{"id":18638,"date":"2012-04-16T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=18638"},"modified":"2012-04-15T17:46:27","modified_gmt":"2012-04-15T16:46:27","slug":"10-demands-for-concrete-proof-by-we-the-peoples-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/04\/10-demands-for-concrete-proof-by-we-the-peoples-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Demands for Concrete Proof by We the Peoples of the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Produced in a period when the USA is demanding concrete evidence from Iran that it is halting efforts to produce nuclear weapons.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 12th April 2012, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, indicated that in order for P5+1 Iran Summit<\/a> (Istanbul, 14-15 April 2012) to continue the US is “looking for concrete results” from Iran to show that it is not in pursuit of nuclear weapons. Clinton declared, as reported by Chris McGreal (US warns Iran to give ‘concrete’ evidence it is halting nuclear ambitions<\/em><\/a>, The Guardian<\/em>, 13 April 2012):<\/p>\n

“We want them to demonstrate, clearly, in the actions they propose that they have truly abandoned any nuclear weapons ambition,” she said. “Of course, in a negotiation, we understand that the Iranians will be asking for assurances or actions from us and we will certainly take those under consideration.”<\/p>\n

This US demand is consistent with a statement at a White House press conference<\/a> by President Barack Obama (6 March 2012) who asserted that “Iran has to come to the table and prove its nuclear program is peaceful<\/a>“, and that Iran “knows how”<\/a> to prove this to the satisfaction of the international community. This is the classic legal challenge of proving a negative of which Obama is presumably fully aware, skilled lawyer that he is. How is a negative satisfactorily proven<\/a> or evidence of absence to be provided<\/a>? How does anyone prove that they are not<\/strong> a terrorist — or a secret agent?<\/p>\n

It is from within this framework, and in this spirit, that it is appropriate to formulate a set of issues on which “We the Peoples of the United Nations<\/a>” require concrete and convincing evidence<\/strong> at this time. As indicated by Obama, the parties in question “know how” to provide this proof to the satisfaction of “we the peoples”. The issues could be articulated as follows:<\/p>\n

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  1. We require concrete and convincing proof that:<\/li>\n