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US nuclear accord with a Persian Gulf state raises concerns about proliferation

US nuclear accord with a Persian Gulf state raises concerns about proliferationBackers says the agreement with the United Arab Emirates is a model for other countries in the region. But critics worry about the UAE’s ties with Iran.

By Howard LaFranchi | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the May 23, 2009 edition

Washington – The Obama administration, anxious to demonstrate America’s willingness to deepen relations with reliable partners in the Muslim world before the president’s much-heralded speech to that community early next month, has signed a controversial nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates.

The nuclear accord, negotiated by the Bush administration but left for President Obama’s sign-off, is touted by the new administration – as it was by the former – as a model for future civilian nuclear cooperation with Arab countries……………………..opponents of the accord blast it as a short-sighted plan designed to secure lucrative contracts for US corporations that build nuclear reactors, yet one which may result in a string of plants producing nuclear fuel across a very volatile region.

“The US does not have a strategy to deal with this very real issue of proliferation, all they have is a sale,” says Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, an organization that promotes a nuclear-weapons-free world. “We shouldn’t be sprinkling the Middle East with nuclear power reactors until we figure out how to stop them from turning out nuclear bombs.”……………………………………Ploughshares’ Mr. Cirincione says….”What got these countries scrambling for nuclear technology was the summer of 2006, the war in Lebanon and Iran’s support for Hizbullah in that conflict.

US nuclear accord with a Persian Gulf state raises concerns about proliferation | csmonitor.com

May 24, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radioactive