ICAN October 27, 2016
At a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security matters, 123 nations voted in favour of the resolution, with 38 against and 16 abstaining.
The resolution will set up a UN conference beginning in March next year, open to all member states, to negotiate a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. The negotiations will continue in June and July. . .
The Most Revolutionary Act 
So…? The US controls the UN.
They can go ahead and vote to outlaw nukes all they want, it won’t mean a damn thing, not as long as these superpower states run the show. The US certainly wouldn’t abide by this.
It’s all meaningless pomp and circumstance, from my perspective. If the UN was going to outlaw nukes, its should have done it a half century ago. Too little, too late.
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For me the important point, sojourner, that the US is losing its grip owing to the relative increase in power of Russia and China (who would be extremely happy to dump their nuclear weapons). The US lost in Ukraine and they are losing in Syria owing to the steady decline of US hegemony. A year ago this resolution would have been dead in the water – it never would have gotten this far.
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Could be, but I am still more than skeptical.
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Not surprisingly, the USA, its EU allies, and Australia – with the exception of Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland – all voted against the resolution. Brazil voted in favor and Guyana abstained.
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Very interesting when you look at the vote breakdown, Rosaliene. I’m really glad New Zealand broke with Australia and agreed to cosponsor it.
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UNITED Nations! Phooey! The US government and their lapdogs will carry on doing what they want, of course. Still, the rest of us need to keep speaking up.
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Good point. It’s hard to argue for sitting home and doing nothing – though surprisingly lots of people do.
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https://normanpilon.com/2016/11/01/un-covers-up-war-crimes-in-syria-citing-u-s-backed-al-qaeda-propagandists/
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