With the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by the U.S. and Russia, a Nuclear Summit about to begin in Washington, and pressure mounting to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions, a few troubling issues need to be addressed.
In negotiating and then signing a new arms reduction pact with Russia and in announcing a new U.S. posture on the use of nuclear weapons, President Obama has come under withering attacks from the right wing. Accusing the President of unilaterally disarming or weakening the U.S. position in the world is sheer nonsense.
What START provides is that both the U.S. and Russia will each dramatically reduce their nuclear weapons arsenal to 1,550. A few decades ago we and the then Soviet Union had a combined total of over 70,000 such weapons, a perfectly bizarre amount. As we all understood, back then, using these weapons was unthinkable since they would result in "mutually assured destruction". And yet we continued to build and deploy. Unwinding this insanity was the right thing to do and it still is.
The president's vision of a nuclear free world (one he shares with former President Reagan) is the correct stance. START represents movement in the right direction. His critics are dead wrong.
The Nuclear Summit is designed to promote the control of nuclear weapons and to secure world wide buy-in. Israel's decision to send a low level representative in order to avoid criticism of their nuclear program and U.S. silence on Israel's stance are both disappointing and dangerous. It is nonsense to assume that Israel can be given a free pass. Despite the efforts of apologists, Israel's claim of exceptionalism doesn't hold up to regional scrutiny. As a result of U.S. guarantees, Israel has a conventional military capability that exceeds that of all of its neighbors combined. And they have rather freely used this force in successive wars that have dealt devastating blows to all their neighbors. Despite this, Israelis have not found peace, since peace and security will only come through a negotiated just settlement with the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese.
And so of what use is Israel's nuclear program (or its silence about that program and its refusal to sign the non-proliferation treaty - NPT)? Possessing nuclear weapons has not created a deterrent. Nor can Israel use these weapons, if in fact they possess them. Can Israel bomb Gaza or the West Bank or Lebanon, without endangering its own population with the resultant radioactive fallout? And what would be the human and international consequences of Israel's use of nuclear weapons? It remains unthinkable to use such weapons and therefore nonsense to stockpile or hide them.
In fact the only purpose served by Israel's stubborn insistence that it maintain silence about its nuclear program, and the U.S. continuing to provide cover for Israel's behavior in this regard, is to impede progress toward establishing the Middle East as a "nuclear free zone". When Egypt first raised this idea years ago, its consideration was blocked by Israel and the U.S. That was a mistake then and it still is now.
A further complication of the U.S. giving Israel a pass on nuclear weapons is that it raises the charge of "double standard" -- one so clear that even the most hardnosed defenders of Israel cannot deny it. With growing concern over Iran's nuclear intentions, this "double standard" has become more than an embarrassment, it has become self-defeating and dangerous. Why give Tehran an easy argument to defend their indefensible behavior? When every Arab and Muslim knows that the US is turning a blind eye to Israel's nukes (and will immediately raise this issue whenever the question of nuclear disarmament is discussed), why continue to ignore the elephant in the room?
And finally to Iran. Iran is a regional problem, to be sure. Its meddling in Iraq, the Gulf region, and in Lebanon and Palestine pose real concerns that must be addressed and, one hoped, might have been addressed by President Obama's early promise to engage the Islamic Republic. Instead of focusing on the broad range of issues that define Iran's troubling behaviors in the Middle East, the US zeroed in on the nuclear question - the one where we hold a weak hand. In doing so we played into Tehran's game allowing that government to pose as victim of a double standard (as we argue that they are not in compliance with their obligations under the NPT, which they have signed; while we work with Israel, Pakistan and India who have nuclear programs and are the only three countries in the world who have not signed the NPT - not a strong case, by any measure).
Iran is playing a dangerous and nonsensical game of "chicken". But we have not responded smartly.
