Schoolyard Lessons

"It is time for Iran to make a choice," George W Bush told a convention of US veterans a few days ago. "We've made our choice. We will continue to work closely with our allies to find a diplomatic solution, but there must be consequences for Iran's defiance and we must not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon."

The question no one is asking is why not? Why can't Iran join the nuclear club?

Obviously Iran has many problems: they are only barely democratic, still find it necessary to torture their citizens and are a little confused about the Holocaust (to say the least). But the argument that they are just plain evil doesn't cut it.

The existing nuclear weapon states each have their own issues. The Americans keep invading some countries (Iraq, Afghanistan) and bullying others (Cuba, Venezuela). The Chinese are still occupying and slowly eroding the character of Tibet, they could teach the Iranians a lesson or two about torture and certainly are anything from democratic. Israel has been occupying and humiliating an entire people since 1967 and looks poised to steal much of their land unilaterally under the auspices of peace in the coming years. India is democratic and reluctantly nuclear but still occupies and subjects Kashmir and battles separatists in its north east. Compared with Pakistan, Iran seems an angel. And don't get me started about Russia with its oligarchs and new Czar.

What makes these places special that they get to maintain nuclear arsenals? Why us and not them?

This situation is like a schoolyard with a group of little boys. When one kid has something all the kids want it. When I was a boy it was new running shoes and starter hats. We would do anything to possess them. But when the kid with all the fancy stuff got rid of something or offered it to some other kid, that kid didn't want it anymore. It had lost its prestige, its specialness, if that other kid no longer wanted it.

Maybe it's time the US and the other nuclear powers gave up their weapons to stop all this childishness. Then other states would have no reason to seek out weapons. The nuclear weapon states are obliged to disarm under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty they signed with Iran. You see Iran isn't the only one with obligations under the treaty. The longer the nuclear powers stall and modernize their arsenals the more hypocritical they become in the eyes of the world.

The truth is that Iran is trying to strike a balance by going nuclear. There are two ways of balancing out this situation. Either all parties have these worst of weapons or none do. The choice is ours.