Fri Oct 2006

The North Korean nuclear crisis has exposed the double standards of the West to the core. Here is a dictator flaunting nuclear might combined with missile technology to reach mainland America and the knee jerk reaction from the west is “we are not contemplating any military option.” Contrast this with the treatment meted out to Saddam Hussein. They destroyed a nation in the name of non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

Nuclear weapons are inhuman and they have to be done away with and done away with totally. Nukes of all the countries should be destroyed. I stress “all the countries” because I mean the destruction of USA’s stockpile too. Fact is America is the only country that has used atomic bombs on civilians. They are still building up their arsenal and nobody utters a word. Israel, a nation which never recognizes the rights of anyone except the Jews’, has stockpiles of nukes enough to destroy the entire neighborhood and nobody complains. France, England, Russia, China, India and Pakistan do the same and there is no talk about disarmament.

What is the guarantee that Israel won’t use these weapons against its neighbors? After all it’s a nation that shows scant respect to the will of the international community. Look at what they have done to Lebanon and are continuing to do to Palestinians. How can anybody trust this nation?
Anti-Proliferation measures have so far yielded little success. India, Pakistan, Israel and Korea prove it. Imagine the danger if the technology is transferred to people like those behind 9/11.

The problem is the western powers persistently refuse to believe the obvious. Their hegemony is going to end. Unless they start to address the rest of the world on equal terms they can very well start digging their own graves. The world has become quite porous as far as nuclear technology transfer is concerned. And I believe that the day is not far away when the likes of the people I mentioned above will have this technology.

Total nuclear disarmament is the only solution. The West doesn’t have any divine right to rule the world. American or European citizens are no way superior to the citizens of Asia or Africa nor do they have any special rights. So a total nuclear disarmament monitored by a world body that is truly democratic and doesn’t give any veto power to any of the privileged powers is what we need. All civilian nuclear installations too should be monitored by this body. Any deviation by anyone should be met with punitive action, regardless of the country’s stature.

The problem is the leaders we have in the west are yet to comprehend fully the trouble we are in. Moreover, the likes of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney will never be able to digest the fact that the world is not their fiefdom anymore. They are too pompous to accept the fact that their future lies in treating those they have treated so far with contempt on equal terms. And this is the real tragedy of our times.The ball is now in the court of ordinary citizens of the west. Time has come for them to shoulder some responsibility for the sake of the world. Reelection of Mr. Bush was a criminal offence. Those who voted for him and those who didn’t vote at all are responsible for this crime. In the future at least people should be careful in exercising their franchise, or else we all could end up in trouble.