On June 5, 1998, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France called on India and Pakistan to freeze their nuclear weapons development and agree not to test nuclear missiles or arm them with warheads. In return, these five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, all nuclear powers themselves, offered to help India and Pakistan reduce tensions over the disputed territory of Kashmir. While the world’s eyes were focused on the nuclear growth taking place in south Asia, Israel was quietly and systematically expanding her nuclear arsenal. This month’s article considers the growth of the nuclear threat around the world.
India and Pakistan
During this past May and June, India and Pakistan conducted a series of nuclear tests designed to show the world and each other that they were capable of producing and detonating nuclear weapons. The New York Times reported May 18, 1998: “Indian scientists confirmed Sunday that the largest of five underground nuclear tests they conducted last week involved a hydrogen bomb, a device with potentially enormous power that is known in American military circles as a “city-buster.” According to figures released by the scientists, the bomb had an explosive force equivalent to 43,000 tons of TNT. This would be small by comparison with the most destructive nuclear weapons built by the United States, Russia and other established nuclear powers, but the Indian scientists said their weapon was deliberately kept small to avoid damage to several populated villages close to the test site in India’s northwestern desert.”
Pakistan responded two weeks later with tests of her own. As reported in the New York Times, May 29, 1998: “Pakistan responded to India’s nuclear tests on Thursday with underground nuclear tests of its own. Within hours, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared his country a ‘nuclear power,’ fulfilling a secret plan made by a predecessor nearly 30 years ago that Pakistan would build an ‘Islamic bomb’.”
Israel fears Islamic bomb
Although Israel has never acknowledged she has nuclear weapons, the New York Times reported June 1, 1998: “Experts estimate Israel has an arsenal that could number as many as 200 nuclear weapons.” The article continues stating this has caused considerable bitterness within the Islamic world, in part because no Islamic nation, prior to Pakistan, had acquired a nuclear capacity.
In an official statement, May 30, 1998, the United Arab Emirates asserted the international community has “encouraged the arms race” because it had “exempted Israel and left it outside the range of international inspection of its nuclear facilities.” Like India and Pakistan, Israel has not signed the treaty to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. After Pakistan followed India last week in staging nuclear tests, the Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, renewed a call to designate the Middle East as a nuclear-free zone. This single step would force Israel to destroy or surrender its nuclear arsenal.
Sanctions on India and Pakistan
Currently, economic sanctions are being imposed on India and Pakistan for their part in nuclear testing, yet Israel seems to be exempt from any form of sanctions. Noting this, many Islamic nations are now calling upon the United Nations to include Israel on their list of embargo-targeted nations.
The New York Times reported: “While it did not mention Israel by name, the official Yemeni newspaper, Al Thawra clearly had that country in mind when it complained in an editorial today that world powers were being lax in one area and taking a tough stand in another, ignoring one position and concentrating on another.”
Israel charged with complicity
Since India conducted nuclear tests, the New York Times indicates the Arab press has been filled with unconfirmed reports suggesting Israel had assisted Indian nuclear research.
A further sample comment is taken from the London Arab publication of Al Qudsal-Arabi: “Both Pakistan and India should be given credit for breaking the Western nuclear monopoly and that the Arabs should do likewise if they wanted to stop being kicked around by Israel.”
Security Council can’t agree
A particularly alarming note is that the UN Security Council cannot agree to economic sanctions. According to the New York Times: “The five countries disagree about economic sanctions, and are unwilling to offer anything that appears to be a payoff to India or Pakistan, so they are left trying to get individual countries to exert pressure. ‘We have no illusions we will succeed overnight,’ U.S. Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, said. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia do not have as much leverage as they once had in the region, and the three other countries do not have much either.”
As a result, we may be seeing the beginning of another era of increased military buildup in response to these nuclear tests. At the end of the “Cold War,” the arms race seemed all but over. Scripture tells us, however, that the world’s weapons will be very much in evidence at the time of the end. This factor, combined with an increasingly fragile world economy, is a signal to Bible students to watch Israel.
As we observe the reckless display of nuclear weapons, we wait and pray for our Lord’s return when, “He will save the children of the needy, and break in pieces the oppressor…in his days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One