The United States Wants to Set a Nuclear Example

The undersecretary of the state department, William Burns, said in his meetings in Itamaraty [Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations] that the United States has plans to finalize agreements with Russia for the reduction in nuclear warheads before the ratification of a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May. Since 2005, the NPT has not made any progress.

In conversation, Burns hinted at the possibility of reaching an agreement with Russia by April, in time for President Barack Obama to celebrate the news during the Global Summit on Nuclear Security, which Lula will attend.

Burns’ information was considered by Brazilian diplomacy to demonstrate that the United States plans on leaving behind the disarmament rhetoric of Obama in favor of effective actions in this direction. Instead of just enforcing measures on others, they would like to “set the example.”

Burns met with Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, after a lunch meeting with the undersecretary for political affairs at Itamaraty, Ambassador Vera Machado, and with the director of the Department of International Organizations, Minister Carlos Duarte.

Amorim admitted that it has been difficult, but he defended the continuation of efforts toward an understanding between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Burns responded that the United States does not believe the Iranians will cede and negotiate.

The United States confronts the Iranian regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Brazil defends dialogue and negotiations, despite the threatening rise of enriched uranium to 20 percent or even higher to 80 percent — one step away from conditions necessary to build an atomic bomb.

The North American forecast to accelerate the finalization of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia is a way of signaling that the United States wants “to give its contribution” to the process, which has three pillars: disarmament, nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

The chronology in this direction will include finalizing the U.S.-Russia agreement as soon as possible, a meeting with leaders about nuclear security in Washington this April and, finally, the Eighth NPT Review Conference in New York in May.

Burns also indicated yesterday that, during this process, the North Americans may give other indications that their government will follow Obama’s speech in Prague not just in theory, but also in practice. Setting aside a discourse of pure nonproliferation to defend disarmament was considered a turning point in the nuclear discourse.

Another indicator may be Washington’s review of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which prohibits any type of nuclear explosion. It was established in 1996 but has been shelved since 2000, when President Bill Clinton, a Democrat like Obama, lost the vote in the Senate 51 to 49 when it was up for ratification.

Burns and Machado also discussed a system of annual meetings between chancellors of both countries on a diverse number of topics: the classification of racial politics, democracy and development — which includes the discussion, for example, of human rights in Cuba.

But this topic was left for [March] when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [met] Lula and Amorim. Next up is waiting for the main event: Obama will be coming!