World Needs Reset Of Entire System Of International Relations – Experts

The Russia-U.S. reset is not enough, there must a reset of the entire system of international relations, said experts of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe.

It is impossible to combat new challenges and threats alone, ex-International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head and ex-Swedish foreign minister Hans Blix said. Each year countries spend millions of dollars on weaponry, but it would be much better to spend this money on environmental protection, he said.

Forum President Vyacheslav Kantor said he was very much concerned about missile defense disagreements between Moscow and Washington. “The impasse in the missile defense dialog threats further limitation of non-strategic nuclear armaments. It is very important to build up confidence or otherwise the disagreements will become protracted,” he said.

Chairman of the Forum Organizing Committee Maj. Gen. Retired Vladimir Dvorkin said he was optimistic about the future of security architecture. “Disagreements between Russia and the United States are temporary. Any negotiations start with a comparison with positions; after that opinions are specified and brought together. It is only a question of time,” he said.

The Forum participants had a detailed discussion of the Iranian nuclear program. “The number of centrifuges is growing, and a point of no-return may be pretty close,” Kantor said. The experts did not rule out that the range of Iranian missiles might soon exceed 3,000 kilometers but said, at the same time, it was important to prevent a strike on Iran. “Consequences will be the most terrible,” they said.

The events in the Middle East and North Africa were a key item on the agenda. “The current events may lead to drastic changes in the correlation of political forces and endanger security of the entire region,” the experts said.

The International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe is a non-governmental organization that unites international experts in non-proliferation. It was founded in May 2007.

Source: ITAR-TASS