LONDON — A monthlong charade commenced early this month at the United Nations with the start of the eighth five-year Review Conference of the 42-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
Each nation, large and small, declared how important the treaty was for global security, then proceeded to argue that there was very little the treaty could actually achieve without meaningful steps from others.
Although the president-elect of the Review Conference, Ambassador Libran Cabactulan of the Philippines, had promised "to role up my sleeves and work very hard," the Review Conference has merely underscored NPT's declining relevance for the international community today. This is indeed paradoxical given that the threat of nuclear proliferation has never been higher.