WORLD SAFETY

World Safety

World Safety

Concern about the spread of such weapons dates back to World War II. After the detonation of the two U.S. atomic bombs over Japan in August 1945, the United States understood how massively destructive these weapons could be. The United States also realized the powerful security value of nuclear weapons. Through the threat of nuclear retaliation, the United States could deter almost any nation from attacking it or its allies.

These security benefits were not ignored by other nations. In 1949, the Soviet Union, head of the Warsaw Pact alliance in Eastern Europe, became the second nation to develop and test a nuclear weapon. Thus began the nuclear arms race. In the ensuing years, the two superpower foes built the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. But they managed to refrain from using them, a restraint that was tested most severely during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that brought the United States and the Soviet union to the brink of war (De Visser et al 1996 193-200). Ironically, many experts believe that nuclear weapons have helped prevent such an outcome: neither side dared risk initiating hostilities that could lead to a devastating nuclear strike.

Today, with the demise of communism in the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, concern over the threat of a nuclear confrontation has shifted to other nations, primarily those of the Third World. In 1974, India became the sixth nation to test a nuclear device. And in 1979, U.S. satellite photos revealed that Israel, in collaboration with South Africa, also may have tested a nuclear device. Both Israel and India, located in volatile regions with long histories of war and agression, apparently sought nuclear weapons for many of the same reasons as the United States and the Soviet Union--to increase their security and protect their borders.

In the Middle East, the tiny nation of Israel has long been embroiled in conflict with its surrounding Arab neighbors. Terrorism and uprisings stemming from Arab-Jewish differences mark the region as one of the most unstable in the world. Since 1948, Israel has been directly invovled in six wars or invasions flanked by traditional enemies pakistan and China. Here, regional disputes frequently erupted over the possession of Kashmir, a territory north of India now divided and occupied by all three nations.

The idea of these volatile nations possessing nuclear weapons has prompted much concern among the United States and other Western nations. They fear that a nuclear device in the hands of an irrational, militaristic dictator in Syria, Pakistan, or other Third World state could be used to threaten neighboring enemies, the United States, or one of its allies. They are concerned, too, with the possibility of a crude nuclear device falling into the hands of terrorists, who could then detonate it or use it as a form of blackmail (Colegrave 2002 664-666).

But many Third World nations suspect of developing nuclear weapons assert that they should be allowed to obtain them for the same reason the United States and ...