Nuclear war is just around the corner

A threat of uncontrolled spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including nuclear, is slowly becoming reality.

The worse part is that there are absolutely no effective measures to bring the process under strict control. A threat of possible nuclear war, which has been discussed during the epoch of confrontation between the US and USSR, today appears more real than ever.

At least, this can be concluded from a brief interview of International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Muhammad al-Baradei published in German magazine Spiegel. According to al-Baradei, such threat of a nuclear war “has never been as great as it is today.” The head of International Atomic Energy Agency mentioned emergence of “nuclear black market, which is developing rather wisely.” “One country plans, the other manufactures centrifuges, later those centrifuges are being transported to the country-consumer through some country-mediator. The process involves numerous parties. Nuclear experts, unscrupulous companies, even government officials, all take part in the process. It is obvious that in the course of the last few years the system of International export control has proven to be completely ineffective,” said al-Baradei.

“Unfortunately, we have to admit that our inspectors failed to restrain Pakistan, India and Israel from developing a nuclear bomb.”

Al-Baradei criticized those intentions of the US to bring the process of disarmament in other countries under its control. “Only our organization is entitled to deal with this issue and nobody else.”

Perhaps, the head of the Agency tends to dramatize the situation regarding weapon control. Besides, al-Baradei appears quite irritated by the fact that the United States often prefers to avoid cooperation with any other International institutions, aimed at controlling such spread of weapons of mass destruction.

One can be upset and irritated as much as he wants to, but the fact remains unchanged – Director's opinion regarding WMD influence the final Washington's decision. Washington is not the only one to completely ignore the International Atomic Energy Agency. As it follows from his interview, India, Pakistan and Israel pay no attention to the Agency’s work as well.

The Agency's helplessness appears obvious. Interestingly, it gains respect only in those instances when it is being supported by Washington (such was the case with Iran and Korea). Otherwise, when the organization attempts to work by itself, it gets successfully ignored.

Today, a rather obvious question arises: do we really need the International Atomic Energy Agency in the present form, as a political instrument of one country? If yes, then we simply have to get used to the fact that all further inspections will be aimed at catering Washington's political intrigues. If no, we should think about creating a new and truly International organization aimed at establishing strict guidelines regarding spread of nuclear weapons.

It seems however that al-Barabei does not quite believe that his outcry for justice will be heard. The US will most likely refuse from the Agency's services altogether, thus agreeing to create another International institution, independent from Washington itself. The newly created organization however will cause certain problems not only to the US but to all the countries possessing nuclear weapons. Without massive support however such organization will most likely crumble.