The US nod to the Indian and Pakistani nuclear programs and its inability to stop Iranian nuclear experiments apparently prompted North Korea to go ahead with its missile programs and make giant strides in the technology of long haul weapon-carrying missile launchers. The US and its allies have further been alarmed by the reported North Korean stock of plutonium with an estimated potential to produce 13 bombs with infinite destructive power.

Encouraged, ostensibly, by the tacit Western approval of the South Asian nuke programs and threatened by Israel’s belligerent posture, Iran also initiated action to produce nuclear warheads despite objections from the US.

All this happened while the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) with a renewed mandate has been striving to stop any more countries acquiring nuclear technology. The NPT is bound to be a failure because of the unfair nature of the decisions it takes giving the impression that it only cares to protect the interests of the five big nuclear powers and perpetuate their power to intimidate other countries. The NPT also served as an instrument to keep nuclear technology away from the reach of non-nuclear and Third World countries.

As the monopolistic and hegemonic nature of the nuclear powers has been becoming increasingly evident, most of the signatories to the NPT are demanding more guarantees from the NPT for the safety of the non-nuclear countries, particularly after the extension of the NPT’s term indefinitely in 1995.

The first guarantee demanded by the non-nuclear members is that the five big nuclear power states should assure the other members that they would not employ their weapons of mass destruction against any member country that does not possess such weapons.

The second demand requires the Big-5 to undertake to offer assistance to non-nuclear countries in protecting them against the threat of nuclear attacks by any other country with nuclear capabilities. The third guarantee demanded by the weaker signatories to the treaty is that the five nuclear powers declare that they would help the non-nuclear countries in the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

On the other hand, the selfish motives of the nuclear powers and their apparent reluctance to undertake any commitment in favor of the non-nuclear countries have made them disinclined to include any guarantees in the text of the NPT documents. It is quite clear that they do not want to giver up their massive striking power with all the fear it creates among nuclear have-nots. Instead they prompted the Security Council to draft a new resolution to reassure and calm these countries so that they do not step up any pressure for more rights and guaranties. The resolution was prepared and passed in a hurry and it promised assistance to the countries that are subjected to nuclear attacks. It also stipulated that necessary help should be offered to the countries threatened by nuclear powers without specifying the type of assistance.

Egypt’s concern about Israel’s stockpile of nuclear weapons was a topic of discussion between Egypt on one side and the US and Israel on the other. However the US succeeded in forcing the signatories to the NPT not to press for Israel’s signing the treaty.

Israel came out of that meeting without any obligation or commitment to open its nuclear facilities for international inspection. In a challenging tone the then Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres declared after the NPT meeting that Israel would foil any attempt by Iran to develop nuclear capability for military purposes, whatever the cost.

In other words, Israel made it known to all that it would strike any county in the Middle East attempting to manufacture nuclear bombs as it did with the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1982.

This is how the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for an unspecified period has became a new instrument in the hands of certain countries to browbeat the world with intimidation, political pressure and economic threat.

The warning is not just to the Middle Eastern countries but to all the countries that do not have nuclear weapons.