Despite the insistence of the nuclear powers that Iran comply with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is pretty clear that the nuclear-armed countries do not consider themselves bound to comply with this landmark international agreement.  After all, nearly a half-century after the signing of this treaty, which requires that the nuclear powers divest themselves of their nuclear weapons, they not only still possess 16,000 of them but are engaged in a vast, immensely costly buildup of their nuclear arsenals.