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From: asmirnz@kol.co.nz
Date: Wed Apr 14 2010 - 03:33:03 EDT
Selam Dehai,
For almost of a quarter of a century New Zealand has been chastise
for its Nuclear Free Zone by the US and also partly by Australia.
Although our beloved late Prime Minister David Lange is not with us
today, I am sure he is watching and smiling at what President Obama is
undertaking. As the Eritreans saying goes ?aybelnando, ?we told you
so?, today like that little drip of water that make the slate shine,
Prime Minister David Lange legacy is not only shining but also made
America shine. In this Nuclear Security Summit,
New Zealand should not only be placed at the highest pedestal but also
be rewarded by lifting the embargo placed on it on its free trade
agreement with the US.
Hopefully like that of New Zealand, the Obama Administration see into
it that the embargo placed on Eritrea is in the end counterproductive.
May God/Allah spare our horn peoples from more strife.
Asmire nz
Please read below and be inspired:
The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act
is a New Zealand law passed by the Fourth Labour Government in 1987
"to establish in New Zealand a Nuclear Free Zone, to promote and
encourage an active and effective contribution by New Zealand to the
essential process of disarmament and international arms control"[1].
It also implemented a number of treaties in New Zealand, including the
South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty and the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Lange made his name on the international stage with a long-running
campaign against nuclear weapons. His government refused to allow
nuclear-armed ships into New Zealand waters, a policy that New Zealand
continues to this day. The policy, developing in 1985, had the effect
of prohibiting United States Navy ships from visiting New Zealand.
This displeased the United States and Australia: they regarded the
policy as a breach of treaty obligations under ANZUS and as an
abrogation of responsibility in the context of the Cold War against
the Soviet bloc. After consultations with Australia and after
negotiations with New Zealand broke down, the United States announced
that it would suspend its treaty obligations to New Zealand until the
re-admission of United States Navy ships to New Zealand ports,
characterising New Zealand as "a friend, but not an ally". The
perceived "crisis" made front-page headlines for weeks in many[which?]
American newspapers, and media[who?] quoted many United States Cabinet
members[who?] as expressing a deep sense of "betrayal".
Erroneous claims sometimes suggest that David Lange withdrew New
Zealand from ANZUS. His government's policy may have prompted the US's
decision to suspend its ANZUS Treaty obligations to New Zealand, but
that decision rested with the U.S. government, not with the New
Zealand government.
Relations with France became strained when French agents of the DGSE
bombed and sank the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July
1985 while it lay moored in Auckland Harbour, killing one person. In
one of the highlights of this period, a widely-televised Oxford Union
debate in 1985 showcased Lange, a skilled orator, arguing for the
proposition that "nuclear weapons are morally indefensible", in
opposition to U.S. televangelist Jerry Falwell. (TVNZ has made
available an audio of Lange's speech.) Many[who?] regard this debate
as Lange's finest hour on the world stage. It included his memorable
statement "I can smell the uranium on it [your breath]...!".[4]
In June 1986 Lange obtained a political deal with France over the
Rainbow Warrior affair, presided over by United Nations
Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. France agreed to pay
compensation of NZ$13 million (US$6.5 million) to New Zealand and also
to apologise. In return, Lange agreed that French authorities could
detain the convicted French agents Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur
at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. However, the
two spies both walked free by May 1988, after less than two years had
elapsed.