today

According to the International Herald Tribune, Iran was handed a harsh diktat to cease doing what it insists is its lawful right, while Pakistan has received exceptionally lenient treatment, despite the discovery of a major nuclear black-market ring run by Pakistani scientists and intelligence and military officials. Lenient treatment of Pakistan is quite intolerable in such a blatant case and illustrates the pressures under which the US and UN labor, which suggests that both can only be regarded as lightheaded and impractical.

The uncovering of the illicit Pakistani supply network, which has been operating for at least 16 years, exposed the worst proliferation scandal in history. Yet in response the Security Council passed a resolution that made no reference to Pakistan, or even to the nuclear smuggling ring, but instead urged the entire world to share the responsibility. Resolution 1540 obligates all states to legislate and implement tight domestic controls on materials related to weapons of mass destruction so as to ensure that non-state actors do not get hold of them.

IMO: One can perhaps understand the Iran diktat as it would be a good thing to prevent undue nuclear proliferation, and the sooner the better. Iran has plenty of energy already. In 2002 Tehran admitted it had built undeclared facilities and it is frequently talking quite officially about war. The facilities which are being built would seem to be obviously capable not just of creating WMD but turning them out like a car factory can produce Fords. I do not relish that. Incidentally people, particularly Democrats and British liberals, keep saying the US did not find WMD in Iraq. It is understood that the US found at least 150 WMD, each of which could have had substantial effect on a large city.