Ha'aretz (Israel) : "Nuclear diplomacy in the Middle East" par Aluf Benn

Last update - 09:54 01/08/2009    


IN DEPTH / Nuclear diplomacy in the Middle East  

By Aluf Benn  

Munya Mardor, a veteran of Israel's defense establishment, wrote in his memoirs: "The moral and political significance of armament with nuclear weapons is that countries that relinquish nuclear and hydrogen weapons are doing the equivalent of acknowledging that they are vassal states. This is apparently the status that will be the lot of countries that have only conventional weapons."

Mardor wrote those words 30 years ago, but they have not lost any of their validity today. Most of the global flashpoints in recent years have been connected directly or indirectly to nuclear proliferation and concern over losing control of it: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran and Israel.

The United States developed the bomb so as to benefit from a "tie-breaking weapon" in World War II, and to ensure its crushing superiority in the world order that prevailed thereafter. The Soviet Union was hot on its heels, determined not to lag behind in the race, and to become a parallel power. The tremendous investment has proved itself: Even after the fall of the Soviet empire, Russia enjoys a position of.....................
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1104190.html