McCain says US needs to step up to control nuclear threat

As reported by Marketwatch, Sen. McCain has given a speech on control of nuclear proliferation. He seems to see the need for controlling nuclear proliferation, and seems to be willing to stop American development of new nuclear weapons. Although I would not vote for him, it is refreshing to hear such words from a member of an otherwise dangerously hawkish party.


In a major foreign policy speech, Sen. John McCain on Tuesday called for more vigilance in cutting back on nuclear weapons, calling for renewed negotiations with the world’s superpowers and limiting the number of nations that are part of the nuclear club.

The presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency told an audience at the University of Denver that the U.S. needs to be more vigilant if it is to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of extremists.

“If you look back over the past two decades, I don’t think any of us, Republican or Democrat, can take much satisfaction in what we’ve accomplished to control nuclear proliferation,” McCain said in a speech that was interrupted a few times by hecklers.

McCain also took a veiled shot at his likely Democratic rival, Barack Obama, alluding to the junior senator from Illinois’s call for negotiations with Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iran is believed to be pursuing a nuclear weapons program even though that country’s leaders insist it is only trying to develop nuclear power.

“Many believe all we need to do to end the nuclear programs of hostile governments is have our president talk with leaders in Pyongyang [North Korea} and Tehran [Iran], as if we haven’t tried talking to these governments repeatedly over the past two decades,” McCain said.

McCain called for a number of steps to curb nuclear proliferation. They include:
– Ask the Joint Chiefs to do a comprehensive review of nuclear strategy and policy.
– Negotiate a new treaty with Russia to further reduce the number of weapons.
– Begin a dialogue with China on strategic and nuclear issues.
– Conduct talks with other countries to put a moratorium on testing.
– Put a hold on all new nuclear weapons, and cancel work on the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator.

While McCain called for cutbacks in nuclear arsenals, he did say that civilian nuclear energy could be an effective tool in battling global warming.

But the senator also said nuclear energy cannot be used as a segue to atomic weaponry.

“We need to build an international consensus that exposes this deception, and holds nations accountable for it,” McCain said. “We cannot continue allowing nations to enrich and reprocess uranium, ostensibly for civilian purposes, and stand by impotently as they develop weapons programs.”

– Russ Britt, MarketWatch