Zero nuclear weapons by 2030 too ambitious

The campaign Global Zero in Paris last week called for all nuclear weapons to be scrapped by 2030. In an article published in the conservative daily Corriere della Sera, British historian Timothy Garton Ash points out that such ambitious goals can distract from the concrete tasks ahead: "Effective nuclear disarmament will require intrusive verification, which most of the sovereignty-conscious great powers of this world are extremely reluctant to concede. ... It is not just Iran which is working strenuously to move in the opposite direction. ... But what happens after 2025 is not the most important subject to be debating now. The big issue is what happens in 2010. ... At the moment ...  the world is going in the opposite direction. We are close to a nuclear proliferation tipping point. ... If the established nuclear weapons states do not this year take a decisive lead in reducing the number and diffusion of nuclear weapons, it may soon be too late. And, by the way, in the excruciating choices about public spending that now confront us all, they can save some much-needed money this way, too."

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