US and its allies should look at their own nuclearpolicy before criticizing Iran
Mersiha Gadzo | 15.09.2010 07:42 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Sheffield | World
For years, the United States and its allies have accused Iran of being a major nuclear threat because it has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ironically, the real violators of the NNPT are the same nations accusing Iran. The U.S. and its allies have never been able to confirm their accusations with concrete proof since they are based entirely on suspicion. While the media continues to attack Iran, illegal nuclear activities made by the West remain widely unknown to the public.
US nuclear weapons in Europe
Double standards: The United States and its allies should look at their own nuclear policy before criticizing Iran
by Mersiha Gadzo, 13 September 2010
For years, the United States and its allies have accused Iran of being a major nuclear threat because it has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ironically, the real violators of the NNPT are the same nations accusing Iran. The U.S. and its allies have never been able to confirm their accusations with concrete proof since they are based entirely on suspicion. While the media continues to attack Iran, illegal nuclear activities made by the West remain widely unknown to the public.
Iran, unlike Israel, is a signatory of the 1970 NNPT, which requires the International Atomic Energy Agency to make frequent unannounced inspections in order to verify that the country’s nuclear program remains within the bounds of the treaty. The IAEA has made over 2,700 snap inspections in Iran and have repeatedly stated that they have found no evidence of a weapons program and that non-diversion of nuclear material is continually being verified.
United Nations Security Council investigations, led by former Director General of IAEA, Mohamed El-Baradei, have repeatedly shown that Iran has no military component to its program. In an interview for the German magazine, Der Spiegel, in July 2010, El-Baradei stated “I do not believe that the Iranians are actually producing nuclear weapons… in general, the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran is overestimated, some even play it up intentionally.”
One of the treaty’s main principles is non-proliferation. This means the five nuclear weapon states (U.S., France, United Kingdom, Russia, and China) agree not to transfer nuclear weapons. Yet the IAEA and the media have completely disregarded that the U.S. has actively been contributing to the proliferation of nuclear arms in Europe. The U.S. has thus far supplied 480 thermonuclear bombs to the so-called “non-nuclear states”: Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, and Turkey.
According to University of Ottawa emeritus professor Michel Chossudovsky, three out of the eight U.S. nuclear air bases are situated in Germany. While Germany imports nuclear weapons from the U.S., it also produces nuclear warheads, which are exported to France. Germany is fully capable of directing its stockpiled American nuclear warheads at the Middle East, yet Germany is recognized as a non-nuclear state.
Israel, an “undeclared nuclear state,” has obtained an estimate of 200 nuclear devices and has the Middle East’s largest and most advanced chemical and biological warfare facilities. Its refusal to sign the 189-nation NNPT enables it to easily threaten its neighbours. El-Baradei stated at a press conference in October 2009 that, “Israel is the number one threat to the Middle East given the nuclear arms it possesses.” Israel has refused to allow inspections into its nuclear program for 30 years, while Iran is complying with its obligations and allowing inspectors into its nuclear sites.
Iran has never launched a war in modern times but since 1900 has been invaded by Britain, the Soviet Union, Russia, and Iraq. It is surrounded by nuclear powers such as Israel, Pakistan, India, and Russia. The former three have yet to sign the treaty.
The signatories of the treaty are required to gradually eliminate all of their nuclear weapons and yet 40 years later none of the original signers (U.S., Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China) have complied. Instead, all of them have steadily enhanced their nuclear arms.
The U.S. has invaded other countries, most recently Afghanistan and Iraq, and is the only nation to ever use a nuclear weapon against another nation. The U.S. is also notorious for organizing coups against democratically elected governments, overthrowing regimes, and waging illegal wars. The U.S. has no right to bully Iran when the U.S. itself is a major violator of the NNPT and of international law. Therefore, it is a double standard for the United States and its allies to curtail Iran developing peaceful nuclear technology.
Mersiha Gadzo
Homepage:
http://thevarsity.ca/articles/32763
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Turkey's President Gul: Iran’s ultimate aspiration is to acquire nuclear weapons
15.09.2010 08:26
Turkey's President Gul: Iran’s ultimate aspiration is to acquire nuclear weapons
[propaganda alert, 29 March 2010]
1) President Gul: Iran’s ultimate aspiration is to acquire nuclear weapons (26 March 2010)
from the archives:
2) President Gul: Tehran shouldn’t be devastated like Baghdad’ (August 2008)
3) Foreign Minister Gul: The possibility of Iran’s having nuclear weapon will disturb Turkey (June 2006)
4) Foreign Minister Gul: We will act together with the US where Iran’s nuclear program is concerned (March 2006)
5) General Basbug: Turkey can never welcome an Iran who possesses nuclear weapons (June 2005)
related documents:
6) European mayors want withdrawal of US nukes from their territory (December 2007)
7) Text for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)
________________________
excerpt from: Turkey Tilts Toward Iran
[Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul’s interview with the Forbes Magazine] [1]
When [the US President Barack] Obama last year extended a hand to Iran’s rulers, [Turkey’s President Abdullah] Gul says he advised Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that “This needs to be reciprocated … This is a major opportunity, and the language of President Obama doesn’t have any threats within it, and this is an opportunity that should not be missed.” […]
Gul says he has no doubts that Iran wants the nuclear bomb: “This is an Iranian aspiration dating back to the previous regime, the days of the Shah.”
For Iran’s current regime, says Gul, “I do believe it is their final aspiration to have a nuclear weapon in the end,” as a matter of “ ‘national pride.’ ” […]
But Gul says not to worry. He is sure that even if Iran gets the bomb, “they will not use it.”
He says he has warned Iran’s leaders that the real danger they face, should they acquire nuclear weapons, is that they “will start acting in an irrational manner, which will create problems for themselves.” […]
But Gul says Israel need not worry. However irrational Iran’s leaders might become, he is sure they will remain rational enough to refrain from devastating Israel […]
_______________________
from the archives:
“We find the latest package offered [to Iran] by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany positive. [...] The time is running out, don’t miss this opportunity. Bush might strike [Iran] before leaving office. If the US were to strike, they would strike fiercely. As your neighbour, we wouldn’t want Tehran to be devastated like Baghdad.”
[Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul, meeting with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ciragan Palace, Istanbul, 14 August 2008] [2]
“[T]he possibility of Iran’s having nuclear weapon will disturb international community as well as Turkey.”
[Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, written response to a parliamentary question by the Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy Muhsin Kocyigit, 16 June 2006] [3]
“We will act together with the United States within the framework of the Greater Middle East Project where Iran’s nuclear program is concerned.”
[Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, “Turkey’s EU process and Turkey’s foreign policy” briefing for the parliamentarians of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Kizilcahamam, Ankara, 12 March 2006] [4]
“Like other countries and especially the United States, we have been following Iran’s nuclear efforts with serious concern. Turkey can never welcome an Iran who possesses nuclear weapons. The nuclear states axis starting from North Korea, passing through Iran and extending to other possible powers in our region poses sensitivity on part of Turkey.”
[Turkey’s Deputy Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug, speech at the American-Turkish Council’s annual conference, Washington DC, 6 June 2005. On August 2008, General Basbug became the head of Turkey’s armed forces ] [5]
_______________________
related documents:
“While our public is regularly provided alarming media reports of nuclear dangers in Iraq, North Korea or Iran, what is supposed to be a well-informed western audience is living in ignorance of the destructive power of thousands of potential Hiroshimas stored in their backyards.”
[Mayors for Peace petition launched on 6 December 2007 by the European Mayors on whose territory US nuclear weapons are deployed, namely:
Vedat Karadag (Incirlik, TURKEY), Stefano Del Cont (Aviano, ITALY), Anna Giulia Guarneri (Ghedi, ITALY), Theo Kelchtermans (Peer, BELGIUM), Dr. Joke W. Kersten (Uden, NETHERLANDS), Heinz Onnertz (Buechel, GERMANY) ] [6]
“Article II: Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the [Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons] Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons [...] ”
[text of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons signed by Turkey in 1969] [7]
_______________________
related links:
US official: Turkey has international responsibilities that extend beyond its immediate neighbourhood
by Cem Ertür, Dandelion Salad, 18 March 2010
Israeli army chief visits Turkey to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear program
by Cem Ertür, Dandelion Salad, 16 March 2010
NATO’s secret transatlantic bond: Nuclear weapons in Europe
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 3 December 2009
_______________________
notes:
[1] Turkey Tilts Toward Iran
by Claudia Rosett, Forbes Magazine, 26 March 2010
[2] Tahran harab-ül Bağdat olmasın
by Ugur Ergan, Hurriyet, 17 August 2008
[3] Government monitors developments on Iran’s nuclear program, Gul
Anadolu Agency, 16 June 2006
[4] Gül: BOP içinde ABD ile birlikte hareket ediyoruz
by Nazif Iflazoglu, Radikal, 13 March 2006
[5] Luncheon remarks by General Ilker Basbug, Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff
by Ilker Basbug, Turkish General Staff website, 6 June 2005
[6] European mayors want withdrawal of US nukes from their territory marking [the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty] INT 20th anniversary
2020 Vision Campaign website, 6 December 2007
[7] Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) website
_______________________
dandelion salad
Homepage:
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/turkey%E2%80%99s-president-gul-iran%E2%80%99s-ultimate-aspiration-is-to-acquire-nuclear-weapons/
shome mishtake shurely
15.09.2010 17:29
1. Germany does not import nuclear weapons from the US.
2. Germany does not produce nuclear warheads.
3. Germany does not export nuclear warheads to France.
4. Germany is not fully capable of directing its stockpiled nuclear weapons at the Middle East. If it still has access to American nuclear weapons [doubtful], they will be under a 'dual key' arrangement.
So few words, so many mistakes.
selzer
good idea
15.09.2010 17:52
anon
agreed
15.09.2010 18:16
Lets start with Islam. To openly "believe" all that nonsense that is written is a book with no factual checks does not bode well for being put in charge of WMDs.
I can't think of one single reason why I would want Iran to have nuclear technology
Not one.
So the idea of supporting Iran in its goal is crazy
sane