NEW DELHI — Labelling India and Pakistan, the two Koreas and the Middleast as "three areas of tension", Dr Hans Blix, former Chairman of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq, yesterday said international community would have to have a deeper look at what had led to this. "Concerns are particularly great about Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middleast, on the Indian and Korean peninsulas and about such weapons in the hands of reckless governments and non-state actors using terrorist methods," the former top Swedish official said.
| When Dubya did something about this, however, Hans was opposed. |
Strongly calling for a major international initiative on cooperation in policing clandestine money flow and money laundering, Blix said this was essential to stop illegal international nuclear material trade.
| Remind us, Hans, who uncovered and stopped the Khan network? |
Blix, speaking at the Hindustan Times sponsored 'Leadership Initiative', focused on the possibilities of Iran and North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons in the near future, but ruled out the use of Iraq-like inspections to dissuade these nations from weaponising.
Asserting that the United States should again be a leader in arms control and disarmament should help ratify a global test ban treaty to encourage other nuclear powers to do so. "US ratification of a comprehensive test ban treaty would be likely to have a positive domino effect on China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Israel," said Blix.
| Because they'd act in unison to ignore us. Gawd, he really is an idiot, isn't he? |
"It would make the development of new types of nuclear weapons much more difficult," Blix told a two-day conference on India's growing political and economic role in the world.
| Especially with a watchdog like the IAEA around. |
Speaking on the prevention of nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue states and terrorists, Blix said attempts by the United States to develop new types of nuclear weapons would not induce others to disarm and renounce weapons of mass destruction. However, if Washington were to resume its leadership role in arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, it would be "greeted with enthusiasm by bad guys currrently shaking in their shoes the whole world and could lead all away from weapons of mass destruction and toward greater security." |