Political Quotes

“as the Senate will know, the Government of India has announced that two further underground nuclear tests occurred at 3:51, eastern daylight time, this morning. These follow the three underground explosions announced on Monday. Now, this might at first seem a reckless act on the part of the Government of India. But, sir, I would call attention to a statement in an Associated Press report which reads, ``The Government said its testing was now complete and it was prepared to consider a ban on such nuclear testing.'' Sir, this could be a statement of transcendent importance. It would be useful at this time, when tempers--and I use the word ``temper''-- are rising in the West, to recall the outrage when France carried out a series of underwater tests in the South Pacific in Mururoa Atoll on September 5, 1995, to the indignation of many other nations, but thereupon signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty the following year. And, sir, it has not only signed that treaty, it has ratified it. The United States was among the convening nations in 1996 that signed the treaty, but this Senate has not ratified the treaty. The People's Republic of China followed much the same course in completing a series of tests and then agreeing to the test ban treaty.”