Another Moment of Hypocrisy!

As usual with this Administration, if you are either our friend, or at least not a Muslim country, you can be part of the problem, with no sanctions or threats of war, possibly nuclear bombs, being used upon you. But if you are not our friend and especially if you are an Arab nation, we will not tolerate your becoming a member of our club: “Nations who have Nuclear Weapons”. Except Pakistan, which since the beginning of Mr. Bush’s war on terror, is now Mr. Bush’s Favorite Nation. Someone explain this one to me.
Japan has already accumulated a stockpile of more than 40 metric tons of separated plutonium, enough to make thousands of nuclear weapons.

Under the Japanese Constitution which was written and ratified, after Japan lost in WWII, they were not allowed to have WMD’s or their military to go outside their borders, except limited to humanitarian purposes.

The Japanese military is severely limited by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution which states: “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes” and that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.” The exact limits of Article 9 is a controversial issue in Japan, but it has been interpreted as allowing for self-defense forces. Thus the Japanese Self Defense Forces has a very limited overseas capability, lacks long range offensive capabilities like long range anti ground missiles, air-refueling (as of 2004), Marines or amphibious units, large cache of ammunitions, or Rules of Engagement.

How then, do we allow Japan to have “more than 40 metric tons of separated plutonium” and maintain the capability to make Nuclear weapons? Why aren’t we rattling our might at them? After all, if you compare the history of Japan against the history of Iran, which country has done more damage to the world? Which country has caused more deaths? Which country has taken over militarily more countries?

“The decision by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) to begin production of separated plutonium at the Rokkasho-mura Reprocessing Plant (RRP) is both dangerous and reckless. It will further erode a nuclear non-proliferation regime already severely weakened by the Iran crisis, and will ultimately increase the risk that terrorists will obtain the materials needed to make nuclear weapons. This is a step backwards in the war on terrorism.
“For its part, the U.S. government position on the RRP is completely illogical. The Bush administration has stated that separated plutonium stockpiles pose a proliferation threat, and it has proposed spending billions of dollars on a Global Nuclear Energy Partnership to develop more ‘proliferation-resistant’ alternatives to the process that the RRP will use—a program that will take decades. But it is refusing to take action to stop the near-term accumulation of separated plutonium at the RRP, using the weak argument that the U.S. ‘cannot tell Japan what to do.’ If the United States were really serious about halting the growth of separated plutonium stockpiles, it could have at least publicly asked Japan to refrain from contributing to this growth. {Source}

Would the world not have a better chance of keeping Nuclear War from ever being loosed upon us, if we demanded that every nation stop the stockpiling of separated plutonium? You can not demand that some do, but turn a blind eye on your friends.

People and country’s want to be treated fairly. If they perceive that there is two different rules and they feel that they are not being treated fairly, they start to break the civilized rules we have agreed to live by. Wars start when this happens.
Why are we planning on attacking one nation for something that other nations are doing? Japan has attacked us. Iran has not, (other than the Iranian Hostage situation, which we did not go to war over).
You must demand the same of all Nations. Even us. Fair is Fair!