Mohamed Elbaradei's "The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times"
June 30, 2011 Former director general (1997-2009) of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mohamed Elbaradei, has published a memoir, The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times. In the introduction, he writes:
"...One way or another we are on the cusp of significant change. If we do nothing, attempting to maintain the status quo of nuclear have and have-nots, the change will likely take the form of a veritable cascade of proliferation, or worse still, a series of nuclear exchanges. The signs are already apparent, most revealingly in the reactions of neighboring countries as real or perceived nuclear weapons threats emerge. The recent surge in the number of countries across the Middle East talking about or beginning to acquire nuclear technology and expertise is but one example. The suggestions by senior Japanese officials to open discussions about a Japanese nuclear weapons program in response to North Korea's first nuclear weapons test is yet another.
There is also an alternative. We could change course and embrace a different approach: a resolution of the asymmetry through genuine progress toward global nuclear disarmament. A new weapons reduction treaty between the global nuclear giants, to be followed by a forum in which the nuclear-weapon states begin to take responsibility for their need to disarm -- these are the pathways that could lead us toward a more secure future..." (from page 8)
Joseph Cirincione, President of the Ploughshares Fund, has written a book review.