03-24-2003, 11:28 PM
The folks who got into the nuclear club first woke up one day and realized that this is one nasty genie who came out of the bottle.
Nuclear non proliferation efforts go back to the 60's, and various treaties have been signed and agreed, including the test ban treaty that France was the last to stop violating of the last nuclear powers insofar as above ground tests a few years back in the Pacific.
Strategic weapons reductions have been an ongoing process for US and USSR, the old bipolar players, since about 1972 SALT talks. It continues, with last month's agreement between US and Russia to reduce by two thirds the arsenals of nuclear weapons over the next ten years. We have them, but the fact is that we are as wary of them as anyone else and only keep them as a deterrent: there is not enough trust in the world to just dump them all in the ocean and hope no one will use nuclear blackmail as a bargaining tool.
That is the state of play. All of the non proliferation efforts of the past 25 years have had mixed success, because little nations want to feel big and join the club. These fools have not yet learned the lessons that we and the Russians learned to our everlasting chagrin.
India and Pakistan are milking their own egos, and have decided that the Russians and the US have nothing to teach them. What a shame.
France and UK have been in the club for a long time, as has China. I am unaware through my own ignorance of any nuclear arms protocols between US and China, or US and Russia, thought that is the next fertile ground for tilling in Strategic Arms Limitations.
The none first use of gas goes back to FDR, and the prohibition against chem goes back to Nixon, as the Prohibition against tactical nukes, (such as artillery shells and short range surface to surface missiles) goes back to G Bush, the elder.
The rest of the world has had a transparent look at our efforts to back away from the precipice if they would only bother to read the effing newspaper, but some idiots refuse to learn from us.
The Israeli's are a bizarre case, due to their own extremely precarious Strategic Position and not being under the NATO nuclear umbrella or lacking Article 5 sorts of protections. They do not trust UN protection, as the UN did nothing to stop aggression against them in 1948, 1973, 1967, and 1956.
Their posture can be validly held as deterrent: they wont use it unless they suffer an attack, and their behaviour since 1973 in that regard has been consistent. I wish they would give them up anyway, as a trust building measure. I may as well wish for flying bricks.
Gas and biological material for these rising nations is sold from SOMEWHERE! The Iranians are getting close, due to their own scientists and natural resources, to autonomous nuclear capability. What I have to ask is: why won't they learn from us?
So if you want to ask the nuclear question, look at the leading nations, US, USSR, UK, Fance, China, Japan, and see who has been able to handle nuclear power responsibly. All of them. After they had been used in war by US in 1945, certain smart countries were able to slowly craft intelligent paths over the course of the next two generations.
What amazes me is how stupid everyone else is who thinks that they know better: North Korea, Iraq, et al.
At least the Kiwis are smart enough to know that they don't want to join the nuclear club, the price of admission is not worth the benefits.
The US aint ever gonna use bio or chem, and I can tell you that the US wants to find a way of getting rid of nukes without being blackmailable by someone else. THAT is what SDI and Star Wars is all about: no nukes. But most fools don't see through that. (Now, whether or not SDI will ever work . . . looks like that is a work in progress.)
Nuclear non proliferation efforts go back to the 60's, and various treaties have been signed and agreed, including the test ban treaty that France was the last to stop violating of the last nuclear powers insofar as above ground tests a few years back in the Pacific.
Strategic weapons reductions have been an ongoing process for US and USSR, the old bipolar players, since about 1972 SALT talks. It continues, with last month's agreement between US and Russia to reduce by two thirds the arsenals of nuclear weapons over the next ten years. We have them, but the fact is that we are as wary of them as anyone else and only keep them as a deterrent: there is not enough trust in the world to just dump them all in the ocean and hope no one will use nuclear blackmail as a bargaining tool.
That is the state of play. All of the non proliferation efforts of the past 25 years have had mixed success, because little nations want to feel big and join the club. These fools have not yet learned the lessons that we and the Russians learned to our everlasting chagrin.
India and Pakistan are milking their own egos, and have decided that the Russians and the US have nothing to teach them. What a shame.
France and UK have been in the club for a long time, as has China. I am unaware through my own ignorance of any nuclear arms protocols between US and China, or US and Russia, thought that is the next fertile ground for tilling in Strategic Arms Limitations.
The none first use of gas goes back to FDR, and the prohibition against chem goes back to Nixon, as the Prohibition against tactical nukes, (such as artillery shells and short range surface to surface missiles) goes back to G Bush, the elder.
The rest of the world has had a transparent look at our efforts to back away from the precipice if they would only bother to read the effing newspaper, but some idiots refuse to learn from us.
The Israeli's are a bizarre case, due to their own extremely precarious Strategic Position and not being under the NATO nuclear umbrella or lacking Article 5 sorts of protections. They do not trust UN protection, as the UN did nothing to stop aggression against them in 1948, 1973, 1967, and 1956.
Their posture can be validly held as deterrent: they wont use it unless they suffer an attack, and their behaviour since 1973 in that regard has been consistent. I wish they would give them up anyway, as a trust building measure. I may as well wish for flying bricks.
Gas and biological material for these rising nations is sold from SOMEWHERE! The Iranians are getting close, due to their own scientists and natural resources, to autonomous nuclear capability. What I have to ask is: why won't they learn from us?
So if you want to ask the nuclear question, look at the leading nations, US, USSR, UK, Fance, China, Japan, and see who has been able to handle nuclear power responsibly. All of them. After they had been used in war by US in 1945, certain smart countries were able to slowly craft intelligent paths over the course of the next two generations.
What amazes me is how stupid everyone else is who thinks that they know better: North Korea, Iraq, et al.
At least the Kiwis are smart enough to know that they don't want to join the nuclear club, the price of admission is not worth the benefits.
The US aint ever gonna use bio or chem, and I can tell you that the US wants to find a way of getting rid of nukes without being blackmailable by someone else. THAT is what SDI and Star Wars is all about: no nukes. But most fools don't see through that. (Now, whether or not SDI will ever work . . . looks like that is a work in progress.)
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete