LONDON: The US has reiterated its opposition to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, saying it would only make the world more dangerous at a time when it is facing a “very serious international security climate.”
The deal, known as the ‘Ban Treaty’, was adopted by 122 UN member states in July, and if at least 50 states sign it on Sept. 20, it will enter into legal force.
Robert Wood, the US Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament based in Geneva, said if that happens it would be a grave error, even though it would not be mandatory for those who do not sign it.
“You cannot divorce nuclear disarmament from the prevailing security environment,” Wood told Arab News in a phone interview from Geneva.
“The security environment today is a very, very serious one with what Russia is doing, with what China is doing in the South China Sea and, of course, we cannot forget the gentleman in Pyongyang who is trying to destabilize the Korean peninsula with threats of using nuclear weapons.”
The recent saber-rattling by North Korea continued on Thursday when the pariah state threatened to sink Japan and said the US should be “beaten to death like a rabid dog.”
For some that only adds to the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons, for the US, though, the current crisis underlines why now is not the time to talk about disarmament.
“North Korea is the greatest nuclear challenge that the world faces and what the Ban Treaty is proposing is for nuclear weapons states to give up their nuclear weapons and for a number of our allies to stop depending on the nuclear umbrella for their security.
“The question I ask is that if the nuclear weapons states were to disarm tomorrow, is that something that’s going to be good for security when you have someone like Kim Jong-un, who is building up his nuclear weapons capabilities and is a huge danger to the planet?
“This is not a time to talk about nuclear disarmament.”
Kim Jong-un’s recent rhetoric has evoked memories of the Cold War, when nations lived in permanent fear of nuclear conflict.
Still, there are clear differences between now and then, according to Wood.
“I hesitate to compare periods, but I think when you look back to the 1950s and 1960s – the Soviet Union and its leadership at that time were certainly not irrational.
“What we’re dealing with today is a very irrational actor, in my view, a very dangerous one and this is a very huge threat.”
He rejected the notion that the current White House administration could also be accused of pursuing irrational foreign policy.
“Trying to compare Kim Jong-un and that regime with the President of the United States is an absolutely false comparison, it’s ridiculous,” he said.
“The President has been trying to communicate the concerns we have about North Korea in a way the North Korean leader understands. We are a responsible actor, we are a democracy and these people who try to make those comparisons are farcical in my view.”
In the short term Wood said the only way to end the crisis was through diplomacy.
“We need to exhaust all of the diplomatic options we have with North Korea. The existing sanctions we have on the books need to be fully enforced.”
The Ban Treaty ignores global security climate warns Wood
The Ban Treaty ignores global security climate warns Wood
US halts some Medicaid payments to Minnesota, alleging fraud
- Human rights advocates and Trump critics say the administration is using fraud allegations as an excuse to target immigrants and political opponents
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is withholding more than a quarter of a million dollars of Medicaid funding from Minnesota, saying the state allowed the theft of federal funds intended for social-welfare programs in the state.
US Vice President JD Vance and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees the Medicaid health care program for low-income households, announced the temporary halt at a joint press conference on Wednesday, where they criticized Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s administration for not doing enough to combat fraud.
“We are stopping the federal payments that will go to the state government until the state government takes its obligations seriously,” Vance said.
Walz fired back on social media, accusing the administration of attempting to punish Democratic-run states.
“This has nothing to do with fraud,” he said in a post on X. “This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota.”
Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has used fraud allegations in Minnesota as part of its justification for a months-long immigration crackdown in the state, during which federal agents shot and killed two US citizens, and for freezing funds meant for social programs.
Administration officials have pointed to a scandal that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Department of Justice indicted 47 people for allegedly defrauding $250 million from a federally funded child nutrition program.
Walz, a Democrat, said the latest withholding of Medicaid funding would be devastating for families, veterans and people with disabilities.
GOVERNMENT WITHHOLDS $259 MILLION IN MEDICAID FUNDS
Oz said the federal government had paused the payment of $259 million of deferred Medicaid payments to Minnesota following an audit, and would hold on to the funds until the state government proposes “a comprehensive corrective action plan.” He added that Walz had 60 days to respond.
Vance and Oz also announced a six-month nationwide moratorium blocking durable medical equipment suppliers — including for prosthesis, orthotics and other items — from enrolling in Medicaid, saying such suppliers had become a source of fraud.
Oz, citing an estimate from the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, said $300 billion a year is spent nationwide on health care that is “fraudulent, abusive or wasteful.” Of that, the federal portion is around $100 billion, he said.
The administration will soon announce additional actions targeting other states, he said, citing issues with health care fraud in southern Florida, California and New York.
Trump has tapped Vance to spearhead an administration “war on fraud” and created the new role of assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement to lead the Justice Department’s investigation and prosecution of fraud that affects the federal government and federally funded programs.
Trump has repeatedly attempted to withhold funding from Democratic-led states, although such cuts have frequently been blocked by federal judges who found the actions potentially retaliatory or legally flawed.
Human rights advocates and Trump critics say the administration is using fraud allegations as an excuse to target immigrants and political opponents.
