The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference began with big news: the US publicly released the numbers of active nuclear weapons in its stockpile. The Obama administration made this major symbolic move to show its commitment to transparency and prove the US has been moving to reduce its nuclear stockpile.

According to a released fact sheet, the US had 5,113 active nuclear warheads as of September 2009. However, that still doesn’t represent the whole stockpile. Analysts believe an additional 4,500 nuclear warheads are currently retired or waiting to be dismantled. So while progress has been made since the 1960s, much more needs to be done. Watch the video (above) featuring Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione, who makes the case for why we must seize this historic moment and work toward a nuclear weapons free world to ensure our own security.

(Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

After a year of negotiations, the President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed a new treaty today to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles in both countries and make the world that much safer.

But will the Senate do the right thing and ratify the treaty, or will they hold it hostage to partisan politics?

 Please click here to ask your senators to support ratifying the New START agreement to reduce our nuclear arsenal.

At the signing ceremony today in Prague, President Obama spoke about how the treaty opens the door to further actions to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Here’s an excerpt:

Chief of Staff Debbie Curtis accepts an award on behalf of Rep. Stark at the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's DC Days ceremony. Peace Action West Executive Director Jon Rainwater presents the award for Rep. Stark's work to change nuclear weapons policy.

The nuclear weapons hawks are at it again and it’s up to us to stop them.

Through their intense lobbying campaign, hawks in Congress and the nuclear weapons labs got a whopping $7 billion for nuclear weapons programs in next year’s proposed budget. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) is leading the fight to strip the money out, and he needs your help. Can you click here to send your representative a message?

Those of you in the Bay Area should check out one of the follow talks on nuclear weapons being given by Tad Daley, author and Writing Fellow with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate organization. He will serve as “Scholar/Activist in Residence” at the UC Berkeley International House March 9-16. Here are the events accompanying his visit:

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 7:30pm
University of California, Berkeley, International House
2299 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, California, 94720-2320
Tad Daley, author of APOCALYPSE NEVER: Forging the Path to a Nuclear Weapon-Free World (Rutgers, Spring 2010, www.apocalypsenever.org),  will be speaking at the University of California at Berkeley International House regarding how we might actually bring about nuclear weapons abolition. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact lkoziol@berkeley.edu.