Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:48
April Fools: Nuclear Security Summit in Washington
TEHRAN (FNA)- US President Barack Obama celebrated April Fool’s Day by playing practical jokes on more than 50 world leaders, including all countries possessing nuclear arsenals, except Russia and North Korea – as well as non-nuclear weapon state of Iran.
On April 1, the joke in Washington was the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit and the fools were all those who invested so much political capital on it. Perhaps, they thought “President of Change” Obama really meant business, i.e., taking “modest and voluntary steps” aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear and radiological materials usable in weapons, AND ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction.
To expose Obama’s prank and fake initiative on April 1, it suffices to state that the summit did not bother to address:
1-The tens of thousands of nuclear weapons in the possession of states which say they are prepared to use.
2-The large stocks of nuclear warheads in military programs that could at any moment “accidentally” raze an unfortunate nation to the ground.
3-The ongoing programs to “renovate” nuclear arsenal the world over.
4-Israel, the only obstacle to the realization of a nuclear-free Middle East. The regime is estimated to have 200-400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, pursues the policy of deliberate ambiguity about its nuclear weapons program, and refuses to allow inspections of its military nuclear facilities or to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
4-The nuclear-armed states boycotting the United Nations Working Group on Taking Forward Multilateral Negotiations on Nuclear Disarmament in May 2016. They refuse to discuss legal measures and norms needed to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons.
The unfortunate fact is that at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, no party, including the US government, bothered to oblige any nuclear-armed state to at least bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective control. The summit also refused to achieve without delay a world free of nuclear weapons, with no final document/agreement on moving forward. In a nutshell, it was all handshakes, smiles, condemnation of terrorism and extremism, and nothing else.
This is while the developing nations don’t trust the nuclear weapon states given their double-standard approach toward Iran’s civilian nuclear program and that of Israel. These nations want an immediate ban on all nuclear weapons, as they are illegal and their illegality should be recognized at the UN.
It is past time for the United States and its nuclear-armed allies to grasp the hypocrisy of pressing other nations to forego their nuclear rights, while failing to fulfil their own obligations under the NPT. As along as they are unwilling to cut or halt plans to modernise their weapons of mass destruction, they are not fit to hold nuclear security summits and tell others how to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear and radiological materials usable in weapons.
Judging from the above and reading the tea leaves, it is obvious that the nuclear weapon states are not ready to negotiate and reduce their arsenal - even though the US administration keeps reminding us that “this is the age of negotiation and not missiles.”
The fault for the failure of the summit lies, clearly, with the nuclear-armed states, particularly the United States, as they are not ready to take full responsibility for their double standards and nuclear hypocrisy. Sad to say, the world is not moving toward nuclear disarmament and the UN attempt to work out a ban on nuclear weapons in the Middle East is not going anywhere either.
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