"Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches." Ariel Sharon(2)
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated delivery system, Israel has quietly supplanted Britain as the World's 5th Largest nuclear power, and may currently rival France and China in the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal. Although dwarfed by the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia, each possessing over 10,000 nuclear weapons, Israel nonetheless is a major nuclear power, and should be publically recognized as such.. Since the Gulf War in 1991, while much attention has been lavished on the threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the major culprit in the region, Israel, has been largely ignored. Possessing chemical and biological weapons, an extremely sophisticated nuclear arsenal, and an aggressive strategy for their actual use, Israel provides the major regional impetus for the development of weapons of mass destruction and represents an acute threat to peace and stability in the Middle East. The Israeli nuclear program represents a serious impediment to nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation and, with India and Pakistan, is a potential nuclear flashpoint.(prospects of meaningful non-proliferation are a delusion so long as the nuclear weapons states insist on maintaining their arsenals,) Citizens concerned about sanctions against Iraq, peace with justice in the Middle East, and nuclear disarmament have an obligation to speak out forcefully against the Israeli nuclear program.
New Nuclear Math: It’s About Time
The Obama Administration is considering slashing the nation’s nuclear arsenal to as few as 300 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, Robert Burns of the AP reports. That’s an 80% cut from the 1,550 currently permitted under Washington’s treaty with the Russians.
Certain circles will scream it’s unilateral disarmament. But it seems plenty for everyday MADness. It might even bring back those heady days of 1991 when presidents George W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev were scrapping nuclear weapons wholesale, and it seemed like there really might be a new world order.
A pair of Air Force analysts declared two years ago that the nation would be adequately defended by 311 deployed atomic weapons. If that’s not sufficient for this nation, we deserve the fate J. Robert Oppenheimer reckoned might be ours: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
No comments:
Post a Comment