Weapons of Mass Destruction
Mikhail Gorbachev to Speak on “Resetting the Nuclear Disarmament Agenda”
Gorbachev continues to support Global Green USA’s ongoing mission to eliminate weapons of mass destruction
Washington DC, October 5, 2009 - Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will deliver a lecture at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, October 5, 2009, on global nuclear disarmament. This lecture will follow President Gorbachev’s recent op-ed in the New York Times (September 25, 2009) in which he supported US President Barack Obama’s call for a nuclear weapons-free world and his recent cancellation of missile defense in Europe. Gorbachev wrote: “Indeed, if [President Obama’s] decision is followed by further serious steps, it will provide an opportunity for us to strengthen global security as well as reach a new level of cooperation in ridding the world of nuclear danger.”
Gorbachev will address current US-Russian negotiations for deeper bilateral cuts in strategic nuclear arsenals as part of a follow-on agreement to the START I agreement which he signed with former US President George H.W. Bush in 1991; this historic treaty expires December 5, 2009. He will also address Russian and American efforts to implement the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the urgent need to secure fissile materials globally through a Fissile Material Control Treaty (FMCT).
Dr. Paul Walker, Director of Global Green USA’s Security and Sustainability Program, commented that “these next steps in nuclear disarmament are critical to global security and President Gorbachev’s voice is most welcome, I am sure, in both Washington and Moscow at this critical juncture in bilateral relations.”
Gorbachev has warned that the two nuclear superpowers must make progress in nuclear weapons reductions before the next review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in May 2010. “Unless they show the world they are serious, the two major nuclear powers will be accused, again and again, of not keeping their word and told that if it is acceptable for 5 or 10 countries to have nuclear weapons as their “ultimate security guarantee,” why should it not be the case for 20 or 30 others?”
Gorbachev is the founding president of Green Cross International, of which Global Green USA, headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, is the US national affiliate. His speech is sponsored by the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and will be webcast live, 10:30AM-12:30PM (EDT) on www.un.org/webcast.
Dr. Walker is available for comment on the implications of Gorbachev’s speech, and the current nuclear disarmament agenda. Please contact Marina Voronova-Abrams to schedule.