Surely no one wants to see an Iran with nuclear weapons -- weapons they also can never use without insuring that massive devastation be visited upon their country. But the best way to insure that a dangerous arms race does not occur in this region is to move towards a nuclear free Middle East. The way forward is to drop the shield of secrecy that surrounds Israel's program, insist that Israel join the world community and sign the NPT, and negotiate a comprehensive peace with its neighbors. This is how to end nuclear madness and advance the president's vision.
Nathan Gardels: The Zero Nukes Conundrum
Can knowledge be lost on purpose? That, in a nutshell, is the conundrum with complete nuclear disarmament: can Einstein's genie ever be put back in the bottle?
This treaty is a joke. As a matter of facts, Israel is the one who forced Syria and Iraq to comply to the NPT.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=122916
Where was the uncondional protection of the West during the Oslo war when thousands of Israelis were ruthlessly murdered by genocidal Arabs?
Where was the unconditional protection of the West during the first Iraq when Israel was striked by Iraqi missiles?
Patronizing Americans must take of their own business.
Do you remember Chernobyl and its after effects, when not ONE nuclear weapon was deployed?
If Israel truly wants to be a part of the international community (and many, including me, have doubts about that) then it needs to sign up to the NNPT, open its facilities to inspectors, and stop being so darned stupid.
The West has been too lenient in his appeasement policies toward Arabs because the current behavior of Muslim countries would have never been tolerated in any Western countries.
Muslims must end their war against the West.
The Jewish HASBARA publication, (check the web), is an attempt to integrate position, and present Jewish thought regarding the theft of Palestine land by Jewish immigrants, and the ways that arguments can be structured to justify this, and all the other atrocities that come with it. If the Israelis are murdering Arabs and stealing their land, the Hasbara instructs that the news (or web comment) should be presented as Arabs killing Jews and trying to "remove Jews from their historic homeland". The more proposterous the claim, the easier it is to get it believed by a generally ignorant, uneducated and trusting readership, such as exists in the United States. When spurious arguments fail, Hasbara instructs its adherents to change the subject to the holocaust, and Jewish victimhood, or to the god-given right of Jews to return to their ancient homeland.
The proof of Arik5555's use of this propagands technique is this. Take every statement that ascribes actions to Arabs or Muslims, none of which are true, and see if they have not ACTUALLY been carried out by Israelis and Jewish interests.
BTW, where have you hidden the mythical moderate Arabs?
http://www.theinductive.com/blog/2010/4/6/eagle-and-bear-whos-a-hawk.html
Beyond these bodies of laws, which apply to all refugees in the world, the UN General Assembly specified the Palestinian case in Resolution 194, paragraph 11, which sets forth a framework for a solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees, including the possibility of return: “The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/ror.html
more>
................http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/ref-halsell.html.................................
http://http//www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/ref-halsell.html
halsell.html
" Never allow a Muslim country to gain a military or strategic advantage over a non-Muslim country even if that Muslim country is responsible."
The same rule applies with that "club" when it comes to having nuclear weapons.
Nowhere, in the 20th or 21st century can one find an example of a Muslim country being allowed to win a war or gain an advantage, however just the cause. Be it Egypt, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Somalia (1970's) or Palestinians.
Now, the rival of Pakistan, India, is being showered with all sorts of nuclear gifts, while Pakistan itself is being denied them and even denied being acknowledged as a nuclear power.
Terrorism and discontent emanate from people feeling that they have no stake and no acceptance in the international discussion and benefits.
It is this kind of discrimination and this kind of perception, that America, and much of the rest of the "club", should reverse if we want to see a harmonious world.
Zionist forces committed at least 33 massacres and destroyed 531 Palestinian villages and towns. Author Norman Finkelstein states: “According to the former director of the Israeli army archives, ‘in almost every village occupied by us during the War of Independence, acts were committed which are defined as war crimes, such as murders, massacres, and rapes’...Uri Milstein, the authoritative Israeli military historian of the 1948 war, goes one step further, maintaining that ‘every skirmish ended in a massacre of Arabs.’â€9
more> ..
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ref-nakba.html
here is the total article....good read...
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1579&Itemid=230