plutonium + terrorists = bad news

Tonight's Lateline show (ABC TV) featured an interview with Dr Mohamed ElBaradei who is the current DIrector General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (of the UN).

He had many things to say - some very controversial (for the UN at least) - including:

• that the UN is "crossing it's fingers" that no terrorists have nuclear material - in the face of 600 known cases of illicit trading of plutonium and other fissile material;

• that the UN's current policy of only using force in response to an attack is no longer sufficient. He floated the idea of "collective pre-emption", saying that pre-emptive attacks are appropriate in certain circumstances, but only in an environment of agreement within the UN member nations;

• that the world can no longer sustain "narrow blinkered national interest", advocating revolutionising the current vetoe power

• that the imbalance of power in the middle-east, due to Israel's nuclear capability, is unsustainable, and that middle-east security dialogue must be based on trust

He also had things to say about North Korea, nothing new there.

His implication on a number of occasions was that it is only a matter of time before terrorists get their hands on, and likely use, nuclear material.

It's a scary world at the moment.