[QUOTE]Obama will hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao before hosting high-level delegations from nearly 50 countries for the opening of the global conference, where the focus will be on how to prevent nuclear terrorism.
In the one-on-one meeting with Hu, Obama hopes to cement China's commitment to help ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program after Beijing agreed to join serious talks about possible new U.N. sanctions on Tehran.
The two leaders will also try to nurture a thaw in Sino-U.S. relations after tensions spiked in recent months over a range of issues. Financial markets will be seeking further signs of China giving ground over its currency valuation.
The Washington summit is the culmination of a hectic week of nuclear diplomacy for Obama and comes a year after he laid out a vision of a world free of atomic weapons.
It follows close on the heels of Obama's unveiling of a revamped U.S. nuclear doctrine limiting the use of atomic arms and the signing of a landmark post-Cold War treaty with Russia pledging to cut their nuclear arsenals by a third.
At home, Obama's conservative critics say his arms-control strategy is naive and could compromise U.S. national security.
Despite that, the two-day summit -- the biggest U.S.-hosted assembly of world leaders in six decades -- will be a test of Obama's ability to rally global action on his nuclear agenda.
Speaking on the eve of the conference, Obama said he expected it to yield "enormous progress" toward the goal of locking down loose nuclear materials worldwide.
"We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon, a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using," Obama told reporters, calling it the biggest threat to national security.
A draft final communique shows leaders will pledge to work toward safeguarding all "vulnerable nuclear material" within four years and take steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.
NOT ON AGENDA BUT ON SUMMITEERS' MINDS
Iran and North Korea are not on the guest list or the summit agenda. But their nuclear standoffs with the West are sure to figure heavily in Obama's talks with Hu and other leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will sit down with the U.S. president on Tuesday after the summit is over.
With Obama pushing to get new sanctions in place against Iran within weeks, China -- after months of delay -- reluctantly agreed to join in crafting a U.N. resolution. But Obama has yet to completely overcome Beijing's skepticism.
The West wants to deter what it sees as a covert drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran says it has only peaceful intentions, focused on generation of electricity.
The list of leaders in attendance will range from heads of state of traditional nuclear powers like Russia and France to nuclear-armed foes like India and neighboring Pakistan.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani assured Obama in talks on Sunday his government has "appropriate safeguard" for its nuclear arsenal. Experts say Pakistan's stockpile of weapons-grade material poses a high risk because of internal security threats from the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Missing will be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who withdrew fearing Muslim leaders would use the summit as a forum to demand Israel give up its assumed nuclear arsenal.
Still, nuclear-defiant Iran will be the summit's sub-text.
In Prague last week, Obama persuaded President Dmitry Medvedev to keep pressure on Iran, but the Russian leader made clear there remain limits to Moscow's support for sanctions.
For its part, a defiant Iran has dismissed the summit's chances for success "as long as some nuclear-armed countries ... are constantly preoccupied with the idea of depriving other countries of the peaceful use of nuclear technology."
Hu's decision to attend the summit is seen as part of a two-way effort to get relations back on track after months of bickering over China's currency, its Internet censorship, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Days after Beijing announced Hu's participation, Washington said it would delay a decision scheduled for mid-April on whether to declare China a currency manipulator.
China, meanwhile, has signaled it may be close to revaluing its yuan currency. In a pivotal congressional election year, the Obama administration has pressured Beijing to scrap its currency peg, saying it hurts U.S. business and jobs.[/QUOTE]
Thats it. im building a underground base
God I fucking hate teabaggers. How does cutting on nuclear arms hurt national security? We still have enough to destroy the earth and the moon 4 times over.
[QUOTE=Ta16;21302795]God I fucking hate teabaggers. How does cutting on nuclear arms hurt national security? We still have enough to destroy the earth and the moon 4 times over.[/QUOTE]
Someone get the chart out for this idiot.
[QUOTE=TheSpy;21302746]Thats it. im building a underground base[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.ki4u.com/guide4.gif[/img]
[QUOTE=TheSpy;21302746]Thats it. im building a underground base[/QUOTE]
These sure are hectic times.
[QUOTE=Fables;21302813]Someone get the chart out for this idiot.[/QUOTE]
Someone do the math on how much percent of the world's population we could actually wipe out assuming that nukes hit the most densely populated areas of the world and then explain how that would basically destroy the world economy and then explain things like nuclear fallout to this idiot.
[QUOTE=Fables;21302813]Someone get the chart out for this idiot.[/QUOTE]
You don't need to coat the world in fire to end it.
[QUOTE=Regulas021;21303341]You don't need to coat the world in fire to end it.[/QUOTE]
No, you need to coat it in glass.
Molten, radioactive glass.
[quote]Nuclear summit looms[/quote]
im scared
Hu is the leader of China?
Disarmament is done for reasons other than negotiation, one loose nuclear warhead is all it takes to fuck over a city. The more nuclear weapons safely disarmed, the less you need to worry that Terrorists will get their hands on.
Don't worry about destroying the earth with Nuclear weapons either, they can inflict massive casualties and send us back a long way technologically but there would be more than enough humans left. If you want to cover every square inch of earth with Nuclear fire, you would need approximately 4.2 million Tsar Bombas. Cut that number down for uninhabited areas and deaths that could be attributed to fallout and you still don't have enough.
Besides, what are the chances they will nuke everything including completely uninvolved countries? Although it would be fun to nuke Uruguay, that bomb is probably better placed on a Chinese City.
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