North Korean nuclear test highlights 'Global Alarm System'

North Korea’s recent nuclear test provides further impetus to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to blogger Jeff Oakley in Talking Points Memo.  He quotes Daryl Kimball of the Ploughshares-funded Arms Control Association, who explains that the CTBT can help de-escalate regional tensions.  Before the test even occurred, Kimball wrote, “National and international capabilities to detect and deter possible clandestine nuclear testing by other states [such as North Korea] will be significantly greater with the CTBT in force."  Kimball concludes, “The case for the CTBT is stronger than ever.”