WORLD IS ENTERING SECOND NUCLEAR AGE, SAYS NATO EXPERT

A NATO expert said today (Saturday) that the world had entered a “second nuclear age” in which many of the rules that applied in the days of the Cold War stand-off between East and West no longer applied.

“The end of the Cold War has removed a specific political and military context in which nuclear weapons contributed to mutual deterrence and mutual restraint,” Michael Rühle, Senior Policy Advisor to the NATO Secretary General, said.

Mr Rühle, who is also head of the speechwriting unit, was addressing a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Aseembly’s Political Committee on the subject of the implications of a nuclear Iran during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s annual session in Reykjavik, Iceland.

“The lack of new nuclear rules, together with an ever-accelerating process of globalisation, has sparked developments that put tremendous pressure on the traditional non-proliferation regime. Iran’s nuclear programme is one such development; the proliferation of ballistic missiles is another one,” he told parliamentarians.

Mr Rühle said, however, that despite the above problems there was no reason to be overly pessimistic.

“We can shape events, and don’t have to be their victims. Indeed, developments over the last years reveal the emergence of a new set of rules that might supplement the traditional non-proliferation regime,” he declared.

He said he believed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which will evolve by way of UN Security Council resolutions, will remain the central framework for identifying unwelcome behaviour and initiating appropriate responses. But, “dealing with problem cases will increasingly follow individual approaches”, as developments in Libya and North Korea have demonstrated.

Coercive measures, such as fighting maritime smuggling or imposing economic sanctions against proliferators, will make the non-proliferation regime more effective. But, Mr. Ruhle concluded, “nuclear deterrence, Alliance-wide ‘extended deterrence’ and ballistic missile defence will remain the last line of defence in case non-proliferation fails.”

End of mail