Realism in the Real World

During the Nuclear Summit called by President Obama various things were discussed among the 47 nations that were present. One important agreement is the agreement to keep nuclear weaponry out of reach from "non-state actors". These "non-state actors" are terrorist groups, such as Al-Queda, groups that would could use them for detrimental use against unsuspecting states. This idea though requires the cooperation of all the nuclear weapon holding countries. "It urges the nations to work cooperatively 'as an international community to advance nuclear security, requesting and providing assistance as necessary.' " It's thought that this is unlikely to happen because of countries that are nuclear weapon holders and their tense relations with some other nuclear weapon holders. The likeliness of the Jordanians, Algerians and Saudi's being willing to work with Israel (along with all the other countries, but Israel specifically) seems unlikely. Just as it seems unlikely for Pakistan to willingly work with India to prevent non-state actors from getting their hands on nuclear weapons because of Pakistan's stressed relations with India.

President Obama is asking for some international unity. Countries such as Mexico, Canada, Malaysia, Ukraine and Russia have offered to reduce the number of nuclear stocks they have or at least tighten the control they have on them to help keep out unwanted persons. After the first four countries offered to reduce and tighten control of their stocks President Obama was quoted saying, "the problems of the 21st century cannot be solved by nations acting in isolation- they must be solved by all of us coming together." But after Dmitry Medvedev agreed to shut down a reactor in Siberia, Obama said it was adding "momentum to our shared global effort". So far, those are the only countries that have committed to this. Sarkozy, the president of France has suggested that there be laws against intentionally transferring nuclear material to terrorist groups, asking for them to be put on trial in an international court. The only problem is this would be under the control of the United Nations, that although an altruistically and theoretically wonderful organization, doesn't always seem to have the power and ability to stop a country from doing what it wants.

Submitted by: Emily Schaub