From 50 Years Ago: One-way Non-Proliferation

One-way Non-Proliferation

The United States and the Soviet Union have submitted to the Geneva Disarmament Conference — which France, stubbornly, still refuses to attend — identical revised texts of a treaty to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. This is clearly a triumph of the joint wish of the super powers to do all they can to maintain their nuclear lead over the rest. The earlier drafts, presented in August last year, called for a treaty of unlimited duration; this has now been amended to include a provision for a conference to meet in 25 years’ time. Considering the fantastic progress in the nuclear field that the last quarter century has seen, this is an invitation to non-nuclear nations to sit back with folded hands while the big powers use the time to further widen the gap. The whole purpose of demanding “periodic” reviews was that the big powers should be subject to regular questioning on the progress they were making towards disarmament. The 25-year period before the first such review makes nonsense of this objective.