Now comes the confirmation of what the New York Times had said earlier, quoting US State government officials [off the record of course], that North Korea has been clandestinely supplying Syria with nuclear technology. Commercial satellite images, taken before the Israeli raid on Syria show an atomic power plant in the area in Syria which Israel bombed. Independent experts say the shape of the structures indicate that they are of North Korean make.
In fact any intelligent observer of the world scene would have said that the secret Israeli mission last month was to bomb the Syrian reactor. There were a lot of tell tale giveaways. Israel generally announces loudly if it takes action against any Arab nation, perhaps to explain its position before the international community, to justify the action. But over the secret bombing on Syria last month there was a total clamp down. Why?
Because it did not want to tell the world that Syria was building a nuclear plant with North Korean help. Why? Because the US wanted it to shut up about it. The US was close to getting the intransigent Kim Jong-il to come to the negotiating table under the six-nation talks umbrella. If Israel had made the sins of North Korea public, this would have vitiated the atmosphere of the talks. It might have made the sour, moody North Korean leader to leave the negotiations in a huff.
Moreover the US government would have had to answer the US media and Congress. Both of them would have demanded why the Bush administration was smoking the peace-pipe with a regime which was dishing out nuclear technology to all and sundry. I mean it has helped Pakistan on the missile programme. In fact many say the Pakistani Ghazni and Ghori missiles are original North Korean missiles with a Pakistani paint work.
Why did Syria keep quiet when Israeli planes hammered its North Korean gifted plants? For very obvious reasons. It does not want to make public the fact that it has nuclear ambitions. It does not want to get a scolding from other big world powers like Russia and China as the community of nuclear haves are getting worried by the increasing number of countries who want to go nuclear. They are having a torrid time dealing with Iran as such.
