Iran's Press TV, 8/6/12:
The US, and its Western allies as well as Israel, who have amassed nuclear weapons, use the threat of their nuclear stockpiles to dictate their policies, says an analyst.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Vietnamese-American political analyst and writer, Linh Dinh, to further discuss the issue.
The video also offers the opinions of two other guests: senior editor of Veterans Today (VT) website, Gordon Duff and peace activist, Max Obuszewksi.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Dinh, many have been saying in a lot of articles that I’ve been reading today when it comes to the issue of nuclear disarmament that nuclear weapons are useless, therefore they’re harmless. Would you agree with that?
Dinh: Well, how can they be harmless? Nuclear energy itself is harmful and these countries that possess nuclear weapons and nuclear energy have a competitive advantage, that’s why they hang on to these weapons. If you look at the countries that are major nuclear powers, Russia, China, the USA, the UK, France and you have to add Israel which also has nuclear weapons--those are the countries that are most powerful right now.
They call the shots so that’s why they hang on to nuclear bombs so they can dictate world events. If you look at the US and UK and France and Israel, you should count all their nuclear warheads together because they are one block, so that is the most belligerent force right now and they’re using their nuclear leverage to dictate world events.
Press TV: Mr. Linh when we are speaking about reducing stockpiles, downsizing stockpiles, reminded of the START (for STrategic Arms Reduction Treaty) the new START treaty between the United States and Russia, now a lot of observers were saying that although that treaty is about downsizing or rather reducing stockpiles, it is also about creating more tactical and smaller nuclear weapons. Do you think they’re viewed as any kind of improvement in the issue of disarmament?
Dinh: Well, these treaties are meaningless because unless you get rid of all nuclear weapons as long as you have some nuclear weapons then we stay in danger.
Like I said these major powers such as Russia, the United States and China, they’re not letting go of their military advantage, their tactical advantage and I think the world is in more danger of these three major powers, again China, Russia, the United States, engaging in indirect or direct wars than ever because the United States for example is in a serious crisis, economic and political crisis, so the only survival tactic right now is to ensure military hegemony worldwide.
So there is no reason for it to give up its nuclear advantage so I see it as provoking China and Russia even more intensely in the near future and thus provoking a possible nuclear showdown. So these treaties are just symbolic and they are quite meaningless in my mind.
Press TV: Linh Dinh, let’s have your view on this as well. One major question is why the United States won’t be using these kinds of weapons in the form of (Depleted Uranium) DU or in other forms that we may not know that much about in war zones. Is this about some kind of nuclear testing and is the United States actually acting beyond the principles of international law or treaties on nuclear weapons?
Dinh: Well, the United States spends trillions on weapon research it’s always trying to find better and more lethal weapons. So just take cluster bombs for example. Most countries in the world don’t want cluster bombs but the United States insists on using cluster bombs because it’s useful in its warfare.
So the movement is not towards less lethal weapons and more peace but towards more violent, more lethal, more genocidal weapons because these are the tactical advantages that an empire like the United States has and it’s not going to let go of that. Actually all the major countries are in competition with each other to produce more lethal weapons. So the world is moving towards more warfare and not less.
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