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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (65573)	1/12/2003 3:16:20 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Mq - nuclear weapons are one of those genies that can't be put back into the bottle. The Japanese banned firearms for three centuries but were unable to defend themselves from outside intervention without them. The recent events in Korea demonstrate that even if every country in the world foreswore nuclear weapons, they could still build them clandestinely, so what's the point? Mutually assured destruction, which only a madman would have thought up, relied on the age-old principle of balance of power, which requires rough parity. The Soviets might not have had actual parity with the US, but close enough via MAD. Same for the Pakistanis and the Indians, and so forth. North Korea's pronouncements remind me of the jokes about a man who puts a gun to his head and tells everybody that if they don't do what he wants, he'll shoot himself. They aren't really clear on the concept of MAD. You're supposed to destroy the other guys, not yourself. On the other hand, if they go through with it, that would cause great unpleasantness for the neighborhood, so best to move slowly and speak soothingly.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (65573)	1/12/2003 4:00:46 PM
From: tekboy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I didn't know there is a law other than the WWII Victors' Boyzown Treehut Rulz OK 'law', which I reject as being a legal system um, not so. the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is a free-standing arms control regime to which practically all the countries of the world are parties and have even recently extended. I'm not particularly impressed by international law as a major force in world affairs, but if the term has any meaning at all, then the NPT certainly qualifies... fas.org tb@ofcourse,thefactthaweviolatepartsofitourselvesisabithypocritical,butnevermind.com