Chilly reception from NATO to ICAN Nobel Peace Prize win

NATO, which has three of the world’s nuclear powers in its ranks, gave a chilly reception on Friday to nuclear disarmament group ICAN’s Nobel Peace Prize win, AFP reports.


 The organization was a key player in the adoption of a treaty symbolically banning nuclear weapons, signed by 122 countries at the UN in July.

NATO said the treaty risked undermining the international response to North Korea’s atomic weapons program. Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary-general, said the nuclear ban treaty - which was shunned by all nuclear powers - put years of progress on non-proliferation at risk.

“What we need is verifiable and balanced reduction of nuclear weapons. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which all NATO allies have signed, remains the cornerstone of international efforts to do so,” he said.
NATO would remain a nuclear alliance as long as nuclear weapons existed, according to Stoltenberg.
 rt.com
 6/10/17