Nuclear Silk Route!

Sanctions?! bring them on...our 'dear leader' has millions more left to die! The sheer impotence which marks the worldwide reaction to North Korea's nuclear test is sad indeed. For once Bush's warning about North Korea's future (?!!) proliferation sounded as laughable as Manmohan Singh's customary speeches about Pakistani terror! As the world ponders about the clumsy ways to respond, its time to come up with my own conspiracy theory!

I believe the green signal for the Korean test must have come from Beijing and not from the midget who rules N Korea. The timing of the test is a giveaway in itself. Japan was about to have a more assertive prime minister in Shinzo Abe and a South Korean (however stupid he might look) was on the verge of becoming the top UN dog. The timing of the test was perhaps China's way of showing its sworn enemies their rightful place. For the uninitiated, Japan and China are as friendly as India and Pakistan and the Chinese army fought the South Koreans in the Korean War.

Even otherwise, it is safe to assume that the Korean Nuclear technology is an offshoot of the Chinese nuclear proliferation which also fed Pakistan. For decades India has been shouting from the rooftops about the nuclear 'Silk route' that exists between North Korea, China and Pakistan. The world blissfully ignored our warnings and feigned surprise when we justified our nuclear tests by pointing fingers at China and Pakistan. Although its possible that Pakistan shared the nuclear technology with N Korea in exchange for missiles, its almost certainly not the useless centrifuges which A Q Khan has been selling on the streets.

Here its pertinent to understand Pakistan's nuclear success. It would have gone nowhere on the nuclear map without Chinese assistance and that technology has not proliferated outside Pakistan. Do you think Pakistan would have sold a technology which it acquired by 'eating grass for a thousand years' to jokers like Gaddafi? What Khan sold on the market was junk which he himself stole from the Netherlands. Pakistan going nuclear was China's move to check India which was on cloud nine after the Bangla war and Buddha's smile. They have now done the same in the Far east.

Besides A Q Khan's claim to fame in Pakistan is as overrated as that of Abdul Kalam in India. Celebrated columnist Jonathan Power will vouch for the fact that long time Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Munir Khan made far more contributions to the 'Islamic Bomb' than A Q Khan. As for Abdul Kalam, his contributions to the SLV3 are indeed praise worthy. But his main role in the last two decades was that of leading India's Integrated Missile Development program which is an unqualified technological disaster! The demand by George Fernandes yesterday for probing Kalam's role in the Barak Missile deal may be ludicurous. But the blame for India purchasing these Barak Missiles instead of using its own Trishul Missiles lies squarely on Kalam's doorstep. Ok, I digress!

Iran's failure to master nuclear technology as yet is further evidence that Pakistan and Korea got it from China. If Pakistan can master it in 20 years, can't the Iranians do so in the 27 years since the revolution? Remember Iranians are not the Arabs whose only known skill is procreation! They are the country of Al Khwarizmi, Omar Khayyam and the legendary persian architects. The reasons for their nuclear struggle are perhaps they don't have Chinese patronage and maybe they didn't get reverse engineering oppurtunites which Indians got in the 60s. Hope the nuclear silk route extends to Persia soon!