In a surprise move North Korea signed on Monday an agreement promising to give up its nuclear programs and join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This was at the conclusion of negotiations involving the United States, France, China and Japan apart from the two Koreas.
In return the United States will offer North Korea economic assistance and help it build a nuclear reactor working on light water. US has also assured North Korea that the Korean Peninsula, particularly the American bases in South Korea, will be free from nuclear weapons. Washington also offered North Korea protection against nuclear or conventional weapons of mass destruction. North Korea will take steps to normalize relations with Washington and Tokyo.
However this does not mean that the Korean Peninsula has become a crisis-free zone. There are several difficulties the negotiators would face when it comes to implementing the terms of the agreement. North Koreans are very tough negotiators and it will not be easy for the other party to bring them round.
In the mean time the European Union represented by France, Britain and Germany have been attempting to convince the Iranian government of the need to wind up it nuclear programs including the uranium enrichment. The European troika has threatened Iran that they would recommend the referral of the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.
The Russian interference has, nevertheless, helped postpone this move more than once with the hope of reaching an understanding between the Europeans and Iran soon. France has encouraged the Russian efforts because France has also several interests to be protected in Iran. On the other hand the United States is displeased with the soft European attitude toward Iran.
Of course Israel is not sitting idle. Last week the Israeli government circulated a rumor that Iran has achieved the capability to manufacture nuclear warheads in a matter of six months. The rumor has been taken over by Washington with the aim of increasing its pressure on the European troika to take a tough stand toward Iran.
In fact the troika on Monday has circulated a draft resolution among the governors of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency calling for referring the Iran issue to the Security Council that is tantamount to signing political and economic sanctions against Iran.
One is perplexed by the double standard of the international community, especially the Western powers. See their attitude toward Israel’s nuclear warheads that are menacingly ready for launching and not yet in the pipeline as is the case with Iran.
All the Western media have been treating it as though the World War III was just round the corner. They have carried the Israeli story that Tehran is capable of producing nuclear bombs in six months.
Will the Western media reveal the real picture of Israel’s nuclear capabilities and the depth of its nuclear programs shedding light on the means with which it achieved the capability and perfected it to become far ahead of France and Britain?
Is there any fair-minded Western leader brave enough to speak about Israel’s arms industry and its stockpile of banned chemical and biological weapons, or how come that Israel is among the top four arms manufacturers in the world?
Do the Western media have the courage to question Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been called by President Bush a “man of peace”, about the nuclear activities of Israel or the types of chemical gases used against the Palestinian children, women and youth?
If at all any naïve journalist ventured to ask such questions he would be labeled an anti-Semitic to be punished under an American law introduced by Bush to protect Israel against its violations of human rights and international conventions. The protection of Israeli nuclear arsenal is an integral part of the West’s strategic interests in the Middle East. In the past the Israeli weapons were necessary to face the Soviet threat to the Western interests in the Middle East and Israel’s Jericho-2 missiles were positioned to reach several vital locations in Russia.
It is also clear that the Western offer to protect Israel is not because of any pity for the Jews or love for the Zionist movement. The Christian West knows Israel will make the West free from Jews. And also to guarantee the supply of energy for the West. Added to this is the hostility toward Islam which has become the West’s No. I enemy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The nuclear issue has not been resolved yet and will never be as long as the eight nuclear states continue to stockpile their weapons of mass destruction.
