Limited Test Ban Treaty
 Limited Test Ban Treaty  (Treaty)   | |
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The Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT), formally known as the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, prohibited all test detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground. It is also abbreviated as the Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) and Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (NTBT), though the latter may also refer to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which succeeded the LTBT for ratifying parties.[1]
Contents
Easing Cold War tensions
Upon assuming the presidency in January 1961, John F. Kennedy was committed to advancing a comprehensive test ban on nuclear weapons. He quickly ordered a review of the US negotiating position to revitalise stalled talks, as he believed Eisenhower's previous approach had been "insufficient" in achieving meaningful progress toward nuclear disarmament. JFK saw the test ban as a critical step toward reducing nuclear proliferation and easing Cold War tensions.
Negotiations initially focused on a comprehensive ban, but that was abandoned because of technical questions surrounding the detection of underground tests and Soviet concerns over the intrusiveness of proposed verification methods. The impetus for the test ban was provided by rising public anxiety over the magnitude of nuclear tests, particularly tests of new thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs), and the resulting nuclear fallout. A test ban was also seen as a means of slowing nuclear proliferation and the nuclear arms race. Though the PTBT did not halt proliferation or the arms race, its enactment did coincide with a substantial decline in the concentration of radioactive particles in the atmosphere.
Effective date 10 October 1963
| President Kennedy: "What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war." |
The LTBT was signed by the governments of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States in Moscow on 5 August 1963 before it was opened for signature by other countries. The LTBT formally went into effect on 10 October 1963. Since then, 123 other states have become party to the treaty. Ten states have signed but not ratified the treaty.[2]
On 10 June 1963, speaking at American University in Washington, JFK controversially sought peace with the Soviet Union and an end to the Cold War:
- “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy — or of a collective death-wish for the world.[3]
- “What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek?
- "Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”[4]
Contravention
The 1979 Vela Incident in the southern Atlantic may have been an atmospheric nuclear test in contravention of the LTBT by Israel and South Africa, both of which were parties to the treaty.[5]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:A History of Humiliation | Article | 26 November 2024 | Joe Lauria | "Vladimir Putin became President of Russia on New Year’s Eve 1999. He sought friendship with the West. But in 2000 Bill Clinton humiliated him when he refused within hours Putin’s request for Russia to join NATO. After nearly three years now of major conflict in Ukraine, it is the United States, Europe and especially Joe Biden that face humiliation. Russia has won the war: economic, information (except in the West), and on the ground." |
References
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