DISADVANTAGE/PROLIFERATION

LINK: MILITARY ACTION BY THE USA LEADS TO NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

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The interventionist foreign policy that the United States pursues worldwide actually encourages the proliferation that the government claims to be fighting. Chinese and Russian arms control negotiators recently argued that NATO countries (led by the United States) were destroying nonproliferation efforts with their war in Kosovo. Those arms negotiators added that NATO showed that it wouldn't respect any country unless that nation possessed nuclear weapons.

The Chinese and Russians are not engaged in idle chatter. When former Secretary of Defense William Perry--acting as special envoy to President Clinton--pressured North Korean leaders to end efforts to develop long-range missiles and fulfill their promise not to produce a nuclear weapon, he received a stiff response. The North Koreans noted that if they foreswore such weapons, the United States might accuse North Korea of human rights violations and begin bombing their nation into rubble--as the United States did in Serbia. When an Indian general was asked what lessons he had learned from the successful U.S. intervention in the Persian Gulf War, he replied that one should not fight the United States without nuclear weapons.

US ATTACKS ON AFGHANISTAN AND SUDAN HAVE CREATED AN ARAB CONCLUSION THAT THEY MUST HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Juan Romero, Jane's Intelligence Review March 1, 1999; Pg. 32 HEADLINE: Charting reactions to the Islamic bomb //lnu-acs

Finally, the US attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan have effectively fanned anti-US sentiments across the Islamic world and this, in addition to the above factors, will likely facilitate the conclusion that Muslims need nuclear weapons to withstand US pressure and 'arbitrary' acts. Thus, after considering the risks, the nuclear option may well appear as the solely feasible one, and thus the prospects for comprehensive peace in the Middle East are unfortunately very bleak in spite of the recent Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Washington. The resulting situation in the Middle East could well develop into a much more complex issue than the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even with a final Israeli-Palestinian agreement in the future, partly owing to the Israeli-Turkish military co-operation, partly owing to a likely added nuclear dimension to Arab-Iranian-Israeli-Turkish relations.

NATO ATTACKS ON SERBIA HVE CONVINCED NATIONS THAT THEY NEED TO GET UCLEAR WEAPONS

Steven Mufson, Washington Post Staff Writer, The Washington Post July 17, 1999, Pg. A01 HEADLINE: Losing the Battle on Arms Control; Pakistan-India Nuclear Race Is Just Part of a Disturbing Trend //lnu-acs

NATO's war over Kosovo has also complicated efforts to persuade nations to forgo nuclear weapons. On May 13, European Union representatives met in New York with China's chief arms control negotiator to prepare for a new round of treaties aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. Because NATO had accidentally destroyed China's embassy in a bombing raid on Belgrade six days earlier, the Europeans were not sure the Chinese would even show up.

But they did -- and delivered a stern lecture. NATO countries were the ones destroying nonproliferation efforts with their war in Kosovo, China's representative, Sha Zukang, said, according to a German diplomat. Sha added that NATO showed it wouldn't respect any country unless that country had nuclear weapons.

On June 3, the European Union met with Russian arms negotiators, who delivered the same message.

THE LESSON OF NATO ATACKS ON SERBIA HAVE CONVINCED NORTH KOREA IT NEEDS NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Steven Mufson, Washington Post Staff Writer, The Washington Post July 17, 1999, Pg. A01 HEADLINE: Losing the Battle on Arms Control; Pakistan-India Nuclear Race Is Just Part of a Disturbing Trend //lnu-acs

In between, William J. Perry, acting as special envoy for President Clinton, took a U.S. delegation to North Korea for the highest-level talks between the two countries since the Korean War. Holding out the possibility of normal relations with the United States, Perry pressed North Korean leaders to scrap efforts to develop long-range missiles and stick to their commitment not to build the bomb. According to participants, the North Korean leaders replied, in essence: Why should North Korea give up those weapons? If it did, the United States might start complaining about human rights in North Korea and bomb it into oblivion like Serbia.