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A Push To Ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty? (thebulletin.org)
Lasrick writes: Hugh Gusterson thinks a symposium sponsored by the U.S. Energy Department was the first sign that the Administration is readying a push to finally ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). "Conceding that the earlier drive to ratify the treaty in 1999 ended in a humiliating defeat for the Clinton Administration, [Secretary of State John Kerry] said that "the factors that led some senators to oppose the treaty have changed, so [senators'] choices should change too." The article goes into the technology that has developed over the last 15 years that make testing unnecessary.
Sounds like something apple would say.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
The big problem with this "push", if it's real, is that the Obama administration doesn't have the credibility it needs to back the treaty. Nobody who didn't already want the treaty is going to believe a thing these guys say.
...would like to attend a test detonation? My ultimate dream would be to witness, at a safe distance and with the proper danger mitigation procedures in place, a nuclear detonation. I mean an atmospheric one, not underground. They have done *thousands* such tests some decades ago, now that we understand these devices better, it should be much safer.
you gotta be kidding, those things run on backpack/suitcase nukes
Underground testing was never an environmental problem. Ending all testing has always been about ending the nuclear arms race.
If technology allows the existing arsenal to be tested without detonating anything then it is only a small step further for new designs to be be verified without physical testing. Then we are back on the nuclear treadmill only this time, advancement can be hidden since there are no testing that friends or foes can detect.
NERVA is not impacted by the treaty as it doesn't involve nuclear explosions
Well yeah, that's the point. It's political to ensure those in the Middle East, N. Korea, India, Pakistan, and potentially Iran get condemnation buy the more advanced nations. Nations such as the US, Russia, China, and UK are well advanced enough to just continue on with computer simulations. Personally, I think it's all BS. Creating a political artificial barrier to entry never has, and never will work. But, it will be done so that "something was done" to pat themselves on the back for doing something.
Life is not for the lazy.
Littoral Combat Ship.
I was all sorts of excited when I first read about this. Then, I realized I was reading it wrong.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
To those commenting above that they wouldn't believe a word the US says, I share your doubts, but with one BIG proviso. Doesn't the CTBT include inspection regimes that treaty partners sign up to so that everyone can be assured that other signees are following the rules? Seems like a great idea to me.
work in progress
It has already worked. Not perfectly, and it'll continue to fail in various ways, but the international pressure has prevented a lot of countries from considering it worth the risk.
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If people are going to rapidly down-score things to -1, they ought to at least post a thoughtful argument for doing so. I've never done that to even the most left-wing of posters here.
Maybe you should start.
Now that we've done every nuclear weapons test we can imagine to get all the data we might need, it's time to ban this horrible practice.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
The whole left-right thing is tired and hypocritical.
If you're going to make blanket statements like that about who actively suppresses free speech, you should attempt to back them up with something substantial. Because most people that read your shit just look at it and dismiss you as a anon troll.
Which is what you are.
And holding it wrong. Or at least that's what she said!
Coming on top of Obama's huge "success" with Iran and nuclear weapons we can expect the following good things to come out of this:
- Iran will be excepted from conditions of the treaty
- China's compliance will be self-monitored and voluntary
- Russia's compliance will be mandatory and supervised by the UN, but they'll ignore the damn thing and do as they please while Obama takes all the credit, and the UN won't give a damn unless they can use global warming to shut down capitalism..