Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is coming to New York to attend the United Nation’s conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The conference, which is held every five years to review the status of Treaty compliance and consider changes, is scheduled to have a speech tomorrow from the Iranian leader who criticizes the West for their possession of nuclear weapons. At the same time Iran pursues a nuclear capability despite being a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty. Iran hopes to embarrass the West by pointing out Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons. I suspect he will fail to mention that Israel is not a signatory party to the treaty.
Iran is trying its best to pursue a nuclear option and lately Ahmadinejad has been travelling to meet with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and President Lula of Brazil. All these travels have had two common themes anti-American rhetoric and talks about uranium or access to nuclear technology.
Iran is concerned that obtain sources for its nuclear needs that are not dependent on the West which is increasingly concerned about the secrecy of Iran’s “peaceful” pursuit of nuclear power.
New York City was the scene of a failed attempt at a terrorist bombing over the weekend. Pakistani Taliban, supported by Iran, claimed credit. But the UN will be a gracious host to the Iranian President whose nation just was granted a seat on the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women. Iran, where women are routinely imprisoned, abused, hung, and at times stoned, will now help shape global policy for the welfare of the feminine gender. The hypocrisy of the international body that allows this human rights travesty will tomorrow applaud Ahmadinejad’s duplicitous call for making the Middle East a nuclear free zone at the same time doing nothing about Iran’s violations of the very treaty under discussion. It should be noted that the conference in 1995 already passed such a resolution but again it has had no effect on Israel because Israel is not a signatory to the treaty. Iran is a signatory and had already been sanctioned by the UN three times for its failure to live up to its nuclear treaty commitments.
Ahmadinejad’s “diplomatic” efforts to forestall international sanctions on its own nuclear program are combined with various bluster. Iran has conducted provocative exercises in the Arabian Gulf and is pushing missiles to its Hezbollah surrogates in Lebanon. Just this last week an Iranian spy ring was wrapped up in Kuwait. Increases in Al Quds force presence are being noted in Latin America and they continue to play a role in Yemen. Some say Iran would like to promote a war between Israel and Lebanon this summer in hopes this will make the Israelis reconsider a strike on Iran until after Iran has what it needs to build a bomb. Using the UN is just another tool in Iran’s efforts to achieve what it has promised it does not seek – a nuclear weapon.
During the Second World War, Churchill and others took extraordinary measures to make sure Hitler could not gain access to Norwegian Heavy Water because they feared a nuclear weapon in the hands of a madman. Let us hope that there are men like Churchill today who will do the same things to prevent modern madmen from getting such weapons.
