Whooee! Well, friends an’ foes, seems like a dog’s age since I done any boogin’. I been twitterin’ up a storm but I reckon I ain’t been motivated enough to typewrite more’n a hunnert an’ forty characters at a time. Until now, that is.
What got me chewin’ nails an’ fartin’ tacks this mornin’ was when I read about a spill on a shipload of Canadian uranium bound for China.
Right off, I gotta say I ain’t too keen on the cosy trade relations we got with the world’s worst human rights abuser. Sure, China’s a terrific supplier of poison dog food, lead-painted kid’s toys, prison labour produced shoes, suicide factory iPhones an’ a whole whack of other great stuff. But tradin’ our uranium for all them great consumer goodies sorta sticks in my craw.
Of course, China wouldn’t dream of using any Canadian uranium to fuel its nuclear weapons program. Right?
And, they’d never sell it on to a nuclear wannabe like Iran. Would they?
Wikileaks has let us know that Iran’s nuclear program is being aided by 30 countries. As of yet, the names of those 30 countries remains unknown. However, the leaked cables inform us that Iran’s chief problem in advancing its nuclear program is a lack of uranium. Hmmm… Canada’s got plenty. In fact, we’re the world’s second-largest supplier after Australia.
But Canada doesn’t sell nuclear technology to Iran, does it? Not directly, at least. We do sell nuclear materials and technology to a couple of Iran’s trade buddies, though: China and Kazakhstan.
And Kazakhstan, like China, would never sell to Iran. Would they?
Of course, all this worry about Canadian technology and uranium being used to further nuclear arms proliferation is just unfounded scaremongering. Right? We sold our technology to India, didn’t we? Did India use CANDU know-how to build an atomic bomb? Oh yeah, they did. But that didn’t have any serious consequences. It’s not like India’s arch enemy, Pakistan, felt pressured to become a nuclear power. Oh yeah, it did. But these countries are responsible world citizens and they signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, didn't they? Oh yeah, they didn't.
That stuff’s all in the past. Who cares if India refuses to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty? Canada decided they don’t pose any threat and signed a nuclear trade agreement with India just last summer.
Well, at least India's enemy, Pakistan, is so politically stable that their nuclear arsenal will never fall into the hands of extremists. Will it?
