Nuclear Hypocrisy and Its Chain Reaction

Let’s start off with an indisputable fact. No sane person or responsible country wants to see a nuclear proliferation free for all. Nuclear weapons could destroy all life as we know it. So the stakes are high. The Great Powers are the self-appointed guardians of nuclear non-proliferation. A lauded goal but they have been hypocritical and duplicitous in its implementation.

Nuclear weapon breakout capacity (the time required to build enough highly enriched uranium for one or two warheads) has been limited to regimes that are deemed responsible. Objectionable regimes seeking breakout capacity are threatened with sanctions and war to keep them in line. Note that regimes and governments change so nuclear arms could in time fall from the hands of a responsible into the hands of an objectionable regime. Moreover, if and when a regime, no matter how objectionable, has a nuclear weapon, and especially with a delivery system, then all hands are off and threats on the regime become muted and useless. So if a country lives in a dangerous part of the world, if it is surrounded by hostile neighbors or if it is in the crosshairs of a Great Power, the quest for nuclear arms or at least for breakout capacity becomes strong and understandable.

The Middle East is without a doubt a dangerous part of the world. Israel feels threatened by Arabs, by Iran and more generally by Muslims. The Arabs, especially those in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, feel threatened by Iran, and others by Israel. While Iran feels threatened by Israel, by Arabs around the Persian…