Marshall Islands sues US and 8 other countries over nuclear arms testing

About darned time that the little people stood up to the big guys? :

The Marshall Islands was the site of devastating nuclear tests in the mid-20th century...

THE tiny Marshall Islands is dragging the United States and eight other nuclear-armed countries to the UN's highest court for failing to halt the nuclear arms race and rid the world of atomic weapons.

Representatives of the Marshall Islands, site of devastating nuclear tests in the mid-20th century, "yesterday filed... separate applications against nine states," the Hague-based International Court of Justice said in a statement on Friday.

China, North Korea, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Britain and the United States are accused of "not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament." The government based in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro said by not stopping the nuclear arms race, the countries continued to breach their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- even if the treaty has not been by signed by some like India and Pakistan.

The Marshall islands also included Israel, widely believed to be the sole -- if undeclared -- nuclear armed power in the Middle East.

More here : www.news.com.au...

I hope they win this case which is going to be a long drawn out process...

Can you imagine the consequences of what happened because of these tests? :

For 13 years, the Marshall Islands has patiently waited for the U.S. Congress to reply to a petition seeking more nuclear test compensation. The lack of a response prompted the now-retired Representative Gary Ackerman from New York City to criticize the U.S. government’s response to its nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands, saying: “We’re going to just wait for these people do die, right?”

A key part of the equation, again ignored by U.S. government officialdom, is that all nuclear fallout exposure data was concealed by the United States during negotiation of the compensation agreement in 1982-1983, so Marshall Islands negotiators had no clue as to the extent of the fallout.

Declassified nuclear test era reports now confirm fallout exposure was far broader than the four atolls acknowledged and compensated by the U.S. government. Simply put, the U.S. government by concealing this information from Marshall Islanders did not negotiate in good faith and the compensation deal reflects this fact.

More here : www.islandsbusiness.com...

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Good on them. I really hope they kick butt!

Those Butts need a good kickin. It was just like world powers to hide the damage they caused.

Now the question really is, how much control does the US have in the world court. This case could be telling.

If you follow the UN General Assembly as I try to, you will find that a great many smaller nations hate the idea of Nuclear Armed super powers and would like to bring them all under some sort of control. Sadly, the UN General Assembly has no teeth, not even little ones.

The UN does not represent the smaller countries, never has, never will. That is why the world keeps lurching from one catastrophe to the next.

S&F for a great thread

P

a reply to: pheonix358

Remember the playground bullies when we were kids?

They picked on the smaller kids when they could...

But one day... Karma came around and kicked their arses...

Total tosspots... all of them and their brain washed followers...

That is my opinion.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

China, North Korea, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Britain and the United States are accused of "not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament."

So the Marshall Islands are sueing these nations for not pursing the line of nuclear disarmament

even if the treaty has not been by signed by some like India and Pakistan.

Wait whaaaat?

Fine if they wanna play that game what about the unlawful, trial-less drone executions, police states killing civilians on the street without reason, the privacy less countries where your identity is no longer yours to determine who knows what about you or the despot dictatorships that some of these countries have.

There are are far many more aspects in the world that could be picked up and rallied against which ACTUALLY AFFECT US.

I hate nuclear arms, I hate the money that is spent on them and I hate the fear and power that they create, but in all honesty there are far more problems in the world that can actually be changed in our life-times. The nuclear disarnament which is being called for won't happen until nuclear weapons are considered obsolete for the next big super-weapon that graces the world and even then there will be stockpiles of them buried for potential use.

Call me a naysayer but I can't see anything coming of this. It would be great if from this something happened and nuclear disarnament became possible yet i feel that there are other issues in the world that are more pressing and could be realistically tackled.