. Military Space News .
Nuclear talks resumption delayed: conference chair

by Staff Writers
Geneva (AFP) Aug 31, 2009
The 65 states in the Conference on Disarmament have failed to agree on how to move ahead with full nuclear arms talks, effectively delaying them until 2010, the conference president said Monday.

"Time is running out for this year's session of the CD," said ambassador Christian Strohal, who also represents Austria.

"The window of opportunity to achieve a consensual approach.... is closing - and in all seriousness it is closing today," he added.

"If we still were to embark on a meaningful implementation of our Programme of Work, we would need to take a decision now," he added.

Pointing out that consensus "still eludes us", he closed the session for the day after none of the 65 members sought to intervene.

The Conference on Disarmament's current and last session of 2009 ends on September 18. It traditionally resumes work in January.

Given the lack of time however, Strohal said it was best to move on to other business the conference needed to attend to over the coming weeks.

The talks include the world's major nuclear powers as well as recent atomic weapons states like India, Pakistan and North Korea and those with a nuclear research capability.

In May, they broke more than a decade of deadlock by agreeing on a work plan for 2009.

That included full "negotiations" on an international ban on the production of new nuclear bomb-making material, and talks on nuclear disarmament, the arms race in outer space, and security assurances for non-nuclear states.

But some diplomats blamed Pakistan for openly stalling the conference on a procedural issue.

Pakistan cited unspecified national security concerns to justify its refusal to accept part of the proposed structure for the talks.

Other member states, including Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States had signalled their broad acceptance of the proposal.

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Nuclear scientist says first Soviet A-bomb 'miracle': report
Moscow (AFP) Aug 29, 2009
A nuclear scientist involved in the Soviet Union's first atomic test 60 years ago hailed it "a miracle" Saturday and called for a national day of celebration, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Arkadi Brich also criticised banning atomic tests, saying they boosted scientific research and produced "very nice" mushroom clouds. "The day of the first test should be considered a national day ... read more







The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement