Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Needle in a Haystack?

So Messrs Bush and Blair went looking for WMDs in Iraq. They were sure Saddam had them - or were they? Was it just an excuse to show some muscle in an oil-producing state? Or just to show some muscle - full stop! After killing thousands of innocent Iraqis and hundreds of allied soldiers it turned out that there were no weapons threatening us. But one gets the feeling that they knew that all the time and were just looking for excuses to throw their weight around and get rid of a government which was hostile to them. They are now embroiled in a protracted war "against terrorism" - another way of changing their reasons for going into Iraq in the first place. Bin Laden must have been hiding out there. But, hang on, if that's the case why did they invade Afghanistan? It is the stronghold of Bin Laden's merry men. Isn't it?
Meanwhile all the time the despots of North Korea have been developing a nuclear bomb - or have they? They announced that they had just tested a nuclear device. Seismic records show a blip around 3 to 4 on the Richter scale at the time. But many experts are now saying that this would be consistent with a 1,000 ton explosion of conventional explosives. So, was it a small nuclear device or an attempt at deception? Or was it really a nuclear dud? The North Koreans certainly wouldn't tell us if it was not successful.
The technology required to produce a one-kiloton nuclear device is far more advanced than that required to make a much larger bomb so there is some doubt that a true nuclear test took place. Some say that the explosion recorded could have been consistent with the explosion used to trigger a reaction in plutonium. If that's the case then the North Koreans have built themselves a dud but - rest assured - that will only redouble their determination to get it right next time.
There is sufficient concern about the consequences of a North Korean nuclear bomb for even China to ask the UN to take action. China is one of the few countries which have in the past supported and even propped up the North Korean regime.
Japan is worried. South Korea is even more worried - after all as the 53rd state of the US it puts nuclear capability right on Bush's doorstep.
I find it sad that yet another country has, or will, developed the capability to destroy the whole world. Some of those who have the bomb build it themselves - US, Russia, India, Pakistan, France - some of them, like UK and Israel etc, buy them from the US (usually at exorbitant cost).
The US doesn't mind proliferation - providing it is only to states friendly to it. But when will they learn that friendly states can turn. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan - all at some time have been friendly to the West only to turn when the US lost interest in their cause.
I think I might even join CND . . .

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