Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-FaisalAs Harry Truman once said, some of this behavior is like a gang of puppies relieving themselves on a fire hydrant...one gets away with it and then they've all got to do it.
Looking at how Iran is getting away with developing atomic weapons in violation of its treaty committments and defying the entire world, the Arab states are now studying a shared nuclear program ..for peaceful purposes, of course.
A statement issued after a two-day meeting of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said the group had "commissioned a study" on setting up "a common program in the area of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." Which, given the generally parasitical nature of the countries involved means that they're going to sniff around and see what's for sale.
The group consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
The Saudis, by the way, are already exempted from IAEA oversight...because of direct intervention by President Bush. And the Saudis are already in possession of missile technology purchased from the Chinese.
As Iran flexes its muscles and continues to work towards consolidating the Shiite bloc, look for the efforts of these countries to get into the nuclear club to intensify.
Exactly what we need....a bunch of corrupt, xenophobic religious fanatics with nuclear toys...just another of those fun little consequences of our failure to forcefully confront Iran.
Lovely.
With the US dishing out nuclear deals left and right (most recently with India), does the world care about nuclear non-proliferation any more? Now the Saudis, protected by US interests, are basically emulating the US by introducing the antithesis of the NPT: the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.
ReplyDeleteThey are seeking a return to the nostalgia of balance of terror, deterrence and Mutually Assured Destruction. But this is the Middle East, where leaders are not necessarily rational to "keep five balls in the air" as Bismarck had so ingeniously proved capable of.
I believe that it will take the crumbling of economic investment within Iran to stir up even a modicum of interest in Russia and China to actually work with us to avoid the nuclear arms race.