Sanctions WMDs: UN concerns west ignores

U.S. Iraq

Double-dealing, 
double standards

Deadly game, 

innocents caught in consequences

Editing, re-reporting by 

Carolyn Bennett

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks but big guns refuse to hear.

While western post-World War II warriors were executing sanctions warfare, the Secretary-General was ever so gently, as is his style, raising the alarm about dangerous double standards in weapons of mass destruction, arms trafficking, law, human harm and human rights.

 

In his report at the September 2012 Conference on Disarmament, Ban Ki-moon said that the “lack of progress on disarmament and non-proliferation within the United Nations arena is troubling.”

The international community in 2011, he said, had worked to implement new nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation commitments and agreements growing out of the 2010 Review Conference, but “the United Nations bodies responsible for advancing those recommendations have faced protracted deadlocks” and have been “unable to reach consensus in 2012.”

Squabbling, delay, obstruction

The inability of the Conference on Disarmament to overcome its differences and agree on a program of work that would allow for the resumption of substantive work, including negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty, has impeded progress in the nuclear field, Ban Ki-moon said.

War Profiteers (government and trafficker)

U.S. Boeing bombs

At the same time, the Secretary-General said, “Poor regulation of the global trade in arms continues to present a significant challenge.” While there is no single-cause relationship between the poorly regulated arms trade and conflict, armed violence and substantive human rights abuses —  the connections between misuse of Government-owned arms and the questionable legitimacy or responsibility displayed by their original provider or between massive quantities of illicit arms and ammunition in circulation and lax national controls are clearly discernible.

Weapons of mass destruction

WMD MAP

BY TYPE

By type

Biological

Chemical

Nuclear

Radiological

BY COUNTRY

Albania

Algeria

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Bulgaria

Burma

Canada

China (PRC)

France

Germany

India

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Japan

Libya

Mexico

Netherlands

North Korea

Pakistan

Poland

Romania

Russia

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Sweden

Syria

Taiwan (ROC)

Ukraine

United Kingdom

United States

PROLIFERATION

Biological

Chemical

Nuclear

Missiles

 Wikipedia image

Children suffer

Human costs

Failure to agree on disarmament has serious consequences for UN agencies and for the inhabitants of the world’s countries.

The United Nations’ missions are “directly confronted with the consequences of the arms flow: brutal crackdowns, armed conflict, rampant crime or violence and the widespread human suffering that they cause.”

The Conference’s failure to agree on the Arms Trade Treaty, Ban Ki-Moon said, “frustrates the hopes of the millions of people all over the world who bear the brunt of the negative consequences of armed conflict and violence fueled by the poorly regulated international arms trade.”

war on children

Sanctions warfare

In the same month in which the Secretary-General reported on the human suffering caused by the unregulated spread of arms trafficking, the UN Security Council tightened the choke hold on Iran, deepening human suffering. Led by the United States, Britain and France, the Council voted for tougher sanctions against Iran.

Casting its vote for stricter sanctions on Iran, France charged Iran with bypassing the sanctions regime and violating its obligations regarding the arms embargo for the benefit of Syria.

Ignoring its own arsenal, infractions and failures to cooperate in disarmament and restriction of arms sales, the United States voted for sanctions, alleging Iran’s “continuing defiance of obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and Security Council resolutions.” The U.S. representative, as is the U.S. style, lectured Iran on what it termed an “approach … to deny, deceive and distract.” 

 

China and the Russian Federation expressed opposition to “the use or threat of use of force” and support of “dialogue and cooperation.”

However, regardless to counter arguments or calls for conversation over violence, the United States pressed on, expanding WMD sanctions against Iran. 

The UN Secretary-General voiced his concern for widespread harm inflicted on the Iranian people. In a report to the UN General Assembly released yesterday (Reuters reported), Ban Ki-moon said,   “The sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran have had significant effects on the general population, including —

Sanctions harm people - Syria

an escalation in inflation,

a rise in commodities and energy costs,

an increase in the rate of unemployment, and

a shortage of necessary items including medicines to treat such conditions as cancer, heart and respiratory disease and multiple sclerosis.

“Even companies that have obtained the necessary license to import food and medicine are facing difficulties in finding third-country banks to process the transactions,” Ban Ki-moon said.

