Global Zero Leaders Applaud New START Treaty; Urge Ratification

WASHINGTON, April 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of the Global Zero movement, at a press conference at the National Press Club this morning, applauded the new START accord signed today by Presidents Obama and Medvedev in Prague and urged its ratification.  They also called for strong commitments to be made by the 47 leaders participating in President Obama's April 12-13 Nuclear Security Summit.

The group included Her Majesty Queen Noor, former CIA counter-proliferation officer Valerie Plame, START 1 chief negotiator Amb. Richard Burt, Academy Award-winning producer Lawrence Bender (An Inconvenient Truth, Good Will Hunting, Inglourious Basterds) and Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth, The Visitor, Kite Runner).

The press conference included a special sneak-peek teaser of the new major documentary film on the nuclear danger, Countdown to Zero, produced by Bender and Participant Media.  The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25 to critical acclaim and will open in theaters July 9.

As part of the grassroots movement, the group announced the launch of a Global Zero 'road tour' in which young volunteers travel the country organizing campus and community-based screenings of the film to build momentum toward its theatrical release and to enlist more people in the Global Zero movement.

The group also launched a worldwide drive -- along with partner organizations, including Avaaz.org, MoveOn, the New Evangelical Partnership, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Vote Vets and others -- to collect signatures on the global zero petition which will be delivered to the leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit next week.

Amb. Richard Burt, START 1 chief negotiator and Global Zero US Chair, said, "The new START treaty signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev this morning in Prague – cutting their strategic nuclear arsenals by a third each – is the first significant arms reduction treaty in nearly two decades and a crucial step toward the two Presidents' shared goal of global zero: a world without nuclear weapons.  Most importantly, at a time when the risk of nuclear terrorism is growing, the agreement recognizes the important relationship between arms reductions and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.  As an arms control negotiator who worked for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush and has been through ratification processes before, I fully expect that this Senate will continue the long-standing tradition of bi-partisan support for arms control treaties such as this which so clearly strengthens the security of the United States."

Mikhail Margelov, Head of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Council and Global Zero Russia Co-Chair, said, "The conclusion of a new START agreement between Russia and the United States represents a significant step towards Presidents Medvedev's and Obama's goal of a world without nuclear weapons -- global zero. Today there is growing consensus amongst military and civilian leaders that this is critical for achieving international security. Our priority is to build further momentum towards this goal and build on the leadership shown by our two Presidents. "

Valerie Plame-Wilson, former CIA covert officer specializing in nuclear counter proliferation, said, "When I worked at the CIA, I was a covert operations officer specializing in nuclear counter proliferation—making sure terrorists didn't get the materials to build the bomb.  There is enough highly enriched uranium – or HEU – and plutonium in the world today to build more than 100,000 bombs, much of it poorly guarded and in unstable regions.  All of us in the Global Zero movement urge the leaders attending next week's Nuclear Security Summit to commit to swift and decisive action to secure all nuclear material worldwide to prevent it from falling into the hands of terrorists."

Her Majesty Queen Noor, a founding leader of the Global Zero movement, said, "From my perspective, having grown up during the Cold War and living in one of the most volatile regions in the world, we are so encouraged by the leadership and courageous steps Presidents Obama and Medvedev are taking.  There is still time to set our course to global zero, but the clock is ticking.  This week, we are conducting a worldwide drive to collect signatures on the global zero petition which we will deliver to the leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit next week.  I urge everyone to sign the petition and join the Global Zero movement at globalzero.org."

In February, the Global Zero Summit in Paris convened 200 eminent international political, military, business, civic, faith, and student leaders to launch the next phase of the Global Zero movement. The Global Zero Action Plan was released, outlining a step-by-step strategy to eliminate nuclear weapons.  The plan, developed over the past year by the international Global Zero Commission of 23 political and military leaders, calls in its first phase for the U.S. and Russia to cut their arsenals to 1,000 total warheads each and for all other countries with nuclear weapons to commit to freeze their arsenals.  As outlined in the plan, these two steps would be followed by the first multilateral nuclear arms reductions negotiations in history. 

Global Zero Action Plan:  http://static.globalzero.org/files/docs/GZAP_6.0.pdf

Global Zero Signatory List:  http://static.globalzero.org/files/docs/gzbrief_25March10.pdf

Christian Science Monitor on "Countdown to Zero":  http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0406/Nuclear-weapons-a-political-strike-on-the-big-screen

Global Zero is an international movement for the phased, verified elimination of all nuclear weapons which includes more than 200 leaders worldwide, including former heads of state, foreign ministers, defense ministers, national security advisors, and top military commanders.

www.GlobalZero.org

SOURCE Global Zero