Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Putin: 'Israel's nuclear weapons just make it a target'
jpost.com ^ | September 19, 2013

Posted on 09/19/2013 2:03:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons stockpile only serves to make the Jewish state “a target” and creates “foreign policy problems.”

Putin’s comments, reported by AFP, came in response to questions from reporters on the US and Russia-brokered deal to put Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal under international supervision.

According to AFP, Putin said that Syria had developed chemical weapons “as an alternative to the nuclear weapons of Israel.”

The Russian president claimed that “the technical advantage of Israel – we need to say this directly – is such that it doesn’t need nuclear weapons. Israel is already in a technical military sense several heads above the countries in the region.”

Putin added that “nuclear weapons just make it a target. They just create foreign policy problems.”

The chemical weapons deal with Syria has increased pressure on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Some 190 states have joined the NPT, whose goal is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.

Of the world’s nuclear powers, only four have not joined the treaty. Of these, India, Pakistan and North Korea have all openly tested nuclear weapons. Israel continues with its policy of nuclear ambiguity.

Israel has refused to sign the NPT despite pressure from the international community.

However, when it comes to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the country might be more flexible.

“Israel has an interest in a chemical free zone as opposed to a nuclear-free zone,” Eitan Barak, a professor of international relations from Hebrew University said.

“That would leave Israel with its alleged monopoly on nuclear weapons,” he said.

The state has always kept a low profile when it comes to its own chemical weapons program. They signed the CWC in 1982 but never ratified it, which means that Israel considers itself bound by the spirit of the treaty, but not legally obligated to observe it.

“The main pretext for Israel’s refusal to ratify the treaty was the Syrian arsenal,” Eitan Barak, a professor of international relations from Hebrew University, told The Media Line. “Israel says Syria is a neighboring country, hostile, with a large arsenal of chemical weapons and we need to be able to retaliate.”

He said that given Israel’s pharmaceutical success, it is likely that the state has a significant arsenal of these armaments. Local officials say that efforts to force it to join the CWC are duplicitous.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Israel; Russia
KEYWORDS: israel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 last
To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

So, how does the lying POS account for the 15 years following modern statehood when Israel *didn’t* have the Bomb, and the half century before statehood when the muzzie mass-murderers were killing Jews, and the prior couple of millennia?

Thanks Tailgunner Joe.


61 posted on 09/21/2013 5:44:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

OK. We’ll allegedly dismantle it, or maybe that’s just what we want them to think. Do it in front of TV cameras and everything. Allegedly done, or maybe that’s just what we want them to think. Still a target, non-stop, since 1948.

Has Kerry been giving Putin lessons in how to talk out of his rectal orifice? He’s a quick learner.


62 posted on 09/21/2013 5:53:25 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #63 Removed by Moderator


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-63 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson