Study Guide - GA1(Disarmament and Security) The question of „Zero Option“

Introduction: The "Zero Option" was the name given to an American proposal for the withdrawal of all Soviet and intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. This term was subsequently expanded to describe the vision of eliminating all nuclear weapons everywhere. U.S. President proposed this plan on 18 November 1981. He offered not to proceed with the deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles – previously announced on 12 November 1979 and due to begin in 1983 – if the would remove its SS-4, SS-5 and SS-20 missiles targeted on Western Europe. European and American anti-nuclear activists denounced the Zero Option as designed to be rejected so that the U.S. could deploy the new missiles without condemnation by critics there and abroad. Reagan's proposal came to widespread public attention. Reagan's vision toward elimination of nuclear weapons went far beyond the goals of the INF treaty. On January 16, 1984, he delivered a speech saying The final total of Soviet and United States nuclear missiles, eliminated under the terms of the INF Treaty by the end of May 1991, was 2,692. The fulfilment of this multilateral agreement, which removed both intermediate- and shorter- range nuclear forces from Europe (the "Double-Zero" deal), was widely seen as a key step towards ending the .

Definition of Key Terms

Nuclear Weapon: A Weapon of Mass destruction (WMD) using an explosive device whose destructive potential derives from the release of energy that accompanies the splitting or combining of atomic nuclei.

Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD): A weapon with massive power designed to destroy buildings, kill people or infect the environment with diseases. WMDs have been categorized into: Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Weapons

Previous attempts to solve the issue: „Zero Option“ seems to be almost since no country wants to get rid of its Nuclear Warheads, which is actually quite understandable. Nevertheless there are still debates, about the limitation of Nuclear Warheads, one country should possess. The goal of these debates is to limit the destruction a Nuclear War could cause, always keeping the Cold War in mind. The countries, where the possession of Active Nuclear Warheads is known are part of the Nuclear Power countries. This graph clearly shows, that nuclear armament is competition between the United States and Russia.

Very important delegations of the MUNoBB GA1 debate on the question of „Zero Option“ will be The Russian Federation, the United States of America, North Korea, France, the UK and India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_disarmament#/media/File:Nuclear_weapon_programs_worldwide_oct2006.png

World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. Five "nuclear weapons states" from the NPT Other states known to possess nuclear weapons States formerly possessing nuclear weapons States suspected of being in the process of developing nuclear weapons and/or nuclear programs States which at one point had nuclear weapons and/or nuclear weapons research programs States that possess nuclear weapons, but have not widely adopted them