LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Zero today called on nuclear nations for the first time in history to begin negotiations on multilateral nuclear arms reductions. The group is meeting at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library today and tomorrow, the 25th anniversary of the historic Reykjavik Summit when Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev nearly agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons. The group called on heads-of-government to launch the multilateral negotiations with a Nuclear Weapons Summit.
One hundred eminent international leaders are participating in the event, including former US Secretaries of State George Shultz, who opened the meeting Tuesday morning, and James Baker, who will speak tonight; Gen. (Ret.) James Cartwright, who will deliver remarks on Wednesday morning; and business leaders Richard Bransonand Jeff Skoll, who will speak on a panel on the cost of nuclear weapons directly following Gen. Cartwright's speech.
Former Secretary of State George Shultz, in his remarks this morning, discussed President Reagan's deep belief in the elimination of all nuclear weapons, and said:
"So I say, let's jack up our resolve now, use our best brains and creativity, and get rid of nuclear weapons so we can win one more for the Gipper."
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"What right does some human being have to press a button and kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of human beings? We're not God."
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"How good of a deterrent is a nuclear weapon anyhow? What threat are they deterring? I don't see much usefulness myself."
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"We need to continue to keep this subject on the front burner in every way possible and not let it die."
The Global Zero Summit is taking place at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, today, Tuesday, October 11 through tomorrow, Wednesday, October 12. The program includes progress reports by leaders from key countries, strategy sessions, presentations by student leaders on Global Zero's grassroots campaign focusing on the $1 trillion per decade cost of nuclear arsenals, and a gala dinner. See attached for full program schedule.
Global Zero - the international movement for the elimination of all nuclear weapons - has grown to 300 leaders and 400,000 citizens; developed a step-by-step plan to eliminate nuclear weapons; built an international student movement with 80 campus chapters; and produced a documentary film, Countdown to Zero, with the team behind An Inconvenient Truth. President Barack Obama, President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister David Cameron, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have endorsed the Global Zero movement, with Obama declaring, "Global Zero will always have a partner in me and my administration." Leading newspapers have backed Global Zero's plan, the Financial Times concluding that, "Global Zero's plan has shown the direction to be travelled; the world's leaders must now start moving."
*Views and opinions expressed by Global Zero are not necessarily shared by The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation.
SOURCE Global Zero
