UN may resolve chemical and nuclear weapons problems in Syria and North Korea

By: Abdolreza Ghofrani

In the first 100 days of Donald Trump in office, other than the differences and infighting, not apparently over, that have led  to dismissal of some high-ranking officials, among them the national security advisor to the president, there have been, so far, two or actually three crises that new  US administration is now  grappling with in its  foreign relations.

The first crisis is the alleged Russia involvement in the last November US presidential elections. Though this domestically have harder repercussions, its foreign impacts, particularly as far as the relation with Moscow are concerned, cannot be downplayed.

The second is Syria issue that incited US missile attacks on Syrian air base. And the third one is the North Korea nuclear issue that can be a flash- point. Meanwhile Trump administration does not stop its intimidations including military actions that are quite perilous. Because this can deepen crisis in international arena.

Trump administration assumed office with the slogan of “no involvement anywhere that has nothing to do with US interests. He blatantly declared that every country needs to deal with its own problems by itself. He even questioned the credibility of the United Nations, and some of his pals called the world body “inefficient” not being useful. Now, however, his administration links Syria and North Korea problems with international security (and perhaps that of US) and has made hue and cry about these issues. Having this in mind, therefore, it sounds that United Nations is not as unproductive as Trump administration already had alleged and cannot be. So, if the world body is credible as well as efficient, then as to how his administration does not take properly use of this prestigious body and its mechanisms? United Nations do possess enough premises, capabilities as well as expertise to deal with chemical and nuclear weapons ,and now it can investigate ,impartially and meticulously, the probable use of chemical weapons by Syrian government and make the results known to world public opinion. As for North Korean nuclear weapon crisis ,that is apparently a great concern for United States taking it as threat to her national security, it seems quite plausible that US administration instead of bullying and unilateral actions, tables the issue for deliberation to IAEA.Definitey this international agency, based on the pertinent conventions, can work out solutions to this problem. It is worthy to recall that United Sates has so far made mistakes twice as for Iran and Iraq nuclear issues. Despite the IAEA disavowal that Iraq has nuclear weapons, US together with Britain and some other countries invaded Iraq with this baseless pretext and the region and the whole world are now paying for the consequences of that miscalculation. Though they later admitted   that there was not, whatsoever, any nuclear weapon in Iraq. Regarding Iran, certain circles in the United States made great controversies on nuclear issue. However, with the deal signed by Iran and 5+1, it was crystal clear that Iran uses nuclear capabilities for merely peaceful purposes.

Now, however, United States need to beware that North Korean case is far too different from those of Iran and Iraq. Pyongyang has so far tested several nuclear missiles with nuclear warhead and any miscalculation can be disastrous. The consequences will not only endanger the security of the eastern Asia but probably the whole world.
In present circumstances, the best approach is to solve this problem internationally and the paramount forum is the United Nations and its specialized agency IAEA.

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