Comment: Towards nuclear disarmament

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recently called for nuclear states to work toward nuclear disarmament outling a five-point plan.

Recently, the arms race has been heating up again. With the building of a ballistic missile shield by the US, China and Russia have undertaken extensive modernization programs. Russia is building a new type of warhead for both its land-based and submarine-based platforms that will be much faster and harder to knock down than anything before.

China is deploying new solid-fuel ICBMs and is building a fleet of possibly up to eight ballistic missile-carrying submarines. Some of the subs may carrying up to 24 missiles with at least three warheads each.

Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, there are still an estimated 26,000 nuclear weapons in the world today.

Vancouver Sun
UN chief outlines five-point nuclear disarmament plan
AFP - Oct 24, 2008
It was signed by the five nuclear powers and ratified by Britain, France and Russia but not by China and the United States. Ban also underscored the need ...
UN asks N-states to work toward nuclear disarmament Press Trust of India
Ban Ki-moon sets new proposal on nuclear disarmament Toronto Star
UN wants world nuclear disarmament PRESS TV

EU leader urges climate change fight continue

European Union leader Jose Manuel Barroso urged leaders at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing to keep up the fight against climate change despite the financial crisis.

In some ways, the climate change battle will benefit inadvertently from the fall in production and consumption that is likely to occur in a non-organized fashion from economic recession or depression.

Healthy economies can certainly be developed that do not depend on rampant consumerism. Indeed, that's how the world has survived for most of history. However, the idea was a smooth, structured move toward such a transition. The economic free-fall could send us in that direction in a more drastic fashion. However, there still is a need to shift toward sustainable, green technologies.

Such a shift could become more difficult now because money is being diverted to prop up banks and financial firms.

If nothing is done, most scientists agree that severe consequences lie ahead from rising sea levels, to serious fluctuations in weather patterns that would hamper agriculture and cause extensive infrastructure damage.

CCTV
Barroso: Climate change to become more serious if no action is taken
Xinhua, China - Oct 25, 2008

... actions to tackle the climate change, there will be larger threats," Barroso made the remarks at the press conference of the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting ...
EU, Asia agree on finance, climate change, Myanmar Trend News Agency
ASEM reviews 12 years’ progress Viet Nam News
China can make important contribution to resolving global crisis ... Forbes

US cross-border raids in Pakistan, Syria

Another suspected US drone strike in Pakistan has killed 10 people according to security officials. On Sunday, US helicopters assaulted a village in Syria killing eight people, Syrian media reported. Washington had no comment on the attacks.

Reuters

'Drone' raid kills 10 in Pakistan BBC News - 5 hours ago Missiles from a suspected US drone (unmanned plane) have killed 10 people in a militant camp near Pakistan's Afghan border, security officials say. Suspected US missile attack kills 20 in Pakistan's tribal region Xinhua Suspected US missile strike kills 20 in Pakistan Monsters and Critics.com

AFP

Eight die in US attack inside Syria: official media
AFP - 16 hours ago
"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday. They penetrated eight kilometres (five miles) into Syria," ...