【273-274】Cambodia Set to Become One Party State

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AS IT IS

Report Urges US, Russian Cooperation on Nuclear Arms Control

July 30, 2018

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Report Urges US, Russian Cooperation on Nuclear Arms Control

The United States and Russia urgently need to restart cooperation to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, a new report says.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies, or IISS, based in London released the report. It is called “Once and Future Partners: The United States, Russia and Nuclear Non-Proliferation.”

The study uses formerly secret documents to show incidents in which the U.S. and Western countries cooperated with Russia to limit the spread of nuclear weapons in the past.

Cold War competitors worked together to limit nuclear arms

One important example of cooperation during the period known as the Cold War took place in August of 1977.

Soviet spy satellites showed preparations for a nuclear weapons test at a military base in South Africa. At the time, South Africa was ruled by a system of racial separation known as apartheid. The Soviets consulted with the U.S. before publicly announcing their findings.

Nicholas Redman is with the IISS. He spoke about relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union. He said the incident shows that, even during the tense period of the Cold War, the two sides could work together.

Redman said, “The Soviets took the risk of sharing this intelligence with the United States.”

South Africa denied it planned to carry out a nuclear weapons test. However, U.S. intelligence soon confirmed the presence of the test site. It helped pressure South Africa to cancel its plans.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter And Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1979.

Another example was the cooperation between U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Redman says that personal relationshipa were important, but other supports needed to be in place to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

“The fact that there were arms control specialists and scientific specialists in both governments, the fact that they met regularly…this was actually vital in building the entire regime,” he said.

The development of a plan for limiting the spread of nuclear weapons took about 10 years of talks in Geneva during the 1960s. The result was the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It remains important to nuclear arms control. But the NPT is being questioned more than at any time in its past.

Redman noted: “So there’s a need for an investment to rebuild these habits of cooperation because the threats haven’t actually gone away. There are still a lot of nuclear weapons that aren’t as secure as we would like them to be. There are even more nuclear materials…”

A new arms race?

Some experts are concerned that a new nuclear arms race is developing. They point to Russia developing so called tactical atomic weapons and American efforts to modernize nuclear weapons.

The United Nations has tried to support nuclear arms control with the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. However, no nuclear powers have been willing to sign the treaty.

Redman said, “Unless the United States and Russia cooperate, the problem is they could very quickly lose the initiative they have held up ‘till now.”

I’m Mario Ritter.

Henry Ridgewell reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

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Words in This Story

regime –n. 1. a form of government 2. a system of managing something

vital –adj. very important

initiative –n. the ability to do something before other do

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*【274】AS IT IS

Cambodia Set to Become One Party State

July 30, 2018

Cambodia's Prime Minister and President of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) Hun Sen prepares to cast his vote at a polling station during a general election in Takhmao, Kandal province, Cambodia July 29, 2018. (REUTERS/Samrang Pring)

The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) says it has won every seat in the country’s parliament.

The party released the statement after national elections on Sunday. The results would effectively make Cambodia a one-party state.

The CPP said it now controls all 125 seats in the National Assembly. But rights groups say the election results are misleading because the main opposition party was banned.

Sok Eysan is a spokesman for the CPP. He said he could not confirm the official vote count, “but I can say that the CPP will get most of the seats at the National Assembly.”

“The result of the election shows that there is a progression of democracy in Cambodia, as people used their right to decide the future of the country,” he said.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is now set to extend his already 33 year rule by another five years.

Nineteen minor parties took part in the election. They won only a small percentage of the vote.

Information released Monday by the National Election Committee (NEC) also suggests the CPP will win every assembly seat. The committee says more than 6.8 million registered voters marked ballots. There were almost 600,000 invalid ballots. The Associated Press news agency reports that they appeared to be cast as protests by voters who wished to keep their identities secret.

The CPP’s only real opponent in the election, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was dissolved late last year. Its leader Kem Sokha was put in jail. He was accused of inciting an internationally supported plot to overthrow the government.

In reaction, the CNRP launched what it called a “clean finger” campaign, urging voters to boycott the general elections.

Hun Sen’s government threatened criminal action against supporters of the campaign. The government also threatened action against Cambodian citizens if they chose to not vote.

Vice President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), Mu Sochua (L) and CNRP's Deputy Director for Foreign Affairs, Monovithya Kem (R), hold a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 30, 2018.

Criticism of the elections came from Western governments and other groups.

The United States called the vote neither “free nor fair.” The U.S. government said it would consider punitive measures, including an expansion of visa restrictions on top Cambodian government officials.

In a statement, the White House office of the Press Secretary said, “We are profoundly disappointed in the government’s choice to disenfranchise millions of voters, who are rightly proud of their country’s development over the past 25 years.” The statement went on to say that the campaign was marked by threats from national and local leaders to punish those choosing not to vote.

Australia’s foreign minister, Julie Bishop, also questioned the election results. In a statement, she said that Hun Sen’s actions to remove his political opponents have cancelled more than 25 years of progress toward democracy.

Australia, the United States, Canada, the European Union and Japan all said they had no plans to send representatives to observe the voting.

The national election commission said it would announce full totals on August 11. The official results will be released on August 15.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Jonathan Evans adapted this story from VOA News and AP reports. George Grow was the editor.

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