Watch out, fence-sitters

With ALl the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council agreeing to refer the Iran nuclear issue to the UNSC, one message has been driven home: there's not much left in the moral relativist's argument that Teheran could be playing it by the nuclear rules.

With ALl the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council agreeing to refer the Iran nuclear issue to the UNSC, one message has been driven home: there's not much left in the moral relativist's argument that Teheran could be playing it by the nuclear rules. Russia and China were the two P-5 nations holding out. With Moscow and Beijing deciding to come on board with the US, Britain and France — and the EU — the IAEA's job is now just to present its report to the UNSC as scheduled in March and get it rubberstamped. The P-5 chorus also does away with the great moral tangle faced by nations such as India about what it would have done when it came to voting for or against the Iran matter being referred to the UNSC. The vote may still take place. But instead of the existential crisis played out in various capitals, pushing Iran into the UNSC basket now becomes just a matter of procedure.

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The P-5, one must remember, is the group of nations that holds the key for the sanctioning of any UN action. This is a conglomerate of nations whose power to decide on such matters is accepted by the international community. Russia and China were holding out for reasons of their own. Moscow sells defence as well as nuclear technology to Teheran, while Beijing is one of the biggest customers of Iranian gas and energy resources. For both countries to have taken the Security Council plunge means that even they realised it would be increasingly difficult to argue Iran's case — that it harbours nuclear aspirations only for civilian purposes and not to build weapons.

In New Delhi, of course, one can hear a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of not having to 'take a call'. But there's a lesson that India should heed if it wants to be taken seriously as an emerging Big Power. Fence-sitting is not an option when one sits on the high table — an activity for which Delhi has a special talent, despite exclaiming its credentials as a natural UNSC permanent member. This time, it was saved from taking a stand. There will be occasions, though, when being non-committal won't be an option — if it has visions of playing a global power, that is.