Target IAS 2010, Public Administration, Sociology

1. New START Treaty (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) (Russian: СНВ-III) is a bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation that was signed in Prague on April 8th, 2010. It is a follow-up to the 1991 START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, and to START II and the 2002 Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was due to expire in December 2012. The new treaty was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague by Obama and Medvedev.
If ratified, the treaty will limit the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, which is down nearly two-thirds from the original START treaty and is 30% lower than the deployed strategic warhead limit of the 2002 Moscow Treaty and it will limit to 800 the number of deployed and non-deployed inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments. Also it will limit the number of deployed ICBMs, deployed SLBMs, and deployed heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments to 700. These obligations must be met within seven years from the date the new treaty enters into force. The treaty will last ten years, with an option to renew it for up to five years upon agreement of both parties.



2. The Copenhagen Accord is the document that delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC) agreed to "take note of" at the final plenary session of the Conference on 18 December 2009 (COP-15). It is a draft COP decision and, when approved, is operational immediately. The Accord, drafted by, on the one hand, the United States and on the other, in a united position as the BASIC countries, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, is not legally binding and does not commit countries to agree to a binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol, whose present round ends in 2012.
some of the key criticisms include:
The accord itself is not legally binding
No decision was taken on whether to agree a legally binding successor or complement to the Kyoto Protocol.
The accord sets no real targets to achieve in emissions reductions.
The accord was drafted by only five countries.
The deadline for assessment of the accord was drafted as 6 years, by 2015.
The mobilisation of 100 billion dollars per year to developing countries will not be fully in place until 2020.
There is no guarantee or information on where the climate funds will come from.

There is no agreement on how much individual countries would contribute to or benefit from any funds.
COP delegates only "took note" of the Accord rather than adopting it.
The head of the G77 has said it will only secure the economic security of a few nations
There is not an international approach to technology.
Forgets fundamental sectoral mitigation, as transportation.