Nuclear by www.irannuclearnews.com
What is
expected in the Kazakhstan
meeting?
Next week, Iran will meet the G5+1 country officials in Almaty, Kazakhstan to discuss its nuclear activities. Not only is Iran a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but also has the same right as other member states to obtain nuclear technology to use for peaceful purposes, such as its scientific, medical and sustainable energy objectives.
"There are eight states that have successfully detonated nuclear weapons. Five are considered to be nuclear-weapon states (NWS) under
the terms of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. In order of
acquisition of nuclear weapons these are: the United States, Russia (successor state to the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France, and China. Nations that are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons are sometimes
referred to as the nuclear club.
North Korea had been a party to the NPT but withdrew in 2003. Israel is also widely believed to have nuclear weapons, though it has refused to confirm or deny this, and is not known definitively to have conducted a nuclear test.
South Africa has the unique status of a nation that developed nuclear weapons but disassembled its arsenal before joining the NPT.
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington DC is dedicated to monitoring the nuclear activities of countries of the world; however, most of its focus is zoomed specifically on Iran. This institute is monitoring Iranian nuclear research sites via satellite with constant analysis for any displacement or physical change in these sites.
Surprisingly, the ISIS also has reported about Israel's purchases of some sensitive devices which could be indicative that Israel has the intention to build, test and use more nuclear warheads. But neither the ISIS nor the US government nor the UN Security Council have taken any steps to place Israel under any type of scrutiny, inspection or sanctions.
ISIS does not pursue Israel's nuclear programs by focusing its
satellites on Israeli sites or by reporting on its legitimate rights; yet
the media is full of stories of how America and its allies want to make sure
about Iran's intentions. Iran has cooperated with all International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) inspections, allowing inspectors access to facilities. The US and
its allies have no documentation that something is amiss -- no evidence of Iran deviating
from the civil nuclear program except speculation rooted in support for their
political allies.
Therefore, one
has to wonder who will check Israel's intentions in having more than 200 nuclear
warheads? Has US foreign policy deteriorated into a copy of the plot from a
science fiction film along the lines of Tom Cruise's Minority Report, where
intentions are actually measured and would-be criminals are arrested before any
crime is committed? Even in the best of all worlds, where that type of
pre-emptive defenses are possible, the US and the UN Security Council and all other nations that they bully into submission are falling far behind into
investigating crimes committed by their chief ally in the region. If such a
power were actually possible, it would seem that the most necessary
investigative efforts should be poured into inspecting Israeli nuclear
activities and making Israel accountable for what is already going unchecked.
Since Israel has not signed the NPT, it is under no legal obligation to
submit its major nuclear facility at Dimona to IAEA inspections. Iran, in
contrast, did sign the treaty and thus agrees to periodic inspections. IAEA
inspectors are regularly in Iran, but the core of the
current dispute is that Tehran is not letting them have unfettered access to
all of the country's nuclear installations.
It is also noteworthy to mention that, according to the Washington Post, the
US government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of an Israeli nuclear
program. Israel's official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman
for the Israeli Embassy in Washington is that "Israel will not be the first
country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. Israel supports a
Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction following the attainment of
peace." The "introduce" language is purposefully vague, but experts say it means that Israel will
not openly test a weapon or declare publicly that it has one.
According to Avner Cohen, a professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in
California who has written two books on this subject ... "This formulation was born in the mid-1960s in Israel and was the
foundation of a still-secret 1969 agreement between Israeli Prime Minister
Golda Meir and President Richard Nixon, reached when the United States became
sure that Israel possessed nuclear bombs."
So why is so much pressure and punishment placed on the people of Iran by way of imposing sanctions? Iran is already a member of the NPT and, like the other signatories, has all rights to pursue its nuclear research, to manufacture the needed fuel for its own reactors and to train its university professors and scientists for the advancement of nuclear knowledge.
Wild West Mentality: kill or be killed?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
