WILL HE BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY? – AT 7:10 P.M. ET:  The United States is about to convene a meeting in Washington on nuclear proliferation.  Noble gesture, not much substance.  The Times of London notes:

Terrorists including al-Qaeda pose a serious threat to world security as they attempt to obtain atomic weapons material, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, declared on the eve of a global summit in Washington to prevent a nuclear terror attack.

President Obama will call on the leaders of 47 nations today — the biggest gathering of heads of state by a US leader since the founding of the UN in 1945 — to introduce tougher safeguards to prevent nuclear material ending up in the hands of terrorists. As far back as 1998, Osama bin Laden stated that it was his Islamic duty to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction.

During the two-day Nuclear Security Summit, Mr Obama will try to convince representatives, including David Miliband. who is standing in for Gordon Brown, that the dangers of loosely guarded atomic material are so grave that a global agreement is needed to stop al-Qaeda going nuclear.

The summit is part of Mr Obama’s strategy to put nuclear weapons at the top of foreign policy. He signed a treaty with Russia on April 8, restricted the role and development of US nuclear weapons last week, and is trying to reach agreement on new sanctions against Iran. The Iran component of his strategy will be raised during the summit, notably with President Hu of China, who agreed to attend the event after initial doubts.

COMMENT:  This is all very nice, but it reflects the "meeting mentality" of this administration.  While firm words will be spoken, the American policy toward both North Korea and Iran has essentially collapsed, and North Korea is one of the world's biggest proliferators.

The president tells us he thinks the United States should lead by example.  Okay, Barack, lead!  When you beat up on our allies and allow the Iranians to roar past deadline after deadline on their nuclear program, do you think anyone will take you seriously?

Not much will come out of this conference unless the president can show that there are real consequences that the violators will suffer.  He has not shown that.  Until he does, all the rest is commentary.

April 11, 20