The perception of the direction, of course, depends on where you sit. For example, the United States did put forward the proposition that we need a fissile material cut-off treaty. The rest of the world needs to say it agrees with that, this is the right direction, and we need to make it verifiable. That way, we'll be able to help safeguard ourselves from terrorists getting this material.
The steps that will make us safer and the steps that will corrode the regime happen to be very close to each other right now. In other words, a treaty between the United States and Russia that's not verifiable I say undermines the legitimacy of international law. But a treaty that is verifiable will strengthen it. So this issue of verification, which is an issue in which Canada has some expertise and has a record of advocacy, is extremely important.
If the agreement with India were coupled with a fissile material cut-off, coupled with a comprehensive test ban treaty, coupled with India agreeing to abide by the article VI commitments of the NPT, thus roping India into the process of the historical movement toward downgrading nuclear weapons and eliminating them, then it's a positive step. On the other hand, if those elements are not there, it cuts to the core of the regime. So we are at a turning point.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations said a few weeks ago that we are at a crisis point right now in which one route is going to strengthen multilateral cooperative security based on the rule of law and another route is going to unravel this regime. We are at a point now in which decisions that are made are going to affect our future in irreversible ways. That's what we're asking everybody to do, focus on strengthening those norms that can make us safer.