Arab nations and “even the Palestinians” should be allowed nuclear weapons as long as Israel’s nuclear ambitions are tolerated, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said in an interview broadcast yesterday.
Israel is widely considered to be the Middle East’s sole if undeclared nuclear state, and Qaddafi told Britain’s Sky News television that the international community should also allow its Arab neighbors to develop nuclear weapons.
“If the Israelis have the nuclear weapons and the nuclear capabilities, then it is the right of the Egyptians, the Syrians, the Saudis to have the same — even the Palestinians should have the same because their counterparts, or their opponents, have nuclear capabilities,” he said.
“And, if we don’t want this situation, so we’ll have to disarm the Israelis from their nuclear weapons and capabilities,” he said.
Qaddafi said he would oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons if it acknowledges such a goal, but noted Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear program is peaceful — something that Western powers dispute.
“Iran, up to now, hasn’t said it is manufacturing a nuclear weapon: Iran says it is enriching uranium,” Qaddafi said.
“If Iran were to manufacture nuclear weapons, nuclear arms, then all of us, including us, will be against them. But Iran has not said so,” he said. “Our position is clear and it should be clear and evident ... that we are against anyone who manufactures, possesses a nuclear weapon, whether it is Iran, America, Libya, or the Israelis.”
Meanwhile, Qaddafi apologized for the first time for the killing of a British policewoman shot from the Libyan embassy in London in 1984. However, he also said that the killer had not been identified.
Yvonne Fletcher, 25, was shot in the back while policing a peaceful demonstration outside the embassy on April 17, 1984.
Qaddafi was asked if he had a message for Fletcher’s family.
“She is not an enemy to us, and we are sorry all the time and our sympathy, because she was on duty, she was there to protect the Libyan embassy, but this is the problem that should be solved — but who did it?” he said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese