![\"Speaking](\"http:\/\/www.stanforddaily.com\/cgi-bin\/wp-content\/uploads\/new012610nuclear-300x199.jpg\" "\\"new012610nuclear\\"")
<\/p>\nSpeaking on the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz (middle), physicist Sidney Drell (right) and moderator Phil Taubman '71 (left) addressed a packed audience in Tressider Memorial Union on Monday at and event hosted by Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). (ARNAV MOUDGIL\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/h4>\n
Former Secretary of State George Shultz calls for ‘hard-boiled democracy’ toward Iran<\/h4>\n
In front of a packed audience in Tresidder Memorial Union yesterday, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and renowned physicist Sidney Drell spoke about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and their joint efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
The event was organized by Stanford\u2019s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and moderated by Phil Taubman \u201971, former Daily editor in chief and Washington bureau chief of The New York Times.<\/p>\n
Shultz and Drell have been working with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn for several years to encourage international governments to reduce and eventually eliminate their nuclear arsenals.<\/p>\n
Shultz explained the motivation for his efforts by sharing an anecdote that took place during his years as Secretary of State under President Reagan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn one of our private one-on-one meetings one evening, [Reagan] said, \u2018Not since Britain burned down the White House in 1814 has our national security been so directly threatened as it is now, by the existence of nuclear weapons,\u2019\u201d Shultz said. \u201cWe decided if we could just get rid of them, the world would be a much safer place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof. Drell spoke at length about the international landscape of current nuclear proliferation policy, emphasizing the urgency of the need to fight the spread of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne huge difference between the Cold War days and today is that there are no longer just the two superpowers, but rather, we are in a world where many more countries possess the know-how to create nuclear weaponry,\u201d Drell said. \u201cWe are seeing that with North Korea and Iran. What we end up with is an extremely unstable situation that we should not be comfortable with going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most prominent themes that ran throughout the two men\u2019s commentary was the necessity \u2013 and difficulty \u2013 of coming up with specific tenable strategies to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is all fine and well to say that you want to rid the world of nukes, but how do you do it?\u201d Shultz asked. \u201cIn a sense, the battle of rhetoric has been won\u2026 almost everyone agrees that getting rid of nuclear weapons is a good thing. But now the battle of action is in front of you\u2026 North Korea has nuclear weapons, Iran wants them and there is seemingly very little we can do about it. How do we handle these countries?\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the discussion focused specifically on Iran. The country has a nuclear development program in place but states that its uranium enrichment facilities are intended only to provide nuclear energy to civilians. Because of this, the Iranian government has resisted international pressure to shut down these facilities.<\/p>\n
Shultz addressed this issue in an interview with The Daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who thinks Iran is enriching uranium for energy purposes needs to have their head checked,\u201d Shultz said. \u201cWhy would a country with all the oil in the world need a nuclear power plant? They are clearly trying to achieve nuclear power, and the time has come for them to be stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Secretary of State called for \u201chard-boiled diplomacy\u201d in America\u2019s policies toward Iran, calling the country an \u201cillegitimate state\u201d under the current administration. He even suggested that naval officers should have the authority to attack Iranians who approach American ships in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n
Shultz also expressed skepticism at the alternative of allowing nations to maintain nuclear weaponry and rely on deterrence and mutually assured destruction to preserve world peace, as during the Cold War.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs more and more countries have nuclear weapons, and more people know how to make them, there\u2019s more fissile material lying around,\u201d Shultz said in response to a question from the audience. \u201cParties might get hold of nuclear weapons who simply are not deterrable \u2013 who want to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drell spoke positively of the policies and attitudes of the Obama administration on the question of international nuclear policy. He stressed that the issue was a non-partisan one, transcending political parties and affecting all humans equally. He also, however, dwelled on challenges that lay ahead for the current administration and called for more specific objectives and policy aims from the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge that the administration faces is articulating a policy that makes clear what we want to do, what we don\u2019t want to do and what kind of steps we want to take to get there,\u201d Drell said. \u201cBe it specific kinds of reductions, comprehensive test bans, controlling the nuclear fuel cycle or what have you, step by step we need to create a new culture where these things are clarified and prioritized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over a distinguished career, Shultz has served as professor of economics at MIT and University of Chicago, Secretary of the Treasury under President Nixon, president of Bechtel Corporation and Secretary of State under President Reagan. He is currently a distinguished fellow at Stanford\u2019s Hoover Institution.<\/p>\n
Drell is a professor emeritus at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is a noted theoretical physicist and has won numerous awards in recognition of his achievements, including the prestigious Enrico Fermi award.<\/p>\n
The audience seemed generally stimulated by the talk and wowed by the speakers\u2019 combined experience in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that Mr. Shultz was there in the highest reaches of American government throughout the Cold War, in the conference rooms and on the phone with presidents literally shaping American nuclear policy, lends so much credibility to his opinions on the matter and makes it fascinating to hear what he has to say,\u201d said Kelsey King \u201911, a comparative studies in race and ethnicity (CSRE) major.<\/p>\n
Others, however, had reservations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, it was fascinating to hear what two figures who have had decades of experience in the area of nuclear proliferation had to say,\u201d said Stephanie Majerowicz \u201910, a political science major. \u201cNevertheless, I left the talk feeling the speakers had not really made any concrete suggestions in terms of how to achieve their oft-mentioned goal of disarmament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaking on the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz (middle), physicist Sidney Drell (right) and moderator Phil Taubman '71 (left) addressed a packed audience in Tressider Memorial Union on Monday at and event hosted by Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). (ARNAV MOUDGIL\/Staff Photographer) Former Secretary of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}