Does Anyone Feel Safer After Obama's Nuke Summit?

This week's nuclear summit was a photo op without substance and did nothing to rein in the most dangerous nuclear offenders: North Korea and Iran.

If big is better, then the recent two-day gathering of the greatest number of world leaders in Washington since the formation of the UN itself to discuss nuclear security, has got to be judged a huge success.

And that’s without any non-binding agreement being signed. In fact, the gathering was mostly cosmetics without substance.

U.S. President Barack Obama wants nuclear proliferation controlled, and believes terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons is the greatest threat facing his country and the civilized world. Undoubtedly, he is correct.

The trouble with this gathering is not countries led by people like Canada’s Stephen Harper, who is willing to the point of enthusiasm to participate.

The biggest trouble is that the two greatest nuclear offenders in the world today, North Korea and Iran, are not represented by the leaders who make the key decisions. Sanctions against Iran are hardly a cure for nuclear madness.

Neither Kim Jong Il nor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has shown the slightest inclination to back off nuclear weapons. North Korea already has nuclear capabilities, but Iran’s lust for them is more dangerous, because of all countries likely to use them, Iran is at the forefront.

The mullahs may even have a death wish –a sort of suicidal attitude towards nuclear holocaust if it can be used against Israel. What’s depressing, is that the Obama administration shows signs of reluctantly accepting that Iran will get nuclear weapons without interference by the U.S. Maybe Israel will react, but not the U.S.

North Korea’s nuclear blackmail is hardly threatening. That wretched regime has not one friend in the world, so it can safely be ignored. But American presidents like to dance to NK’s tune.

Again, two nuclear countries – India and Pakistan – are not interested in discussing their mutual antagonism.

A danger is that al-Qaida, in Pakistan, may acquire a nuclear weapon. Even Obama acknowledges that al-Qaida would detonate a weapon in America in a heartbeat, if it could.

Neither Russia nor China is enthusiastic about Obama’s initiative. They have their own agendas. Neither is keen on sanctions, which rarely work. The key, of course, is Russia. If Obama could bring Russia on side in any meaningful way against the mischief being perpetrated by Iran, it might encourage China to cooperate.

Obama’s declaration that the U.S. (under his leadership) will never use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear country is a form of insanity and invites blackmail. It’s as foolish as announcing deadlines when you intend to withdraw troops in a war, and encourages real and potential enemies.

The Wall Street Journal reported that when President Obama recently met with Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan (a noted human rights offender), he declared he was working on improving American democracy.

What got the WSJ peeved was the lack of humility in Obama’s assertation: “A truly humble president would occasionally evince some doubt as to whether he is worthy to lead America. Obama seems to doubt whether America is worthy of being led by him.”

That’s a continuing criticism of Obama’s apologetic foreign policy style. At least, the Prez has Harper convinced, so let us hope the nuclear summit will produce some unity in bringing renegades to heel.

Still, it’s hard not to be skeptical in a world where the likes Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have the backing of Vladimir Putin and China’s President Hu Jintao, if only to tweak the interests of America.