We have embraced India's nuclear abilities, and replaced Russia as the commercial source as well as on the missile tech side. 9/11 fallout. India and China being nuclear does not bother me so much, since both countries are hell bent on becoming modern, prosperous countries. Other than some near to moderate term economic pain, I don't see anything to fear there. Those sorts of people like to have families, watch them grow up, have grandkids, etc, and live to see it all, while enjoying life.
I agree Iran is another story. Unfortunately, I see pressure on all sides for the other players in the ME to go nuclear, and I don't think the Iraq war was necessarily a factor in the opposite direction, despite that being one of the original goals. If Iran does go nuke, I'd expect S.A. and perhaps some of the Gulf states to do what ever they could to get there as well. Their approach would no doubt be to buy, not make, and it would be interesting to see who would sell. I would not rule out the US striking some deal to provide nuclear shield, mostly likely from naval forces, i.e. we station xx nuclear deterrence, you pay us yy for the coverage. Better than having them actually control the damn things. |
