In a New York Times article set for publication on December 11, 2005, International Atomic Energy Agency General Director Mohamed ElBaradei calls for a new strategy for reducing the threat of nuclear war in general, and the threat posed by Iran specifically. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, ElBaradei describes "feelings of insecurity and humiliation" as being at the root of why nations turn to nuclear weaponry. This is a common sense understanding, that our leaders ignore, but explains not only other nations' interest in nuclear arms, but our own as well.
Repeat readers may recall a posting of mine from August 10 of this year, "Is Iran the Next US Target?" Link to Posting here. I wrote about how to reduce the nuclear threat posed by Iran last August. Here's a quote:
"Fear of the US and Israel is why Iran is seeking nukes. Instead of treating Iran as part of an "axis of evil" we should be trying to work with them to help them feel safe. What to do? We should leave Iraq, including all "enduring bases." If we meant to free Iraq, then do so now. Our presence there is perceived as a threat by Iran. The US should begin treating both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian issue with equality. This will send a positive message to the region and reduce tension for all, including Israel. The US should stop its current efforts to develop "tactical nuclear weapons" and re-commit to non-proliferation for all, not just those the US doesn't favor. The US should reach out to Iran diplomatically and with exchange of citizens to seek the fostering of a positive relationship with that nation so that it doesn't feel threatened and doesn't feel the need to develop nukes."ElBaradei apparently agrees with my view that it is mistrust and fear which leads to proliferation. Though he does not draw the connection in his speech, I think it is clear that mistrust is also a cause of terrorism; therefore it is imperative that policies which create mistrust be examined and modified. This must be recognized as reasonable and necessary to actually achieving the goal of reducing the terror threat and increasing just conditions worldwide.
Elbaradei's speech mentions that "we cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons or dispatching more troops,...these threats require primarily multinational cooperation." This too coincides with my calls for cooperation as a better response to the threat we face, rather than responding with war as US leaders and our allies continually do.
It is apparent from reading ElBaradei's speech that there is a latent understanding out there of the necessity of emphasizing principles like restraint, cooperation, and outreach as a response to the threats we face, rather than continuing to believe in the possibility that an endless "war on terror" can actually bring about a positive future worth striving for. War has not achieved lasting positive outcomes as of yet before or since 9-11, and there appears to be little evidence that is will do so at any point in the future.
We need new ways of understanding international relations. We must begin seeking win-win solutions to conflicts rather than continuing with the win-lose, zero-sum, expectations our leaders ascribe to which continually push them to war as a response. ElBaradei seems to agree with this view, as his suggestions point toward restraint, cooperation and outreach among nations and cultures.
This is what I have been calling for, like a lone voice in the Blog wilderness.
Read ElBaradei's speech and think about how we can do a better job of preventing and decreasing conflict. Don't just accept endless war without considering the possibility that other options exist. They do, but our leaders do not consider them or speak of them. They are not interested in non-war responses.
We must begin to see these new options and expect our leaders to enact them. If our current leaders and political parties will not, then new leadership and new political parties which will be open to constructive and realistic possibilities must replace those who ignorantly, and stubbornly, lead us today.
Let me know your thoughts.
Universal
ElBaradei Calls for Nuclear Arms Cuts
OSLO, Dec. 10 - The world should stop treating the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea as isolated cases and instead deal with them in a common effort to eliminate poverty, organized crime and armed conflict, the director general of the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency said Saturday in accepting the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
Mohamed ElBaradei signing the Nobel ledger Friday in Oslo.
The director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said a "good start" would be for the United States and other nuclear powers to cut nuclear weapon stockpiles sharply and redirect spending toward international development.
"More than 15 years after the end of the cold war, it is incomprehensible to many that the major nuclear weapon states operate with their arsenals on hair-trigger alert," Dr. ElBaradei, 63, said.
Despite some disarmament, he continued, the existence of 27,000 nuclear warheads in various hands around the world still hold the prospect of "the devastation of entire nations in a matter of minutes."
Feelings of insecurity and humiliation, exaggerated by today's nuclear imbalance, are behind the spread of bomb-development programs at the national level, said Dr. ElBaradei, who has headed the International Atomic Energy Agency since 1997. No less dangerous, he added, are the presumed efforts of extremist groups to acquire nuclear materials. With goods, ideas and people moving more freely than ever, the containment of nuclear technology must be part of a broad global effort, he said.
"We cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons or dispatching more troops," he said. "These threats require primarily multinational cooperation." Dr. ElBaradei said the manufacture and sale of nuclear fuel for power generation, which can also be enriched to make bombs, should be placed under multinational control, with his agency operating as a "reserve fuel bank" for accredited nations.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee divided the 2005 award between Dr. ElBaradei and the atomic energy agency as a whole. Dr. ElBaradei and Yukiya Amano, the agency's board chairman, were awarded diplomas and medals in a colorful ceremony before more than 1,000 dignitaries at Oslo City Hall.
The committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjos, lauded Dr. ElBaradei and his agency for resisting "heavy pressure" in 2003 to fall in line with an American contention that Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program despite the failure of the agency's inspectors to find hard evidence. "As the world could see after the war in Iraq, the weapons that were not found proved not to have existed," Mr. Mjos said.
In what appeared to be an allusion to that episode, Dr. ElBaradei said: "Armed with the strength of our convictions, we will continue to speak truth to power, and we will continue to carry out our mandate with independence and objectivity."
For the Nobel committee, this year's choice of winners was a return to basics after last year's untraditional award to Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist whose tree-planting campaigns are only tangentially related to war and peace. When Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist who helped develop dynamite, died in 1897, he left money in his will to honor someone each year "who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
Dr. ElBaradei and the agency will split this year's prize money of 10 million Swedish kroner (about $1.3 million) and have promised their shares to charitable causes.
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