Arms Race

Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, made a speech in Cairo yesterday. He proposed that Egypt begin pursuing a nuclear program. We are rapidly running out of time to deal with Iran before it completely destabilizes the entire region and the world.

CAIRO, Sept. 19 — Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt’s president, proposed Tuesday that his country pursue nuclear energy, drawing strong applause from the nation’s political elite, while raising expectations that Mr. Mubarak is being positioned to replace his father as president.

The carefully crafted political speech raised the prospect of two potentially embarrassing developments for the White House at a time when the region is awash in crisis: a nuclear program in Egypt, recipient of about $2 billion a year in military and development aid from the United States, and Mr. Mubarak succeeding his father, Hosni Mubarak, as president without substantial political challenge.

Simply raising the topic of Egypt’s nuclear ambitions at a time of heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear activity was received as a calculated effort to raise the younger Mr. Mubarak’s profile and to build public support through a show of defiance toward Washington, political analysts and foreign affairs experts said.

“The whole world — I don’t want to say all, but many developing countries — have proposed and started to execute the issue of alternative energy,” he said. “It is time for Egypt to put forth, and the party will put forth, this proposal for discussion about its future energy policies, the issue of alternative energy, including nuclear energy, as one of the alternatives.”

He also said in a clear reference to the White House: “We do not accept visions from abroad that try to dissolve the Arab identity and the joint Arab efforts within the framework of the so-called Greater Middle East Initiative.”

This is, of course, the direct result of Iran's lust for nuclear weapons. The Egyptians are rightfully worried about a nuclear armed new Persian Empire. They do not want to become a province of the Mullah's new territorial ambitions. Experts have been warning about the inevitable nuclear arms race that Iran will touch off with its program. It has already begun. Numerous other states will now begin pursuing them.  

For some 60 years, the United States and the Soviets, despite being armed with many more warheads than were needed to kill the entire planet, were yet able to cooperate enough to keep those weapons out of the hands of all but a few states. No we face a future where the arms will be in the hands of a multitude of marginally stable countries or dictatorships bent on bringing the end of the world.

They will inevitably get into the hands of terrorists. We have a major problem.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » A Spectrum Of Stupidity — September 20, 2006 @ 9:13 am

2. Liberty and Justice — September 20, 2006 @ 9:45 am

3. Blue Crab Boulevard » Blog Archive » Arms Race - Update — September 20, 2006 @ 8:29 pm