Elaborating on the 'axis of evil' PRESIDENT GEORGE Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has recently "defined" the context and scope of the term "axis of evil" that Bush used in his State of the Union address a few weeks ago to describe Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The criteria set by Rice are the following: the three countries in question are repressive and grave human rights violators, and aggressively seeking weapons of mass destruction. By all conservative estimates, there are scores of other countries which can easily qualify as repressive and violating human rights. The rule, as far as human rights are concerned, is that every nation which does not enjoy pluralistic democracy is violating human rights and is therefore oppressive. There are many countries in the world that hardly qualify as pluralistic democracies. On this count, the national security adviser may have erred. As for her wording regarding acquisition of weapons, what is particularly noteworthy is the use of the words "aggressively seeking" nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. In other words, countries which are seeking or developing such arsenal at a slow pace do not seem to come within the scope of the "axis of evil". One can name more than a dozen countries which are contemplating the acquisition of mass destruction weapons at one speed or another. All other countries which are seemingly refraining from acquiring such weapons are doing so not so much to escape being branded as "evil" but rather because they have neither the knowledge nor the money to join the "nuclear club". Come to think of it, acquiring weapons of mass destruction per se may not be a correct basis for judging whether a nation is good or evil. The mere development or possession of mass destruction weapons is not in itself a reason to label a state as evildoer. After all, the US is the first nation to have developed nuclear weapons. Moreover, the US is the first and only nation ever to deploy such weapons. Perhaps the real criterion in this context is whether the nuclear country is democratic in every sense of the word. Washington seems to be particularly disturbed and feel that its own national security is being threatened only when the nations which acquire mass destruction weapons are authoritarian or repressive, irrespective of the pace of amassing weaponry. This is, in fact, the fear of all countries, as they feel that democratic regimes are more restrained and responsible when it comes to resorting to weapons of mass destruction. If this is the case, Rice could have elaborated more precise criteria for membership in the "axis of evil," by establishing more clearly the connection between the nature of the regime and the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.