying its security had emerged
enhanced.
He also held talks with Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Yousuf
Raza Gilani of nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
Obama, who last week signed a landmark disarmament treaty with Russia
and laid out a new US nuclear strategy limiting how Washington could
use atomic weapons, said he was confident that the summit would garner
important progress.
"I feel very good at this stage in the degree of commitment and sense
of urgency that I’ve seen from the world leaders so far on this issue,"
Obama said.
"We think we can make enormous progress on this."
US officials hope nations at the summit will agree a series of their
own security steps for their own nuclear material, and help pay to
put the stocks of less well-off countries under lock and key.
They also expect some leaders to unveil specific actions, similar to
Chile’s decision to ship a stock of highly enriched uranium to the
United States.
The conference is also a precursor to the United Nations
Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference next month, seen as another
important moment in heading off a future nuclear arms race.
The White House also announced that the US leader would have a meeting
with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The talks will occur just over a week after Turkey decided to return
its ambassador to Washington after a row over moves in Congress to
brand the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide.
Turkey is also seeking to revive stalled reconciliation efforts with
Armenia. Obama may play a part in that effort, when he meets Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian in a separate meeting on Monday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
