Israelis seized nuclear material in Syrian raid
Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem.The attack was launched with American approval on September 6 after Washington was shown evidence the material was nuclear related, the well-placed sources say.
They confirmed that samples taken from Syria for testing had been identified as North Korean. This raised fears that Syria might have joined North Korea and Iran in seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
I don’t know exactly what to make of all this, although Syria joining with North Korea and Iran in nuclear development obviously isn’t good. Clearly it would seem to make it harder for those who claim that Iran and North Korea can simply be ‘contained’ to justify their position.
It seems pretty clear to me that the best way to achieve non-proliferation is making sure that it is more beneficial for a nation to not develop nuclear weapons then it is to have them. Some of this can, and should, be achieved through ‘carrots’ like trade and membership in the community of nations, perhaps even some development aid, but without the ’stick’ as well, I doubt that this strategy will be successful.
(via Instapundit)



Every time the topic of Middle East and nuclear weapons gets raised in the same paragraph there is one thought that comes to mind -
How much of a causative factor for Iran and Syria is the existing presence of nuclear weapons in Middle East?