In what sort of dream world did we ever believe that the world - with the help of the overwhelmingly inefective United Nations - ever really think that we could stop the spread of nuclear technology? We may have managed to slow it down a little. Made it a little more difficult. But stop it. Forever.

It was never going to happen.

In Japan five executives of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo were arrested on charges of illegally exporting equipment that could be used in making nuclear weapons to Malaysia.

The equipment is described as "coordinate measuring machines" that make it possible to manufacture mechanical parts to very precise specifications. While the devices have perfectly safe industrial uses, it is their ability to help in the manufacture specialized equipment required for nuclear bomb making that makes their export tightly regulated. The executives were arrested for exporting the devices without proper licensing.

The likely recipient of the equipment was a company called Scomi Precision Engineering. Scomi has been linked to Pakistani nuclear secrets dealer A.Q. Khan.

Japanese news papers are reporting that one of the Mitutoyo devices was found in Libya when that country abandoned its nuclear program shortly after the beginning of the war in Iraq. It is believed that the device came to Libya by way of Dubai on an Iranian ship.

When people in Japan - the only nation to have suffered a nuclear attack - are willing to traffic in this kind of equipment then there really isn't much hope of stopping whoever wants the bomb from getting the bomb.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 01:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment