Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Regarding Today's Headlines

I got home in time to watch most of Ted Koppel's Nightline about Peter Jennings, a long haul control room anchor from Canada who recently died from cigarette smoking.

Everyone remarked on how cool-headed he was on the air, and on his ravenous appetite for omnitriangulated information (only a small percentage of which made it to the nightly news on ABC, given ABC offered no 24/7 televised news channel).

Editorial re today's news:

Iranian nuke facilities take a step in defiance of those who've already weaponized their uranium stockpiles.

Nonproliferation should mean it's illegal for any facility, anywhere in the world, to produce new weapons-grade fissionable materials. Any facility that does so, including in North America, should get its satellite picture in the paper for committing crimes against humanity.

Stockpiling such materials is likewise a crime, unless the intent is to secure and eventually destroy them, or render them inaccessible (plans and timeline on file with the IAEA).

Any nation allowing such weaponry to proliferate within its own borders is of course a rogue nation harboring terrorists, by definition -- often a sign that the central government is extremely weak and without a serious national security policy (like in Afghanistan).

Histories currently in production will tell the story from this angle: the Iranian government is not alone in being inept against terrorism. We'll have quite the rogues gallery of nefarious nuke heads and incompetent politicians.

USA OS PolicyToons: [1] [2]