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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ron who wrote (78378)	8/6/2008 2:17:34 PM
From: ManyMoose	Respond to of 543625

The genie is out of the bottle. Suppose there is one or more nuclear warheads left in the world. You had better hope that it is on our side. The number will never be zero, no matter how appealing the idea. Unless you have a death wish.

To: Ron who wrote (78378)	8/6/2008 2:22:53 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543625

I don't know that I'd "strongly disagree". I suppose it depends on exactly what you mean by the statement. If all nuclear weapons could disappear, and not be replaced, and if nuclear weapons programs would be dropped that would probably be a good thing. I say probably rather than definitely (and in that sense I guess I do disagree), because the deterrent effect of the weapons is generally positive, plus there are potential non-weapon uses (not ones that look likely to be good ideas in the near term future, but in the more distant future, in particular outside the Earth, that might not be the case). But the problem is nuclear weapons (or more generally weapons of mass destruction) don't go away just because we get rid of ours. Eliminating the 4000 or so warheads, wouldn't reduce the inventive of others to have nukes very much, and in fact it might increase it (we have overwhelming conventional superiority, but countries with nukes could deter us, and the deterrence would be even stronger if we didn't have nukes ourselves). So assuming "it would be great if their where no nuclear weapons", doesn't imply the conclusion that "we should get rid of our nuclear weapons".