Nuclear Similarities

Portions of Mitt Romney’s speech tonight on nuclear terror are strikingly similar to the opinions expressed by Anne-Marie Slaughter (a prominent liberal) and Thomas Wright, in a recently published op-ed.

Here’s what Slaughter and Wright wrote back on March 2:

… we should make the illegal transfer of nuclear materials a crime against humanity triable by international tribunals and by national courts in every country … Similarly, as a matter of international law, crimes against humanity are subject to universal jurisdiction. That means that any nation, including the United States, could prosecute nuclear traders anywhere in the world.

And this is from a speech Mitt Romney gave today:

… I would promote an international initiative to develop a new body of international law that would make nuclear trafficking a crime against humanity, on a par with genocide and war crimes … By allowing for universal jurisdiction, charges can be brought up in any court preventing traffickers from hiding in complicit or weak countries."

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Okay, it's not exactly Joe Biden redux -- and I'm not suggesting it is -- but it is interesting.

Note: Jargon such as "universal jurisdiction" and "crimes against humanity" are commonly used when talking about nuclear terror. More interesting, to me, is the similarity of the ideas.

Also, please note the Romney quotes are from excerpts published in the WaPost. The Romney campaign has not posted the entire speech.  When they do, It will be interesting to see if there are more similarities between the two.