Kim Jong Drops a bomb!!!

North Korea has claimed to have tested a nuclear device on the 9'th of October. And so, the nuclear club has to grudgingly accommodate country number 9. The countries which have already tested are USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel ( It was never confirmed or denied it, but it is widely suspected), and now North Korea. The actual extent of North Korea's nuclear program was a mystery to many, but it was no secret that the country was trying to make a nuclear bomb.

The country withdrew out of the Non Proliferation treaty in 2003 and had been releasing statements saying that they were going to develop a nuclear deterrent. They had extracted spent plutonium our of spent rods in 2004. And in 2005, the six party talks were started to deter North Korea from developing a bomb, but the talks failed to reach any conclusion. Even on October 3, North Korea announced that it will be testing a bomb in the future. Every country has condemned the bomb and efforts are being made to ascertain whether it was a genuine nuclear explosion or not. But most of the preliminary reports suggest that it was.

Bush had termed Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the 'axis of evil' in 2002 and then attacked and effected a regime change in Iraq. No doubt that this would have led both Iran and North Korea to start their nuclear program to prevent an attack. If Bush continues his cowboy activities in every country that is unfriendly to the US, this will no doubt trigger a global arms race that could have disastrous effects for all of us.

Another main reason for the extent of North Korea's nuclear program was Pakistan and their nuclear weapons expert Dr. A.Q.Khan. Musharaff has written in his book "Dr Khan transferred nearly two dozen P-1 and P-11 centrifuges to North Korea. He also provided North Korea with a flow meter, some special oils for centrifuges, and coaching on centrifuge technology, including visits to top-secret centrifuge plants."

Now, what more evidence does the world want to persecute Dr. Khan? And how can Musharaff claim that this was done without the knowledge of the Pakistani government? I could have believed that, if Khan had only transferred the blueprints for these items, but NO, he has given North Korea 2 dozen centrifuges. Is Pakistan asserting that they had no knowledge of a top scientist transporting nearly 25 centrifuges and countless other sensitive items out of their territory? Plain Bullshit....

Now god only knows to which all countries North Korea will sell this technology too. The temptations will be all the more, since the UN security council will impose strict economic sanctions on it. An impoverished country has all the more reason to sell it's technology for food and fuel supplies. In a short time, maybe we will have Syria, Libya, Iran and countless other dangerous countries boasting of nuclear capabilities. What if some of these warheads reach Al-Qaeda??

When will everyone (including the US) realize that war is not an option anymore. We cannot afford to spend billions of dollars procuring and updating weaponry. India has allocated 89000 crore for defense spending for 2006-07. If there was no threat from Pakistan, China, terrorist groups, naxalities, this huge amount would be much much lesser. We would have all the more money to spend on education, removing poverty, and other socially relevant welfare schemes. Remember, President Kalam had reiterated in his book "Ignited minds", that poverty and unemployment are India's biggest enemies, not Pakistan.