The Hypocrisy of the Nuclear Club

Watching Sky News on the telly yesterday and I saw Tony Blair and Manmohan Singh together. Leaders of 2 nuclear powers. I'm told on the news that Tony Blair says India is not like North Korea and also that Australia is now considering following the Americans footsteps in selling uranium to India. The same India that secretly built up a nuclear weapons programme; the same India that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPF)!!!

It's a crazy world we live in. The US and Australia will sell uranium to a nation that not only has a nuclear weapons programme, but one that has not signed up to a treaty that says we will take steps to non-proliferate, maybe even disarm altogether. But should we be surprised? The US is waxing lyrical about North Korea and Iran, but I hardly think a nuclear superpower with 27000 nuclear warheads should be pointing fingers, do you?

The fact is, no one questions the legitimacy of the big five (US, Russia, France, UK, China) and now the 2 up-starts (Pakistan, India) and of course we all know Israel has it too. So North Korea is number 9; why can't they have it too? Because they are evil? The other eight are saints right?

Has CNN or the BBC or even Al-Jazeera ever asked an American/British/French/[insert the rest] official why it is ok for the US/UK/France/[and so forth]to have a weapon that could destroy our planet while telling others they can't? Why is this hypocrisy, which is so blatant to anyone who takes 2 minutes to consider the issue not come up in the world media? Why is the 'free media' so cowed to even ask this question?

The fact is history has taught us the value of nuclear weapons as a powerful defensive tool, hardly as a powerful offensive tool. After the US very politely but firmly told Stalin to avert his gaze away from Iran's massive oilfields in 1945/6 or face the consequences, he ordered the acceleration of USSR's nuclear weapons programme. I can't speak for the UK or France but China's success in obtaining nuclear weapons were hardly to bomb Taiwan or Japan but to firmly tell the USA and the USSR to back off. Israel also can clearly argue that it obtained its nuclear arsenal (come on guys, everyone knows!!!) as a defensive measure so it's neighbours will think twice about attempting to destroy it. I doubt anyone in their right mind thinks Pyongyang decided to go nuclear to attack, but rather to survive. Corner a dog and watch it growl and fight. I fear policies like calling countries 'axis of evil' or making statements like 'either you're with us or against us' does the world more harm than good.

No country should have nuclear weapons, end of story, but while some do, why shouldn't the rest? Can the current nuclear powers see this, or are they just a bunch of hypocrites? Answers on a postcard please...

Post Cold War there is plenty we can do to combat the scourge of these weapons of Armageddon. A combination of 'carrots and sticks' can work-witness Libya, but when dealing with undoubted rogue regimes like North Korea it doesn't always work so perhaps lowering the rhetoric wouldn't hurt. I don't pretend to even remotely know what to do when dealing with Pyongyang, but I do know the current hardheaded policy has been a dismal failure.

We got to be credible. Everyone knows a nuclear weapon is a ticket to the ever-growing 'I'm a big boy now' club. Recall all the actions that were going to be taken against India and Pakistan? Now everyone is trying to woo them, and guess what, we'll sell them uranium too. The fact is, most nations can now safely conclude that getting nuclear weapons will guarantee their security.

The NNPF needs to be stronger. The hypocrites need to be shamed. Sure they will argue 'but we are civilised, we'll never use nuclear weapons except as a last resort.' Bull sh*t!! They just want to maintain their power. The UK, France and India clearly got nuclear weapons to flex their muscles-there were hardly on the brink of an immediate Armageddon type threat when they got theirs (the US nuclear weapons were a sufficient deterrent to the USSR to attack Europe surely). Let us not forget, in their self-interest, how close we came to the end with the Cuban missile crisis. Let us not forget how these nations have not seriously reduced their nuclear arsenal. I mean what does the US need with 27000 nuclear warheads? Let us also not forget that the US has used it before, twice. Sure it can be argued that they had to, but lots of people beg to differ, myself included. The fact is, bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not the last resort, but it was decided that it was the quickest way to end the war while minimising American casualties. So, it is a military option, not a 'last resort' option only.

We live in a so called democratic world where the big 5 do as they please on the Security Council and undermined the original UN charter. Talk of democracy is cheap when the US and the UK won't even consider abandoning the veto power (nevermind the other three hardheads). Until we have true freedom, we are consigned to these petty political games, full of hypocrisy and we can only watch on by as we lurch from one crisis to another.

Until we, the world community get our act together, these bullies will continue trying to get their way, and CNN or the BBC will not even raise an eyebrow in question. If we are really serious about North Korea and Iran, perhaps we better start at our own doorsteps first.