STAFF EDIT: An explosive issue

It’s an issue that can have more devastating consequences than the economic downturn or even the results of the Iraqi conflict. North Korea’s test launch of a long-range rocket on Saturday reminded the world that the nuclear threat has not gone away just because the Cold War is over or President Barack Obama has a good global reputation.

North Korea did not achieve its goal of getting the rocket into space, according to the United States Northern Command, but the country’s aggression is still unnerving. There is no easy solution to this delicate problem of nuclear proliferation. For so long, the United States and other powerful nations have told other countries that it is not acceptable for them to acquire nuclear weapons, but these words are ultimately hypocritical if the U.S. continues to hold thousands of its own nuclear weapons.

Fortunately, Obama’s speech in Prague this weekend on nuclear disarmament suggests that the United States is finally going to get serious about reducing the nuclear stockpile. He pledged to push the U.S. Senate to finally ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would ban the testing of nuclear weapons. Just as important is Obama’s promise to ‘put an end to the production of weapons grade materials’ used to create nuclear weapons.’

But all of Obama’s words, though forceful, will mean nothing unless he can truly put together a global coalition that is committed to destroying all nuclear weapons. The U.S. could destroy their entire nuclear arsenal tomorrow, but that would leave the country in a vulnerable position. Obama needs to use the current goodwill toward American leadership, which former President George W. Bush never had, to convince countries with large nuclear stockpiles, such as Russia, to take drastic steps toward disarmament.

The issue of nuclear weapons will never be clear-cut. The ideal situation would be a world free of nuclear weapons, but this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, many will argue that we need to possess these weapons to deter another country from attacking us. Regardless, there is no need for any country to possess thousands of weapons. The more weapons existing in the world, the greater the chance that one of them could fall into the hands of a terrorist. In taking an aggressive stance against the testing and spread of nuclear weapons, Obama is showing that he will be doing all he can to make a nuclear-free future a reality.