Obama's "world without nuclear weapons"

He wants a world without nuclear weapons? Then with a stroke of a pen he could reduce the world's nuclear arsenal by 20%. The US has 2,600 active warheads, plus another 6,800 inactive and/or obsolete. There are roughly 24,000 nukes on the planet now. Why not decommission 4,800 of our inactive weapons as a gesture of good faith and much-needed trust-building? It makes no sense to hold onto them. Even if Russia doesn't reciprocate, it's not like we're defenseless. We just got rid of the nukes that are basically billion-dollar paperweights, collecting dust somewhere in Livermore or Wyoming. Otherwise he is just spouting off the same empty talk.

Obama: "Iran is breaking rules that all* nations must follow."
* Except Israel and the Security Council Big 5

Obama wants a world where no new players develop nuclear weapons. The "responsible" nations can keep their bloated and obscene stockpiles. Yes Iran is skirting the rules and misbehaving on the nuclear issue. We would to the exact same in their shoes. Ideally we should work with other nations to persuade/pressure them to open up for inspections and negotiations. Of course they will stall, play games, and be difficult, just like North Korea. But of all people, General Khadafi raised a good point at the recent UN meeting (Libya is a temporary member of the Security Council now). If Iran has to open up its nuclear activities, shouldn't Israel be held to the same standards? Ambiguity surrounds Israel's nuclear capabilities, although a 1968 CIA report concluded that Israel had developed nukes (and produced as many as 100-200 warheads, which is 10X more than India and Pakistan's arsenals), we only concretely know of Israel's program because an employee at a facility, Mordechai Vanunu, went public with photos in the 1980s. After that, he was captured by Mossad and is currently rotting in solitary confinement, labeled by Tel Aviv as a traitor. Since Israel never signed the NPT (why wouldn't they if they are such a peace-loving nation?), they are not required to disclose any nuclear activities. But officially their government has declared, "Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East".

So we have no proof that Iran is weaponizing nuclear material, but we want to further sanction them out of suspicion. We have caught Israel in a bold-faced lie about its nuclear weapons, and we tolerate it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090925/ap_on_go_pr_wh/g20_summit_obama_iran
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3340639.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons