President Barack Obama will chair a Security Council meeting on September 24, 2009 regarding two of the United Nations' most sensitive issues: nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament. This meeting will emphasize the threats posed by proliferation of nuclear weapons and steps to reduce these dangers. The Council is expected to adopt a draft resolution that deals with these issues on a broad scope. Steps that need to be taken include putting in to practice a test ban, strengthening verification of nuclear cuts, and making them irreversible so that low numbers are reached in order to assure that their only purpose is to prevent their use. The proposed resolution will not target any countries specifically; however, it will refer to past Security Council resolutions that imposed sanctions on Iran and North Korea for their nuclear activities.

This will be a test of leadership for President Obama on the world stage. It will be an important meeting to build momentum behind a very critical issue to not only the United States, but the rest of the world. Thursday's meeting will underscore the importance of strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at next year's review conference. Since the Council has been split in the past on how to handle the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea, it will be useful to keep the focus broad in order to build a unified message throughout the Security Council members.

You can watch the nuclear disarmament meeting live at the United Nations Webcast.

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