From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Russia and the U.S. clashed in the United Nations   
   on Friday over Moscow's plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in   
   Belarus.   
      
   China, without naming Russia, made clear its opposition to the planned   
   deployment.   
      
   Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya called for the U.N. Security   
   Council meeting following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement   
   on March 25 that his country plans to deploy tactical, comparatively   
   short-range and small-yield nuclear weapons in Belarus.   
      
   Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko upped the ante just before the   
   council meeting, saying Russia might also deploy strategic nuclear weapons   
   in Belarus, which Russian forces have used as a staging ground for the war   
   in Ukraine.   
      
   Kyslytsya said it took only four days for Putin to violate a pledge he   
   made to China's President Xi Jinping in a joint statement at their recent   
   meeting in Moscow. It declared that all nuclear states should refrain from   
   deploying nuclear weapons outside their countries and withdraw those   
   deployed abroad.   
      
   The same point was emphasized by the U.S. and Chinese deputy U.N.   
   ambassadors, among others.   
      
   "We call for the abolition of the nuclear-sharing arrangements and   
   advocate no deployment of nuclear weapons abroad by all nuclear weapons   
   states, and the withdrawal of nuclear weapons deployed abroad," said Geng   
   Shuang of China.   
      
   Calling nuclear weapons "the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads,"   
   Geng reiterated that China opposes armed attacks against nuclear power   
   plants and the threat or use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. He said   
   "nuclear proliferation must be prevented and nuclear crisis avoided."   
      
   Beijing claims to have a neutral stance in the war, but has also stressed   
   its "no limits friendship" with Russia. It has refused to criticize   
   Moscow's invasion, and late last month released a peace plan calling for a   
   cease-fire and talks between Ukraine and Russia.   
      
   Kyslytsya welcomed Beijing's stand, telling the council: "To the credit of   
   the Chinese side, the Chinese side reminded Moscow in a very sensible   
   manner that nuclear war cannot be won and fought, and that nuclear   
   proliferation must be prevented."   
      
   Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow is not transferring   
   nuclear weapons but "operational tactical missile complexes," which will   
   be under Russian control. He insisted this was not in violation of   
   Moscow's international obligations.   
      
   Nebenzia accused the United States of destroying key arms control   
   agreements and he repeated Putin's objection to the tactical nuclear   
   weapons the U.S. has deployed in other NATO countries, indicating that   
   this violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of   
   global disarmament.   
      
   Belarus' U.N. Ambassador Valentin Rybakov said the planned deployment of   
   tactical nuclear weapons was a reaction to "the challenges and risks to   
   national security" his country faces, citing NATO neighbors ramping up   
   their military capacity and Western sanctions. He also criticized the U.S.   
   nuclear sharing with its allies.   
      
   The U.S. deputy ambassador, Robert Wood, countered that the issue of   
   nuclear sharing within NATO was discussed during negotiations on the NPT   
   treaty, and for close to four decades Washington heard nothing about it   
    from Russia until after its takeover of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in   
   2014.   
      
   Wood stressed that any allegations that the United States is not in full   
   compliance with the nonproliferation treaty "are just patently false."   
      
   He accused Russia of "attempting to manipulate the specter of nuclear   
   conflict" to help win the war in Ukraine.   
      
   "No other country is inflicting such damage on arms control nor seeking to   
   undermine strategic stability in Europe," Wood said. "No other country has   
   raised the prospect of potential nuclear use in connection with the war in   
   Ukraine. No country is threatening Russia or threatening President Putin."   
      
   ### - so much for 'diplomacy' then huh... another myth busted?   
      
   (slider silently mouths the words: 'i am sooo cynical') :D   
      
   plus so much for the UN too! if merely resorting to eloquently cussing   
   each other out is the BEST our so-called 'ambassadors' can be bothered   
   with in this time of crisis?? geez!   
      
   lol it's a wonder they didn't start actually thumping each other?? haha   
   :)))   
      
   can just see the headlines innit... Newsflash: 'Fists Fly At The UN!'   
      
   diplomacy? - yeah riiiiiiiight..... 'coercion' would be a far more   
   appropriate term...   
      
   coz it's gone waaay PAST diplomacy! if indeed it ever existed that is...   
      
   unless... they bring it back?? (unlikely now until summat truly 'orrible   
   happens!)   
      
   no? fuck diplomacy then, was obviously only ever a barefaced lie to begin   
   with heh...   
      
   as in: "whiteman speaks with forked tongue!" (great line + lol @ them   
   actually saying that?)   
      
   yep, we gots your 'diplomacy' right here pally...   
      
   we just calls it bs-delux :P   
      
   so hurry-up and bring-on the all-out mayhem show bud, coz thang's gettin'   
   impatient!   
      
   and we don't need another one of his: mr-angry meltdowns haha :))))   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)