Sanctions are also negatively affecting humanitarian operations — suggesting, almost laughingly, if it were possible to laugh at this stuff, that a western foreign policy of war by sanctions supersedes their wars wrapped in humanitarianism.

Iran has suffered four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions between 2006 and 2010 for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program. 

Sanctions harm people - Iran

Western countries originally said the sanctions would hurt only the government and not the people of Iran, a claim anyone knows is false on its face. They now acknowledge the wider impact of this warfare. “Britain, France, and Germany have called for more EU sanctions,” says a news report in today’s Tehran Times, “but it is unlikely that further UN sanctions will be imposed on Iran because of resistance from Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly criticized unilateral U.S. and EU sanctions against Tehran.”

BACKGROUND

Nuclear powers

Five nations are considered to be nuclear-weapon states’ (NWS) under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

NPT nuclear powers

In order of acquisition of nuclear weapons these are: signatory United States (2,150 / 8,000 warheads active/total), ratifier Russian Federation (1,800 / 10,000 warheads active/total), ratifier United Kingdom (160 / 225 warheads active/total), ratifier France (290 / 300 warheads active/total), and signatory Peoples Republic of China (n.a. / 240 warheads active/total).

Non-NPT nuclear powers

India (n.a. / 80–100 warheads active/total), Pakistan (n.a. / 90–110 warheads active/total), and North Korea (n.a. / <10 active="active" p="p" total="total" warheads="warheads">

Undeclared nuclear powers

Israel (n.a. / 80–200 warheads active/total)

Eight states have successfully detonated nuclear weapons.

Since the NPT entered into force in 1970, three states not parties to the Treaty have conducted nuclear tests: India, Pakistan, and North Korea.

North Korea had been a party to the NPT but withdrew in 2003.

Israel, not party to the NPT, is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has refused to confirm or deny this and is not known to have conducted a nuclear test.

South Africa developed nuclear weapons but disassembled its arsenal before joining the NPT.

Large stockpile with global range (dark blue), smaller stockpile with global range (medium blue), small stockpile with regional range (pale blue) Wikipedia image

On October 5, 1986, the British newspaper The Sunday Times ran Mordechai Vanunu’s story on its front page under the headline: ‘Revealed – the secrets of Israel's nuclear arsenal.’Wikipedia image

Red = Nuclear weapons states; Orange = Nuclear sharing states; Blue = Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones;   Golden/yellow = None of the above, but party to NPT Wikipedia image

Sources and notes

Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization: G. Disarmament

United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (July 2-27, 2012) 2012 session of the Conference on Disarmament ending September 14, 2012, Conference on Disarmament 2013 session will be January 21-March 29 (part one), May 13-June 28 (part two), July 29-Seotember 13 (part three)

http://www.un.org/sg/speeches/reports/report-disarmament.shtml

“Security Council Members Urge Tougher Sanctions, Deeper Diplomacy on Iran’s Nuclear Program” as Non-Proliferation Committee Briefs Members Subsidiary Body’s Report Details Activities from June12 to  September 12, 2012, Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10770.doc.htm

 “UN sec gen says sanctions hurting ordinary Iranians” from a  report dated August 22, 2012, to the 193-member General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Tehran Times, October 6, 2012), http://tehrantimes.com/politics/102120-un-sec-gen-says-sanctions-hurting-ordinary-iranians

Wikipedia notes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_powers

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Self-fulfilling prophecy — a Setup

West-Persia relations persist in
cruelty, mendacity, hegemony
It does not have to be this way.
Re-reporting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

“Respecting the rights of nations is not just a recommendation but a requirement. Instead of common logic, other instruments are used — that is not called a dialogue; it is called an order” [Islamic Republic of Iran’s chief negotiator at Istanbul meeting with six powers].

Disproportionate power and the inordinate wielding of power, brute force, caustic coercion and condescension — the flagrant, age-old arrogance of power renders the hegemon unstable, delusional and, of course, suspect by the world’s sovereign nations and peoples.

Old hegemons late last week went to Istanbul, Turkey, intent on fulfilling their own prophecy. As if falsifying evidence or packing data to make research results come out the way the researcher wants, the hegemons failed (caused to fail) a conference. With good intentions, this could have been a quiet teleconference. But there were no good intentions leading up to or within the meeting. The actors, particularly the United States and Britain, wanted the world to see the failure they had set in motion.

