Nuclear issues emerging out of Caucasus

Nuclear security is a matter of extreme concern in the post 9/11 world. The horrors of nuclear weapons in the hands of the terrorists are unimaginable. Owing to such concerns, US president, Barack Obama, arranged a summit of 47 nations to discuss the ways and means to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and its pass over to the terrorist hands.

Georgian too was invited to the conference and the revelation by its president, Mikheil Saakashvili, at the summit about the arrest of criminals responsible for trafficking Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) not only stunned the world but also appeal to the will and conscience of world to envisage about such matters more critically.

The latest arrest in Georgia in March, tenth in the series of attempts, by organized gangs to smuggle the bomb ready Uranium to undisclosed destinations. Though, the quantity involved is relativity small, just a few grams to be specific, but the worrisome issue as according to Georgian President, these were just the samples from a larger stockpiles of such dangerous material.

The supply source of such Highly Enriched Uranium seems to have links to the huge leftover of such materials after the collapse of former Soviet Union. The abrupt demise of USSR and seemingly no system of control on the stockpiles of HEU brought a horrible scenario of such weapons in the hands of individual terrorists.

The current summit in Washington and its follow-up in South Korea need to address these issues more seriously and countries like Georgia need support in expertise and financial aid to encounter it effectively. It is time as Barack Obama said to show our deeds than talk in controlling weapons of mass destruction.