Deepti Choubey, Deputy Director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says the START Follow-On Treaty is a “modest arms control measure” and hopes it is ratified by the U.S. Senate before the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Conference, which takes place in Vienna next May. (0:29)
Deepti Choubey, Deputy Director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, says President Barack Obama’s leadership on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament has the potential to be a “game changer, but no touchdown’s have been scored yet.” (0:17)
By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Deepti Choubey, Deputy Director of the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Monday that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is not likely to be presented to the U.S. Senate for ratification before the Non Proliferation Treaty Conference which takes place in Austria next May.
“Certainly CTBT, I don’t see being ratified unless there is a massive reorientation in the administration’s political strategy about how to get it done…I think that’s one issue we can put to the side for this upcoming review conference,” Choubey said.
Adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1996, the CTBT bans all nuclear explosions on Earth, regardless of whether or not they are conducted for civilian or military purposes. Several UN members, including the U.S. signed the treaty, but as of this year, the U.S. Senate has yet to ratify it.
Choubey said she has high hopes for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty Follow-On (START), calling it a “modest arms control measure.” In July of this year, both U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty, which aims to reduce and limit global strategic offensive arms to the range of 500-1100 by 2016.
However, Choubey warned that if the Senate does not ratify the CTBT by 2015 there will be a “negative impact” on the other members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime.