The way of the hegemon— aided and abetted by mass corporate multimedia

• Bullies engage in long-standing aggression: they taunt and threaten and commit violence against their prey 
• They conspire over time in setting the world against that nation or people (Saddam Hussein and Iraqis, Taliban and Afghans and Pakistanis)
• They agree to a conference (with their prey) and, leading into the scheduled conference, they announce to the world that “no progress” will come out of the conference; the conference will be a failure because a key conferee is a bad guy, an arm of an “axis of evil,” an uncooperative setter of conditions
• Powers come to conference, the hegemon fulfills his prophecy and quips: “See, I told you so.”
• No compromise. No progress. The status quo stands.

The Islamic Republic of Iran together with Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany met Friday and Saturday in Turkey. Agence France Press yesterday reported, “Talks between world powers and Iran ended Saturday without progress in tackling concerns over Tehran's nuclear program, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said no more are planned.” 

Iran’s chief negotiator responded: “Respecting the rights of nations is not just a recommendation but a requirement. Instead of common logic, other instruments are used — that’s not called a dialogue. It’s called an order.” 

I agree.  

My way of being is such that it refuses me the luxury of ignoring cruelty and mendacity — not matter the perpetrator or at whose expense. 

Nuclear power, for whatever reason or use, is ill advised and dangerous for the short and long term but the United States cannot reasonably expect any nation, if it can do otherwise, to lay down its defense or development measures when all around that nation is nuclear armed to the teeth. Iran has nuclear bombed no nation or people; the United States can never make this claim.  

Only the United States of America has dropped a nuclear bomb on cities and civilians. Only the U.S. is raining remote bombs on the peoples of Southwest Asia, the Middle East, the southern tier of the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Aden. 

Anglo Saxons have exacted unspeakable cruelty on the peoples of India and Africa and Asia. Western Europeans and North Americans have committed and sustained cruelties against peoples of the Americas, Central and Western Europe. Consider the Roma. Consider Indians of the Subcontinent and North America. Consider the Japanese and Vietnamese and Pacific and other indigenous islanders. The West has a history flowing with blood and unspeakable cruelty lasting to the present day. 

Nuclear materials are dangerous no matter the use but the U.S. and Britain are in no position to lecture or demand that nations put down their arms or restrict their energy sources when the policies and practices of United States and Britain have retarded growth, created and sustained poverty, obstructed progress, oppressed peoples, terrorized and failed nations. They are persisting, moreover, in destroying the whole world, on a variety of fronts, for their pleasure.  

The European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, a Briton, told reporters after the weekend conference that was set up to fail, “We had hoped to embark on a discussion of practical ways forward, and have made every effort to make that happen. I am disappointed to say that this has not been possible.” 

In the face of several years’ histrionics against Iran, this simply is untrue: entrenched power set the conference up to fail. The ridiculousness of Aston’s remarks would be laughable if the foreign relations situation in the Middle East and Persia were not so grave. 

For the world and for women in particular, it is sad indeed that the likes of Catherine Aston and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whether camouflaged in trouser or skirt suits, are mindlessly reading the hegemon’s chauvinistic, mendacious, cruel script. 

This is why it is not enough to set our hopes on women in high office, women in power. We must find women who are secure in their womanhood — not chauvinists or “one of the boys” or women who want to please men or be “just like them”: clones of entrenched ancients. We must find honest change agents, serious, courageous women who will be leaders dedicated not to personal image or the hegemon’s script but to assisting substantive world progress. 

The Iranian chief negotiator’s words at the Istanbul conference can be more than the content for headlines or slogans. They are worth pondering in a movement to uproot entrenched power. Demand that world powers of all stripes desist in hegemony, mendacity, chronic cruelty; and seriously engage with all nations for the benefit of all nations and peoples.

“Respecting the rights of nations is not just a recommendation. It is a requirement.”

News source 

“Multilateral nuclear talks with Iran end without agreement,” France 24 International News, January 22, 2011, http://www.france24.com/en/20110122-multilateral-nuclear-iran-talks-turkey-istanbul-end-without-agreement-ashton-jalili-p5
http://www.france24.com/en/20110120-iran-talks-should-include-ending-sanctions-russia

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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