https://fpif.org/the-u-s-senate-is-a-global-problem/
"The Senate has been a crowded graveyard for arms control initiatives. There
you can find gravestones for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), various
nuclear-weapon-free zones, and the Arms Trade Treaty (which Trump dramatically
unsigned in 2019). The CTBT has been signed by 185 countries but it won’t go
into effect until eight specific nations ratify it (including the United
States). The Arms Trade Treaty has entered into force, so it is only dead to
the United States, which is problematic since America is the leading arms
exporter in the world by a large margin. Resurrection of these treaties, is, of
course, possible, but only if the composition of the Senate were to change
dramatically.
The Senate also stands in the way of the United States participating in the
strengthening of international law and the prosecuting of war criminals – by
blocking ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Senate stands in the way of preserving what remains of the world’s precious
biodiversity – by blocking ratification of the Convention on Biological
Diversity.
The Senate stands in the way of upholding the human rights of large swathes of
the global population – by blocking treaties on disability rights, on the
elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, and on a variety of
labor rights.
The Senate is also not above exercising its power on seemingly trivial matters.
It has refused, for instance, to support a treaty that protects albatrosses and
petrels. Jeez, hasn’t anyone in the Senate read The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner?
Of course, the Senate has displayed its remarkable intransigence in ways that
go well beyond its advice-and-consent function on treaties. During the previous
administration, among the 250 bills that the House passed and that Mitch
McConnell blocked in the Senate were several immigration bills (the Dream Act,
a measure to protect Venezuelans from deportation), several environmental bills
(blocking drilling in the Arctic National Refuge, banning offshore drilling in
the Eastern Gulf of Mexico), and a measure to provide visas to Kurds who
supported U.S. forces in Syria."
Via
libramoon@pluspora.com.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
