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WHILE WE'RE ALL WATCHING THE GULF: HILLARY SIGNS UN SMALL ARMS TREATY |
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By J. Mark Foreman While everyone was watching the oil spill, Hillary
Clinton SIGNED the The decision, announced in a statement
released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would support the talks as long as the negotiating "Consensus is needed to ensure the widest possible support for the Treaty and to avoid loopholes in
the Treaty While praising the Obama administration's decision to overturn the Bush-era policy and to
proceed with negotiations to regulate conventional arms "The shift in position by the world's biggest arms exporter is
a major breakthrough in launching formal negotiations at the United Nations in order to prevent However, they said insisting
that decisions on the treaty be made by consensus "could fatally weaken a final deal." "Governments
must resist US demands to give any single state the power to veto the treaty as this could hold the process hostage during
the course of The proposed legally binding treaty would tighten regulation of, and set
international standards for, the import, Supporters
say it would give worldwide coverage to close gaps in existing regional and national arms export control systems that allow
weapons to pass Nations would remain in charge of their arms export control
arrangements but would be legally obliged to assess each export against criteria agreed The main opponent of the treaty in
the past was the U.S. Bush administration, which said national controls were better. Last year, the United States Arms exporters China,
Russia and Israel abstained last year in a U.N. vote on the issue. The proposed treaty is opposed by
conservative U.S. think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which said last month that it would not restrict the access of The U.S. lobbying group the National Rifle Association has also opposed the treaty. A resolution before the U.N. General Assembly is sponsored by seven nations including major arms exporter
Britain. It calls for preparatory |
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