AUDACITY OF THE HAVES

Go away, we don’t want you! Iran is trying to join the exclusive nuclear weapons club whose membership consists of the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Three members in particular, the U.S., the U.K. and France, are leading the drive to exclude Iran and they are trying their best to kick the North Koreans out.

189 countries are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which calls for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and for the destruction of existing nuclear weapons. Israel, India and Pakistan never signed the treaty. North Korea did, but withdrew in 2003. The U.S., Russia, France, the U.K. and China have agreed to destroy their nuclear weapons in increments, but they are still armed to the teeth and are unlikely to disarm in the foreseeable future.

This brings us to Iran and North Korea. Who are we to tell these rogue regimes that they have no right to possess nuclear weapons? It takes a lot of audacity on the part of the haves to tell the have-nots that they cannot play in their own back yard. While there is no doubt that a nuclear armed North Korea and Iran present a threat to their neighbors and world peace, you sure can’t blame them for wanting to gain the power that comes with possessing weapons of mass destruction.

There has been an upside to having nuclear weapons. Since both the United States and the Soviet Union had the capability of destroying each other, their war remained a cold one instead of becoming a hot one. Until each acquired the ability to destroy the other, India and Pakistan battled each other continuously over territorial disputes. And after fighting off the Arabs in four wars, Israel has probably been spared from any further invasions because it has “the bomb.”

The United States is pushing hard for the international community to impose severe economic sanctions against Iraq if it continues to pursue its nuclear ambitions. While France and the U.K. are backing us on this, Russia and China are unlikely to go along. Russia and China are both supplying Iran with modern military weapons and China is a major importer of Iranian oil.

While I hate to see Iran and North Korea become nuclear powers, I feel they have every right to do so, especially since the members of the exclusive nuclear weapons club continue to possess what is commonly referred to as “the bomb.”