Showing posts with label Mohamed El Baradei. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mohamed El Baradei. Show all posts

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Biased Attitude of IAEA, UN Toward Iran

Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has accused Iran of developing nuclear missile. The agency confirmed that Iran had started its uranium enriching activity to the stage of producing atomic bombs. Such actions had triggered new tension between Teheran and the IAEA.

Meanwhile, the Director General of IAEA Yukiya Amano also alleged Teheran refused to give commitment to the IAEA officers to inspect Iran's nuclear plant in Qom and claimed that there were a number of facilities and techno plant of nuclear program concealed underground in the mountainous area nearby Shiite holy city, Qom.

Teheran Refutes Allegation
Iran had refuted the allegation of the IAEA director general who took over the task from Mohamed El Baradei since 1 December 2009 by claiming that Amano had presented an inaccurate report and biased against Teheran in the meeting of this United Nations body in Vienna. Iran instead clarified that Teheran had given its commitment to the atom development inspection body to carry out their inspection as scheduled. Yet, why did Iran allege the IAEA as practicing a 'biased' policy in assessing its nuclear development program?

The IAEA was set up in July 1957 with the purpose to act as a responsible body to encourage nuclear development for peace, to control the activity of nuclear development and to check the activity of developing nuclear for military purpose by any country.

In general, the IAEA is an 'ideal' body responsible for preserving world peace and protecting the world from the threat of nuclear. However, in practice, it is not too much to say today that the IAEA can be deemed as the 'Trojan Horse' of the United States which helps the latter to collapse the attempt of any country which tries to strengthen their power in nuclear development.

Thus, Teheran's allegation against the IAEA which claimed that Yukiya Amano's report as a biased and inaccurate report was also influenced by the factor of the IAEA's 'willingness' to become the 'Trojan horse' of the superpower, the United States. We can evaluate the stand and perspective Iran holds toward the IAEA based on the attitude of the agency itself which sees Iran as a 'sinful' country which is doing 'big sins' in nuclear development while there are many other countries developing nuclear arms but not imposed any sanction and pressure.

The reality is that Iran is seen 'victimized' in big powers' maneuver against new countries developing nuclear program. Iran has faced various sorts of sanctions between 1979 and 2010, including the sanctions imposed by the United States and UN. But why does Iran become the only victim?

Whether Iran develops nuclear for the purpose of peace or arms, the international atomic body should evaluate its own shortcomings in carrying out its responsibility worldwide. This is because while the United States tries to act like the 'world police' advocating the effort to bring global peace, the superpower is itself the country having the largest stock of nuclear arms in the world, estimated at more than 11,500 units of nuclear weapons.

In fact, the United States has always invented various versions of nuclear weapons and the objective of developing nuclear weapons is to use them in war. Does the United States invent these nuclear weapons just for fun? This means the United States itself invents new nuclear weapons everyday, so that it can use them in war and kill their enemies. But the United States has not been taken any action by the IAEA and UN, although the weapons they produce are weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that could destroy human civilization.

The IAEA has also failed to check the nuclear development of Russia, which is until today estimated as possessing more than 7,500 units of nuclear weapons. The IAEA has also failed to control Britain, France and China which have so far been "free" to develop their techno plants and nuclear weapons without control from the international atomic body. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan which was once part of the Soviet Union had also had nuclear weapons before; whereas member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) such as Belgium, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, and Turkey also have nuclear weapons stationed by the United States.

Worrying About International Sanction
Unfortunately the IAEA has not taken any action against these countries. More unfortunately, the IAEA has failed to control the nuclear development program of India, Pakistan, North Korea and South Africa as well. These countries are 'free' to develop nuclear without having the need to worry about international sanction. Similarly, the IAEA has to date continued to 'keep quiet' and close its eyes on the nuclear program developed by Tel Aviv since as early as 1956. Israel owns 250 to 300 units of nuclear weapons and is one of the countries which have not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The nuclear program and weapons of the Jews are no longer a secret, instead countries in the world have known about nuclear weapons owned by Israel. This failure of the IAEA can be seen from the research done by Nuclear Age Peace Foundation which had estimated the number of nuclear weapons at 26,000, of which a majority are owned by the United States and Russia in addition to 40 other countries.

