Russia welcomes US proposal on nuclear treaty: ministry

NUKEWARS

Marshall Islanders take last shot at nuclear compo
Marshall Islanders exiled by American nuclear tests 63 years ago are appealing to the United States Supreme Court to reverse the dismissal of a compensation claim worth more than 563 million US dollars. But the lawyer representing people from Bikini atoll in the western Pacific nation is pessimistic about the chances of winning a hearing before America's top court. "Don't hold out too much hope," Washington-based lawyer Jonathan Weisgall said Thursday.

"The Supreme Court only takes about one percent of the appeals it gets," he warned islanders. The Bikinians contend that the US Congress cannot take away their constitutional protections for just compensation payments for damage the nuclear testing program did to their islands. But the US Justice Department said in earlier court hearings that the US Congress provided a "full and final" settlement through a 150 million dollar compensation fund in a treaty between the US and Marshall Islands governments in 1986. The Marshall Islands was a US-administered trust territory until becoming independent in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association between the two countries.

The US government tested 23 nuclear weapons on Bikini, including "Bravo" in 1954, the largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated by the United States. Bikini was the site of America's first post-World War II nuclear tests and the atoll is still uninhabited because of radiation contamination. The Bikinians filed suit in the US Federal Court of Claims in 2006 after a Nuclear Claims Tribunal established with US funding issued a 563 million dollars damage award in their favour but did not have the money to pay it. The 150 million trust fund set up for the tribunal has produced interest of 300 million dollars, which has all been used up in nuclear-related awards, compensation and related programs set up by the tribunal. But the tribunal has made further compensation awards despite not having the money to pay them.

The Bikini lawsuit filed in 2006 was first dismissed by the Court of Claims and the lower court's ruling was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit earlier this year. "Between 1946 and 1958, the United States' nuclear testing program irradiated and partially vaporized the Bikini Atoll while the atoll was under US trusteeship and its people were US dependents," the Bikinians' appeal to the Supreme Court said. The US government response is due on November 27, but the Justice Department is expected to ask for at least one extension, Weisgall said.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Nov 5, 2009
Russia on Thursday welcomed a US proposal on replacing a key nuclear disarmament treaty, saying it could help clinch a deal before the treaty expires next month, the foreign ministry said.

The latest US proposal in negotiations on renewing the landmark 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) was "constructive," foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

"We hope the constructive proposal that US National Security Adviser James Jones made in Moscow last week will let us bring our positions together and arrive at a balanced document," Nesterenko told the Interfax news agency.

START expires on December 5 and the eighth round in marathon US-Russian negotiations on replacing it will kick off on Monday in Geneva.

"We hope that this will be the last round and that by December 5 we will have agreed a new accord," Nesterenko said.

"Both sides are aware of the responsibility they have shouldered and are doing everything to achieve the necessary results. There is progress."

Talks on a successor treaty hit a dead end under former US president George W. Bush, dogged by US plans to deploy a missile shield in ex-communist states in eastern Europe, a project that rankled with Russia.

But negotiations gained speed after President Barack Obama scrapped the shield plans in September and pledged to intensify work with Moscow amid a broader effort to "reset" strained US-Russian ties.

Last week the Kremlin's top foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko said "serious progress" had been made in the START negotiations since the last round in October.

But Nesterenko warned Thursday that a number of stumbling blocs remained and he would not cheer a new accord until "every last comma" had been agreed.

"We have a saying in negotiations: 'Nothing is agreed until everything is'. So until we have agreed every last comma, any attempt to assess how far we have come may be deceptive."

A major issue hampering progress in negotiations is Moscow's insistence that the new deal impose deep cuts in the number of carriers capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

"Lower limits must be set on the number of strategic carriers, including ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) and heavy bombers," Nesterenko underlined.

Moscow has also fought for wording that would link US missile defence plans with the disarmament regime.

Nesterenko emphasised the linkage between offensive and defensive weapons in negotiations was "extremely important since it will make up for the absence of an agreement on missile defence shield."

He also reiterated Russia's complaint that current arms inspections are expensive and a hassle, asking that controls be relaxed in the new treaty.

START, signed in 1991 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union, is seen as a cornerstone of strategic arms control, setting limits on the number of nuclear warheads for the two former Cold War superpowers.

At a Moscow summit in July, Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed to each reduce their nuclear arsenal to between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads within seven years.

They also agreed cuts on the number of ballistic missile carriers to between 500 and 1,100.

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NUKEWARS

NATO chief urges Germany to discuss plan to remove US nukes
Brussels (AFP) Nov 3, 2009
NATO will discuss Germany's ambition to rid the country of all US nuclear weapons, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday, expressing hope that the move will not be made unilaterally. "I hope that any step that will take place in the alliance in a multilateral framework and that no unilateral step be taken," Rasmussen said at NATO's headquarters in Brussels. "This is a ques ... read more

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