background preloader

CTBT 2011

Facebook Twitter

Guatemala Ratifies Test Ban Treaty. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn Guatemala has ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, becoming the 156th nation to do so, the treaty's implementing organization announced on Friday (see GSN, Dec. 7, 2011). Guatemalan Foreign Minister Haroldo Rodas Melgar submitted the treaty's ratification instrument in an event on Thursday at the U.N. main office in New York. The Latin American nation signed the pact in 1999. “Guatemala’s ratification of the CTBT is an important building block towards a world free of nuclear weapons. It underlines Guatemala’s commitment to outlaw nuclear testing and to enhance non-proliferation and disarmament worldwide,” Tibor Tóth, head of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, said in released remarks.

“Guatemala’s ratification of the CTBT is a boost for the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which will soon celebrate 10 years of being the world’s first nuclear-weapon-free zone to include all countries in the region,” Tóth added. The nuclear test ban at 15. Gorbachev Urges Senate to Ratify Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn By Clifford Marks National Journal WASHINGTON -- Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev last week urged the U.S. Senate to ratify the long-dormant Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, warning that the United States' failure to join the multilateral agreement could cripple the international community's ability to curb the nuclear actions of rogue nations (see GSN, Nov. 9, 2010). "Commitments that are not legally binding can easily be violated," Gorbachev wrote in an op-ed published on December 28 in the New York Times. The treaty, which President Obama supports, would ban all nuclear tests in any environment for both civilian and military purposes.

"It is fairly certain that once the Senate agreed to ratification, most of the countries still waiting would follow," he wrote. Gorbachev also commended the Senate for ratifying the U.S. Page van der Linden • Debating the CTBT in 2011. Monitoring for nuclear tests: an IMS infrasound station array at infrasound station IS49, Tristan da Cunha, U.K. (Image Credit: CTBTO Preparatory Commission. Click to enlarge.) Two weeks ago, I noticed that the conversation about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) seemed to be picking up the pace.

This was among people on the Hill, so I set about interviewing several policy analysts, essentially non-governmental “onlookers,” who’d been around for the Senate debate — and failure — to approve the resolution of ratification in 1999. I talked to a range of people, from enthusiastic treaty proponents and people who think ratification won’t do any harm, to a treaty skeptic, whose opinion was that the treaty would endanger national security and that we need to retain the option of testing nuclear weapons. The Mushroom Cloud On The Horizon: Talking About the CTBT Then and Now There’s a lot that can be learned from these interviews. I’d like to start with a question about education. Dr. Securing Valuable Global Services. September 24th marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty’s celebratory signing ceremony at the United Nations.

That’s fifteen years in which the treaty has remained in limbo, due to the worst entry-into-force provision ever negotiated. A much longer wait is in store, as long as entry into force depends on the United States, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and Indonesia depositing their instruments of ratification, and India, Pakistan and North Korea deciding to sign and ratify the treaty. The treaty’s tortured entry-into-force provision was the handiwork of China, Russia, and France, whose leaders felt obligated to sign, but remained reluctant to end nuclear testing permanently. They resolved this conundrum by giving other recalcitrant states vetoes over the treaty’s entry into force. The fifteen year-long wait for the CTBT has been put to good use.

It will take a very long time before all of the states named above consent to ratify this treaty. Home: CTBTO Preparatory Commission. 09PARIS1287, FRANCE INTERESTED IN INFORMAL CTBT MEETING. Viewing cable 09PARIS1287, FRANCE INTERESTED IN INFORMAL CTBT MEETING Understanding cables Every cable message consists of three parts: The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable.

It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section. To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference. Discussing cables If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number.