CanadaNews’ Reporter Notes

U.S. Senator John McCain, the Republicans answer in November, gave a landmark speech yesterday. The thing is, most people don’t care. Why? The Barack and Hillary Drama.

I was not exactly truthful when I said landmark. His speech was not a landmark piece. Well, not in general anyway. His speech is more landmark, specifically to those in the nuclear energy field. The defense side that is.

The Arizona senator spoke on the responsibility to engage more seriously in disarmament.

Director of British American Security Information Council (BASIC) Paul Ingram remarked, “This is the clearest indication yet that nuclear disarmament has now achieved the mainstream - and it is now out of touch to oppose it. This is a speech that represents a clear departure not only from the current Administration, but also John McCain’s past record. It is a landmark for those working towards the mainstreaming of multilateral disarmament and in opposition to unilateralism and the modernization of nuclear forces.”

McCain is doing everything he can to distance himself from the Bush administration. He talked about how little the past two decades have done in controlling nuclear proliferation. In his defense though, he did say Dems have done very little too. McCain said this is a real problem.

“No problem we face poses a greater threat to us and the world than nuclear proliferation.”

The clear answer with the debate of proliferation is bi-partician support. As with everything else on Capitol Hill, it’s easier said than done. McCain emphasised the importance of the bipartisan approach by combining our national energies in seeking practical and effective solutions.

The United States needs to know that they are not in this alone. The U.S. has to build a community of nations all drawn together in vital compromise. It would be far-fetched to believe that the United States will stop the spread of nuclear weapons by unilateral action. But how are they going to stop other countries from using nuclear weapons?

One thing McCain wants is a stronger and larger IAEA, for international fuel banks available to those that renounce their own enrichment and reprocessing facilities, and an international repository for spent nuclear fuel.

He didn’t let the republican party get away from him. He finally did say, “I would only support the development of any new type of nuclear weapon that is absolutely essential for the viability of our deterrent, that results in making possible further decreases in the size of our nuclear arsenal, and furthers our global nuclear security goals.”

If you’d like to see the speech in it’s entireity, go here: speech