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The Washington Post has an article about it (Syrian report: Israel bombs outskirts of Damascus for second time in recent days).
Let's think about some of the serious ramifications of a Middle East area wide conflict, in terms of it getting out of hand.
In the first post of this series Dredd Blog pointed out the shocking reality that the U.S. and Israeli governments refused to attend the scheduled talks about a nuclear weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East.
All the other relevant Middle East Nations, except Israel, have signed on to nuclear non-proliferation world wide:
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was opened for signature in 1968 and entered into force in 1970. It has nearly 190 Parties, giving it the largest membership of any arms control treaty in the world. The Treaty comprises legally binding nonproliferation commitments and is the basis for international cooperation on stemming the spread of nuclear weapons. It is widely regarded as the legal and political cornerstone of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and as containing three main concepts or “pillars” – nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In Prague on April 5, 2009 President Obama said that the basic bargain at the core of the Treaty is sound: “countries with nuclear weapons will move towards disarmament; countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire them; and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy.” The President also called on NPT parties to take steps to strengthen this vital nonproliferation instrument.(U.S. State Department Website, emphasis added). The nations that are not part of, that is, have not signed or committed to the treaty are India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and South Sudan (Wikipedia).
As an offshoot of that overall treaty, a nuclear free Middle East focus was subsequently envisioned, so the the U.S. became one of the organizers.
Somehow Israel has now evidently persuaded the U.S. to renege on that proposal:
High-level talks between Israel and its Muslim neighbors regarding a nuclear weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East have been canceled by the US and Israel.(Origin of the Classic Nuclear Bully). Is this the way to persuade the rest of the nations that Israel and the U.S. are the ones who want peace?
A nuclear weapons-free zone has been repeatedly proposed, only to have Israel – the only state in the region with nuclear weapons – reject it in favor of maintaining this nuclear monopoly, further destabilizing the region, and keeping the threat of others’ nukes as a primary excuse for its militarism.
Diplomats tell the Associated Press that the US, one of the organizers of the meeting on this latest NWFZ proposal, would likely make a formal announcement of its cancellation soon, claiming that “the time was not opportune.”
While Iran is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has publicly pledged its opposition to nuclear weapons development, has subjected itself to thorough international inspections, and in fact has exactly zero nuclear weapons, Israel has done none of the above and has approximately 200 nuclear warheads. Iran is being severely punished and threatened with attack, Israel is supported with unparalleled economic, military, and diplomatic support.
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
Imagine Dragons - Radioactive (lyrics here) ...
Hawking is mad at Israel because of its policies: Link
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