May 6, the Sun finally shines on the UN! (After three days of rain!)

Kudos to theInternational Committee of Peace Action for their outstanding work at the UN, and for the citizen diplomats from around the country who came to the UN for the NPT PrepCom this week. Everywhere you turned there was a Peace Actionista attending the various sessions and networking with key allies. And speaking of which, we helped convene a terrific meeting with our colleagues from Japan, France, Britain and Germany today, in which we laid plans for collaborating on an international petition drive calling on President Obama and other world leaders to initiate negotiations on nuclear abolition before the NPT Review Conference next year, and to organize a conference and rally at the UN next spring before the review conference. The excitement among US and international NGO’s, as well as the official governmental delegations, is palpable. And it’s not just for incremental arms control steps, as important as they are. The sense is we can and will push hard over the next year, utilizing the NPT review process as a key leverage point, for eliminating the scourge of nuclear weapons from the planet.