The Hunt for Nuclear Peace

For those of us who are getting tired of constantly hearing about the world's largest bailout plan, here's an old favorite topic of discussion - nuclear disarmament. The prospect of nuclear disarmament, or, at least, nuclear reduction, is certainly not new. It has been discussed, on and off, ever since the 1960s. However, as more countries have achieved nuclear capability, the role of the United States as an international policeman has become increasingly more demanding. Instead of worrying only about the Soviet bloc countries, the US now needs to be wary of Russia and the old Soviet countries, as well as a horde of smaller countries which are, daily, attaining nuclear abilities.

As a result of this, nuclear disarmament becomes ever harder to achieve. Even if the US wanted to disarm, it would have to worry about whether or not the other, new nuclear-capable states, would be capable of creating and/or launching nuclear warheads. If those countries were capable of such potentials, then the US would be in serious danger to attempt full disarmament. The end result would, quite likely, be the same game of chicken which was played ceaselessly during the Cold War.

For the moment, the US can only take small steps towards nuclear disarmament, for the above reasons. As the article explains, President Bush did begin taking steps toward disarming. He was distracted from this goal, however, by the escalating hostility Afghanistan and Iraq, and was ultimately prevented from a decisive conclusion to the matter during his presidency.