Leadership (Abuja)
Samuel Aruwan
7 November 2009
Kaduna — Following President Barack Obama's commitment to nuclear disarmament, the World Forum of Civil Society Networks-UBUNTU has declared support for the US government, saying it is quite different from previous US government.
In a communiqué sent to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY from Madrid, Spain, which was signed by its spokesperson Federico Mayor, it said: "At the end of the 1980s, the Reykjavik agreements, the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall suggested that nuclear threats and the arms race might progressively give way to a rethinking of war strategies and therefore of the armament necessary to address new types of conflicts. This would likewise leave a broad margin for the 'dividends of peace,' which would enable us to inaugurate a new era with a renewed United Nations, endowed with the appropriate human, financial and technical resources.But that was not the case.
To the contrary, 'globalisation' replaced democratic values with the laws of the marketplace, and the world's most prosperous countries (G-7, G-8) ostracised the United Nations to the point of placing the World Trade Organisation beyond its scope. "The result has been resounding economic failure and - due to the (in the words of President Obama) 'greed and irresponsibility' of the large financial conglomerates - the world as a whole has been thrust into a multidimensional crisis (social, economic, environmental, nutritional, democratic, ethical), with military spending that surpasses 3 billion dollars daily, while at the same time approximately 70,000 people die of hunger and abandonment, half of them under five years of age.The latter period of the Bush administration - invasion of Iraq, missile shield proposal, etc.- resulted in ever-increasing expenditures in armament, while the number of persons who live in hunger and poverty likewise rose. For all of the above, having observed with surprise and indignation the 'rescue' of financial institutions with hundreds of billions of dollars, while funds for the Millennium Objectives have practically dried up, we want to express our support for President Obama."
According to the group, for having taken the lead in nuclear disarmament, Obama unexpectedly indicated in Prague during his visit to Europe,and later ratified it when presiding at the Security Council session on September 24, 2009. At the meeting, a reduction in nuclear arsenals was unanimously passed, which may represent a genuine turning point with respect to one of the most relevant challenges of our times. Having decided to cancel the anti-missile shield programme, which the US administration had planned to install in Europe
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