The START 2 treaty between the US and Russia has kept the two superpowers enough nuclear warheads to destroy the world ten times over. Yet, US President Barack Obama considers the most dangerous threat that his country and the world may face is nuclear terrorism, if one group or another such as al-Qaeda, obtained plutonium or enriched uranium. In fact, the stock in the world ��" most of it lacking proper standards of control ��" is sufficient to produce thousands of nuclear heads. Obama is right about his fears, but at the same time, his nuclear strategy and the conference for the control of nuclear material have not solved the problem. It is not adequate the US declaring that it will not use nuclear arms to attack countries that do not have weapons of mass destruction. What if other nuclear powers did so? Even Iraq was attacked, occupied and destroyed due to false claims that it possessed weapons of mass destruction. America's double-standard policy about Israel's nuclear arms cast doubts over the seriousness of the US strategy and the recommendations of the Washington anti-nuclear terrorism conference. These contradictions even cast doubts on the intentions of the Obama administration to have a better relation with the Islamic world and to reach permanent peace in the Middle East. The nuclear problem in the Middle East can be summarised in the following two statements. The first is that nuclear-armed Israel does not respect international resolutions and destroys peace. Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show more credibility about peace with Palestine based on the two-state solution. The second fact is Iran's nuclear programme that will allow the Persian state to develop nuclear arms within three to five years. The US policies dealing with Iran's nuclear file without connection with the Israeli one are simply not convincing. Even the US declaration that Iran has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty, since it is a signatory, but Israel has not violated it, because it has not yet signed it, makes everyone think twice before signing to extend the treaty at a conference in New York next month. The Israeli nuclear programme is a threat to the global nuclear security due to reports of leak from its Dimona reactor. If a right-wing Israeli government decided to employ nuclear arms against a regional country, or even Russia or European countries, as this possibility is stated in the Israeli nuclear strategy, then a nuclear war would start. Middle Eastern nuclear security cannot be built on one or two nuclear countries. Either nuclear disarmament occurs in the region or the world should wait for nuclear weapons to spread in the region, which would simply affect global nuclear security. Nuclear security is built on either the non-existence of nuclear weapons or on mutual nuclear terror. The last case prevented wars between Russia and China, then between China and India and finally between India and Pakistan during the twentieth century. Security is the right of all; it is the duty of countries to seek maximum security for its people. Most Arab countries have announced the start of nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes, which should be at the top of strategy lists. The most threatening factor is that the big nuclear countries may boycott aid for these programmes at certain stage. Arabs should diversify co-operation with world powers to avoid that happening. At the same time, Arab countries should have bilateral protocols for training and technology transfer, so that if one were subjected to a boycott, it could get the requisite information from other Arab countries. Unfortunately, such are the Arab League procedures that they would make the countries disagree. There is a risk of confrontation with the superpower over the Arab nuclear programmes. As the sole global power is engaged in two failed wars it is unlikely to get into another military adventure. The ineffective international sanctions against Iran may represent an undeclared step to allow Iran to be a nuclear power to force the Gulf states to be victims of US-Israeli-Iranian deals. Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should start their nuclear programmes for peaceful purposes now and co-operate with one another, so that they would have the technology of defence if the situation deteriorates. The world pays lip service to the weak but respects the powerful. Call it the law of the jungle, but this is the fact. [email protected] Hany is an Egyptian writer, who regularly contributes to the Mail.
