International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano is acting differently from his predecessor, Muhammed El-Baradei, by insisting that "All safeguards agreements between [member countries] and the agency, and other relevant obligations such as U.N. Security Council resolutions, should be implemented fully."

In a speech Wednesday at the 23^rd United Nations Conferences on Disarmament Issues, Amano established that Iran was being uncooperative and failed to provide "credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities" and proof that nuclear material in Iran was being used as Tehran claims for peaceful purposes

Concerning Syria, Amano said that his agency has concluded it is "very likely" a building destroyed by an Israeli commando raid in Dair Alzour in 2007 was a nuclear reactor that Syria did not declare to the IAEA.

On the basis of Amano's report, the IAEA board of governors adopted a resolution establishing that Syria did not comply with its safeguards obligations", a forthright statement that would be unimaginable if El-Baradei were still at the helm.

El Baradei is now campaigning for the presidency in Egypt and he is willing to open the government wide to Islamists. During his tenure he effectively whitewashed Iran and Syria's involvement in attempts to acquire nuclear weapons.

Taking that into consideration and looking at his successor at the IAEA, one concludes that sometimes people make a difference.