By Jayantha Dhanapala - IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint, Thursday 21 July 2011 WASHINGTON D.C. (IDN) - 2009, was a year of promise with President Obama's memorable speech in Prague, the nuclear arms negotiations between the United States (U.S.) and Russia and many other hopeful signs. It was springtime of hope - but many asked then, cautiously, having lived through several false dawns, whether we were going to see a summer season for disarmament.
In January 2010, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of its famous "Doomsday Clock" one minute away from midnight citing a "more hopeful state of world affairs". The Clock is now at six minutes to midnight. Many of us felt, as the Bulletin did, that "We are poised to bend the arc of history towards a world free of nuclear weapons".
2010 saw some fulfilment of those hopes with the signature and the eventual ratification of the New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia; the Washington Nuclear Security Summit; the new Nuclear Posture Review of the U.S. and the successful adoption of a final document at an Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference after 10 years with significant decisions on a weapons of mass destruction free zone (WMDFZ) in the Middle East.
2011, I fear, could signify a return to business as usual. Indeed a significant drop in the momentum of multilateral activity on disarmament issues is noticeable....
All our dreams are again fading - it is more than a shame and it was surely avoidable !Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use
Reform of the Global Order Seems a Long Way Off
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