The growth of nuclear arms shows the failure of the IAEA and UN in controlling nuclear proliferation at international level. With this failure, can the IAEA and UN convince Iran to terminate its nuclear program? As a matter of fact, the IAEA only targets at Iran to cover up its own weaknesses.

The Saudi leader, a strong ally of the United States, Prince Saud al-Faisal also voiced out the biased attitude of the IAEA, the UN, and the United States when US State Secretary Hillary Clinton visited the country on 16 February. Prince Saud al-Faisal stressed that the effort to eradicate nuclear arms in West Asia had to include Israel and not only Iran.

Objective of Nuclear Program
Nevertheless, has the action of the United States and IAEA impeded Iran's attempt to achieve the objective of its nuclear development program? Based on the current development of its nuclear program, Iran appears to have made a successful step slowly in its nuclear program, despite the various pressure and sanctions from the international community.

According to the IAEA report, Iran is expected to succeed in its nuclear program by 2011. Under the anarchistic situation facing Iran in the political flow in West Asia and the world at this moment, it has had an influence on Teheran's stand of seeing nuclear as a need to assure its security and to protect other Islamic countries from the threat from Israel and the United States.

This stand of Iran was stated by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 19 February 2010 who emphasized Iran's intention to work together with Islamic countries and to help cultivate stability and security in the region. Iran even clarified that it would not be hostile to countries in the same region. On the contrary, the nuclear development program of Teheran should be seen in a positive context in the face of oppressive big powers.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Bangladesh Prime Minister Visits India

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has paid a state visit to India. During her stay, India extended $1-billion Line of Credit (LoC) to Bangladesh as the two countries today took bilateral ties to a new plane, signing five accords to combat terrorism and consolidate trade, economic and cultural links.
This was the highest single LoC pledged by New Delhi to any nation, which would be utilised for development projects, like rail lines, locomotives and supply of buses, official sources said after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Significant Announcement
Manmohan Singh also announced 250 MW of electricity for Bangladesh from the central grid. Another significant announcement was New Delhi’s approval to allow Bangladesh access to Nepal and Bhutan both by rail and road. The two sides also decided to establish a rail link between Akhaura in Bangladesh and Agartala in India. It was also agreed that Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Silghat in India would be the ports of call between the two countries. India also announced 300 scholarships for Bangladeshi students.
The counter-terror agreements signed by the two countries after the talks between the two prime ministers were on “Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, transfer of sentenced persons, and combating international terrorism, organised crime and illegal drug trafficking. The two countries also inked a power cooperation agreement and a cultural exchange programme.
India pulled out all stops to accord a grand welcome to Sheikh Hasina as she began her four-day state visit. After she received a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the visiting leader called on President Pratibha Patil and later held talks with External Affairs Minister SM Krishna.

Range of Bilateral Issues
The two prime ministers held delegation-level talks at which they are learnt to have discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, situation in the region and international developments. Describing Sheikh Hasina’s visit as a milestone, Manmohan Singh said India looked forward to establishing a forward-looking and multifaceted relationship with Bangladesh.
Reiterating their mutual desire to resolve all bilateral issues through negotiations, the two prime ministers decided to establish a mechanism for comprehensive cooperation. Sources said the two sides also discussed the challenges posed to their security by terrorists and insurgents.
It is understood that the two prime ministers discussed sharing of river waters, resolution of the maritime border dispute and the promotion of bilateral trade and connectivity. Manmohan Singh assured Sheikh Hasina that India would not do anything on the controversial Tipahimukh Project that would affect the interests of Bangladesh.

Hasina Gets Indira Gandhi Prize
Sheikh Hasina was conferred the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The award was introduced by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust in 1986, two years after the Indian prime minister was assassinated. Past recipients of the award include former US president Jimmy Carter, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Namibia's independence movement hero Sam Nujoma. The last recipient was Mohamed El Baradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The visit of the Bangladesh Premier was a path-breaking one and provided both countries an opportunity to build a new and forward-looking partnership.