US, UK, France boycott UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons

The United States, along with Britain and France, say they will never become party to a global treaty that was endorsed by 122 countries at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The United Nations on Friday took a historic step in the effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons, adopting for the first time a legally binding global agreement that would ban nuclear weapons since their invention.

However, the conference was boycotted by all nuclear-armed nations and many of their allies. None of the nine nuclear powers — the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — is supporting the treaty.   

The US, UK and France, permanent members of the UN Security Council, said in a joint statement Friday that the treaty “clearly disregards the realities of international security” which make deterrence a necessity.

“France, the United Kingdom and the United States have not taken part in the…

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