Can concepts of justice, good, right be applied to the dispute over Iran's nuclear issue?                                                                                                                     May 14, 2006

 

 

 

1.      Ethics and justice in the community of nations with regard to nuclear weapons and nuclear energy

 

1.1.   Indications for our belief that there is a community of some sort vs. the perception that the system of international norms and enforcement has been shattered by terrorism and the rise of a single super power

 

1.2.   Rights and obligations derived from the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

1.2.1.      Obligations

1.2.2.      Rights

1.2.3.      Safeguard agreements: general structure and state specificities

 

 

2.      Geographic, economic, technological, political, and military aspects of Iran's perceived need of national control of the full nuclear fuel cycle

 

2.1.   Energy resources and energy scenarios for "middle" powers like Iran

2.1.1.      Regional oil, natural gas, and coal resources

2.1.2.      Burning fossil resources up or preserving them for wider future use?

2.1.3.      Renewable energies

2.1.4.      Iranian uranium resources

 

2.2.   The decisive role of reprocessing in the nuclear fuel cycle

2.2.1.      A variety of reprocessing options

2.2.2.      Iran's choice

2.2.3.      Reprocessing and enrichment

2.2.4.      Production and control of weapon-grade nuclear material

 

2.3.   The option of "outsourcing"

2.3.1.      Failure of previous "outsourcing": the example of French withholding of reprocessed material after the fall of the Shah

2.3.2.      A century of Western interference in Iranian energy politics

2.3.3.      Promises and limitations of recent EU and Russian outsourcing offers

 

 

3.      Where the dispute stands now

 

3.1.   Controversies around the implementation of agreed safeguards

 

3.2.   The rights and demands of major player states

 

3.3.   Is there a peaceful way out of the nuclear impasse?