Opinion: A clear red line

Bruce Walton

Bruce Walton

Bruce Walton is a sophomore news major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].

America’s foreign policy has greatly improved since the days of the Bush era, and I am very grateful for that. Our foreign policy has been much more proactive during the war on terror and aiding oppressed citizens of radical regimes. Since the Obama administration took office, America’s image in the world has improved greatly. However, I am now disappointed in our decision to be lenient toward Iran’s nuclear program.

This has been a pressing matter for years, but now have we learned that Iran is only just a few small steps away from becoming a nuclear nation. I’m very surprised by how this is not something we are putting a lot of effort into (unless we are the ones who are secretly sabotaging them by killing their nuclear scientists, which has occurred on several occasions), but it is definitely nothing new. But I had just assumed that it would be very important to stop any other country, especially one as radical and dangerous as Iran, from achieving nuclear status.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made his case to the U.N. General Assembly and said that a “clear red line” must be made to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. I could not agree more with Netanyahu. I believe that this is a good idea for what the U.N. should do. There needs to be a line that no other country crosses to become nuclear.

The U.N. has barely gotten anything done, especially when the world needs them the most, but this is something that is much more important than anything else I’ve seen recently. If we have learned anything from North Korea, it’s that any small, radical nation will increase its threat tenfold if it goes nuclear, not to mention they have a much greater chance of starting armageddon. What really scares me is that between Iran and North Korea, Iran would probably pull the trigger first against their enemies before North Korea would.

I empathize with Obama if he is hesitant about drawing the red line with Iran if he does not want to start another war. Our economy can’t take more defense spending, and soldiers cannot be put into another war so quickly. But this is a threat to all of the nations, not just our own. Iran cannot have nuclear weapons; no more countries should, but Iran, if any, should be the last country we allow to do so.

This is not just America’s fight; the U.N. should definitely decide whether it will do something about this immediately. If I were in Obama’s shoes, I would do anything in my power to stop Iran, or any other radical nation with a recent history of terrorism within its borders, from gaining nuclear weapons.

Countdown to midnight has gotten just a little bit closer, and judging from the U.N., we are probably just going to let it happen. We’re going to regret not being as alert as we should have been to this matter. These matters seem only to get a rise out of the U.N. after thousands have already died from a problem we could have prevented much earlier.