AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 16:
Jordan's al-Rai commented Monday on the implications of North Korea's underground nuclear test, saying that political will is the essence of achievement since the country is one of the poorest in the world.
The mass-circulation daily said the move also opened the door for the proliferation of nuclear weapons after the nuclear non-proliferation treaty proved to be inefficient. It added the test showed that American threats mean little and indicates that Iran is now reassured that Washington will not use force to foil Iran's nuclear program "because of the lame (American) position towards North Korea that only called for sanctions, which means little against a people that are already starving."
The paper, partially owned by the government, predicted that Japan, Taiwan and South Korea will now seek to manufacture a defensive bomb for themselves without any objections, adding that some developing countries will also insist on possessing nuclear technology by initially claiming peaceful purposes.
It went on to say that Arab countries "deserve thanks for their patience and ability for self-restraint and doing nothing, although Israel possesses 200 nuclear warheads and it has no one to deter it from using them against Arab capitals if it wishes."
The paper concluded that U.S. policy under President George W. Bush has led to the proliferation of terrorism under the slogan of fighting terror, as well as the proliferation of the nuclear threat under the slogan of banning it.
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London-based al-Hayat said that sanctions on North Korea mean sanctions on Iran, if only so that the powerful countries which monopolize nuclear power can appear as if they are "applying one standard to confronting threats to world peace, with the exception of Israel, of course."
The Saudi-financed daily predicted that Iran will come under international sanctions before it has the chance to test a nuclear bomb, saying it doubted there would be a military option against Tehran. It expected an imminent international resolution for sanctions on Iran, saying that the possibility of additional wars was nevertheless possible, unless Bush decided to resort to dialogue after learning from the experience of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The paper said force does not always produce peace, adding that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is insisting on his country's enrichment of uranium, is not Saddam Hussein and Iran's arsenal is not the "fake weapons of mass destruction; and North Korea is not Libya."
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Kuwait's al-Rai al-Aam said in a commentary that human history has now entered the beginning of the spread of nuclear weapons in "medium-sized countries," adding that such proliferation will lead to the emergence of an international front seeking to end nuclear proliferation.
The pro-government daily predicted that North Korea will face additional poverty after sanctions are imposed on it, and Iran will suffer difficult economic conditions if it continues with its nuclear program, starting with gradual sanctions and threats of military force at a later stage.
"And thus, the world enters a struggle between those with nuclear weapons and those who don't but seek to do so, such as North Korea and Iran," it said.
The mass-circulation paper said nuclear and non-nuclear countries seeking to become nuclear powers will in the near future witness sanctions and more intense struggles, while the "chapter of the Indian and Pakistani nukes has ended due to time."
But the chapter of Iran and North Korea, it said, is open wide and the time element that applied on India and Pakistan might not apply to Tehran and Pyongyang, for they will take a long time before "the end of the first round."
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Lebanon's as-Safir said the blasts in downtown Beirut Saturday night reveal a "practical scheme to benefit" from the political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon, and criticized those who rushed into pointing the finger at the perpetrators out of political considerations.
It added in a front-page commentary that while no one is asking the interior minister to discover and reveal the perpetrators of the attack within hours or days, the people of Lebanon have the right to demand that he does not use his political rivalries to launch accusations.
It is no secret, the independent daily argued, that Lebanon today is "floating on a sea of foreign intelligence networks," including Israeli intelligence, and has been for decades.
The paper, with Arab nationalist trends, said what is more dangerous is that the sectarian divisions in Lebanon have "hit" the local official institutions. It insisted that the country's security is political, and that political accord is needed to ensure security. Otherwise, it warned, there are "a thousand devils that can exploit these rifts."
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Qatar's al-Watan commented in its editorial on a recent video broadcast on al-Jazeera news channel by a so-called "Sunni alliance militia" calling for the establishment of one Islamic Iraqi state.
It said whether this video tape is credible or not, it still reflects the fears of Iraq's Sunni population from parliament's endorsement of a draft bill drawing up new regions.
The paper added it is clear this law meets the aspirations of the Shiite and Kurdish leaderships in dividing Iraq into three states for the Shiites in the south, the Kurds in the north and the Sunnis in the "impoverished" center.
"This law, therefore, paves the way for sectarian and racist sedition that will end up in the fragmentation of Iraq," the pro-government daily argued. It warned that if the video is genuine in that al-Qaida is an essential part of this "Sunni alliance," then violence is only expected to escalate.
"It is truly regrettable that the Shiite and Kurdish leaderships exploit their control in parliament to destroy Iraq as a united state," it said.
