US Casts Sole ‘No’ Vote Against Proposed Treaty Restricting Arms Trade

[Jcrowley]

US casts sole ‘no’ vote against
proposed treaty restricting arms trade

By Kaleem Omar

The United States, which is the world’s biggest exporter of arms and accounts for more than 50 per cent of all arms exports, on Wednesday became the only country in the United Nations to vote against letting work begin on a new treaty to bolster arms embargoes and prevent human rights abuses by setting uniform worldwide standards for arms deals. The vote in the 192-nation UN General Assembly was 153-1, with the United States casting the sole “no” vote. Twenty-four other nations abstained, including major arms sellers Russia and China and emerging exporters India and Pakistan.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose term of office ends on December 31, welcomed the launch of a process that could lead to a treaty regulating international trade in conventional weapons. Unregulated trade in such arms “currently contributes to conflict, crime and terrorism, and undermines international efforts for peace and development,” Annan spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

The Reiuters news agency reported that the measure would give incoming US Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (South Korea’s fotmer foreign minister), who succeeds Annan on January 1, a year to explore and report back to the General Assembly on the feasibility and scope of a binding international treaty establishing uniform standards for arms deals.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=34913

[napi21]

1. Was thisBolten's last hurrah there?

I guess he is only following orders, but what a shame!!!!

[Kagemusha]

5. I had read elsewhere it was indeed Bolton's last vote.

Yeah, pretty fitting for the jerk.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. do't be so hard on bolton... bolton was to diplomacy...

what Hitler was to human rights

[bperci108]

2. There's no such thing as the "Military-Industrial Complex".

Move along....


Nothing to see here.....


Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...


;)

[Vidar]

3. Proving once again that the US is at the bottom of the international

integrity list.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. what do you expect in a country that loves guns so much

it's engrained into our fabric to love wanton violence and things that go *boom* and kill people.

[bobbolink]

6. Ya just gotta love being a citizen of such a "moral" country.

:(

[Jcrowley]

8. Off the top of my head

In many of these cases the US stood alone and in those they did not only a few went along after being pressured by the US:

- The US Opposed The Land Mine Treaty

- Opposed and opted out of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

- Opposed even a weakened Kyoto Protocol

- Sent a low-level delegation which then walked out on the Racism Conference in Durban, South Africa

- Scrapped the Anti-Ballistic Treaty

- Opposed a Ban On Weapons In Space

- Opted out of the Bio-Safety Protocol

- Opposed The Sustainability Conference in Johannesburg

- Voted against The Child Welfare Rights Accord

- Opposed the Biological and Chemical Weapons Treaty

- Sole dissenting vote against the International Right To Food Declaration at The World Summit

- Blocked UN conference on Small Arms trade

- Demands blanket exemption in the International Criminal Court

- Is the World's Largest Arms Exporter

- Has largest prison population per capita

- One of only three countries that put children to death

- Only "developed" country that does nt provide it's citizens with health care

- Uses 25% of the world's energy with only 4% of the world's population

- Spends more on military systems and weapons than the rest of the world combined

[bobbolink]

11. Well, you've certainly cheered me up, and given me hope.

:(

DAng... this gets horribler and horribler.....

One gets flamed for saying so, but this is why I don't hold out a lot of hope for improvement just because the DEms won Congress.

Thanks for staying on top of all this.... really, I hope you have plenty of outlets to keep up your spirits, cuz this is just depressing!

[marmar]

7. What a f..king embarassment......

They should have dragged him out of the UN by his silly ass moustache. My country 'tis of thee :cry:.......

[Hosnon]

9. At least the U.N. Gen. Ass. is not like the Sec. Council and our vote didn't veto it. nt.

[nam78_two]

10. K&R.nt

[Selatius]

12. The US is the largest arms dealer on the planet.

Arms embargoes cut into profit margins.

The military-industrial complex wants to be fed.

[Rex]

13. Death and suffering, the MIC LOVES to make money off of corpses.

A bigger threat to humanity, there never has been.

Ike warned us and nobody listened.