Interview: The New 'Respectable' No-Nukes Movement

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It's not your parents' disarmament movement.

Launched in December 2008, Global Zero is an initiative of 300 world leaders that aims to entirely rid the world of nuclear weapons.

But it's not filled with hippies and peaceniks. The organization's membership includes more than 20 former heads of state or government, as well as former defense ministers, military figures, and other foreign policy luminaries.

RFE/RL's Brian Whitmore recently spoke to one of those luminaries, former U.S. diplomat Richard Burt, about Global Zero's goals and strategies.

Burt was the chief U.S. negotiator for the START I nuclear arms treaty, signed in July 1991 by U.S. President George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He also served as U.S. ambassador to West Germany from 1985-89 and as assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs in the administration of President Ronald Reagan.