A Conversation with Ambassador Richard Butler

The video embedded below was submitted to us by WPSU/Penn State Public Broadcasting. In the video, Ambassador Richard Butler - former Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and current distinguished scholar for international peace and security at Penn State’s School of International Affairs - speaks at length about nuclear arms control and disarmament. Ambassador Butler goes to great lengths describing the enormous danger that the existence of nuclear weapons poses to the world, talks about the consequences of a nuclear conflict, and comments on such topics as nuclear weapons on high alert and the axiom of proliferation (the idea that as long as one state has the weapons, others will seek them). Ultimately, Butler outlines a series of steps to the elimination of nuclear weapons, including massive U.S./Russian reductions, ratification of the CTBT, adoption of a FMCT, reductions by the other nuclear-weapons states, and convincing of the remaining states - India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea (admittedly difficult) - to renounce their weapons. An interesting perspective for sure - and worth a listen.