2009 brought progress on proliferation, despite challenges

NPR's Mike Shuster looks back at the promise, setbacks and progress toward reducing nuclear weapons in 2009.  Joshua Pollack, who writes for the Ploughshares-funded blog Arms Control Wonk, says that nonproliferation regime "has succeeded in retarding the pace of proliferation and continues to do so," responding to analysts who claim that the system is crumbling.  Michael Krepon, president emeritus of the Henry L. Stimson Center agrees with Pollock, adding that the past decade has seen the fewest nuclear tests of any comparable period.  Ploughshares Fund's Joe Cirincione tells Shuster that there is much to be optimistic about.  "The overall climate is so much improved, and the overall effort to just dramatically reduce nuclear weapons and increase the transparency gives us lots of assurances," he says.  Listen to the story here.

 

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