As it stands today, what message does the ignoring of the Budapest memorandum and the Crimea occupation sends to Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, India, and other possessors and wannabe possessors of nuclear arms? In my view, it emboldens them and creates a reasonable sense of suspicion that if they fail to own nuclear weapons, then they could one day have the same fate as Ukraine. Interestingly, Ukraine is not the only nation that got invaded by a global power after giving up its nuclear materials, remember that Iraq destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon development as required by the United Nations Security Council resolution around 1991. Today the same powers that invaded Iraq, Libya, and Ukraine are negotiating with North Korea to give up its nuclear program. But according to some in the United States’ Intelligence Community, Pyongyang wants to hold on to its nuclear capabilities for deterrence purposes, coercive diplomacy, and respect on the international stage.

Source: Front Page Africa June 17, 2020 22:41 UTC