The world nearly ended for a lot of people in the region, but maybe they don't count. Pakistan was all ready to nuke India because Islamic Jihad wants to kill Hindus and take Kashmir and rule the world.
Khan was selling nuclear bomb technology and know how to Libya, presumably Saddam when he got a chance, North Korea and no doubt a few others not yet disclosed, such as Iran.
Islamic Jihad armed with nuclear bombs would be a very big problem. Pakistan is currently staying in good with the USA, more or less, though Osama seems to have been given a free pass.
There's plenty of time yet for the world to end and for a lot of people it will end in the same old carnage. The end of history is not yet. We are still positioned for history's greatest catastrophic conflicts. With urbanisation everywhere and relatively few rural people, the stage is set for economic collapse with trade and actual wars as people struggle for survival following the collapse of all the institutions which integrated the world's trading systems.
It is only through continued prosperity, political stability and care and attention to what keeps things working that we remain living in the most splendid times of human history. While the poverty in places like India and Africa could hardly be called "splendid times", relatively, they are.
Slaves are not taken out of Africa or killed, Maoris don't eat their defeated opponents, famines don't kill umpty millions in India or China these days, or anywhere else for that matter, unless there's a war and some thug deliberately stops people getting food aid and even then, it's thousands of people, not millions.
Nuclear bombs exist because people think they might have to use them. There are so many of them that it would surprise me if there is not another nuclear war. Until people no longer want them because the New United Nations has sorted out political stability, we should expect the threat to continue and not be surprised if millions die in nuclear conflagration.
Iran has declared aggressive intentions. If they get nukes, we are a LOT more likely to have another nuclear war.
Mqurice |
