Weapons of Mass Destruction
By: Corbin Wright
Trying to control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is probably the most important issue facing
the world’s population today. It’s certainly the most dangerous, because more and more countries are trying to
develop these weapons. Now I’m talking more about the nuclear threat, rather than the bacterial and chemical threats, although these are just as dangerous and have to be controlled as well.
The countries that we know that have these nuclear weapons at present are the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, probably Israel, possibly South Africa, and North Korea. Many also believe that Iran is trying to get
a nuclear weapon, although they claim they’re only trying to attain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
But right now the world is more concerned about North Korea which does have nuclear weapons, but has an unpredictable and untrustworthy dictator, and Iran, even though they actually don’t have nuclear weapons. They are worried about Iran because most countries in the world seem to feel that Iran desires them and could use them because they do possess a very radical and unpredictable religious belief that could justify their use. But behind all this is the fear that terrorists who have no national identity or allegiance might get their hands on these very dangerous weapons. And this is the real danger. Countries can be somewhat controlled, but individuals can be quite elusive. And the more countries that have this nuclear weaponry, the more dangerous it is that this nuclear weaponry could fall into the hands of these terrorists.
While many are trying to negotiate with North Korea so that they would get rid of its nuclear arsenal, and are also trying to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, there is really a contradiction here. While the many are trying to do this, they never talk about getting rid of their own nuclear weaponry. After all, the many feel that we’re the good guys, and they’re the bad. But how do North Korea and Iran really feel about
this? Maybe they feel that they’re the good guys, and we’re the bad. It really tends to be a very subjective issue.
But we’re the stronger of the two groups who possess nuclear weapons, so we can actually exert much more pressure upon the smaller of the groups to get rid of them. This doesn’t make it right, however. The problem, as I see it, is one of sovereignty. As long as you have sovereignty (individual countries) in the world., you’re going to have each country trying to attain much more power at the expense of the others, and one of the most visible ways to demonstrate this power is through the military with a nuclear arsenal being the most powerful indication of this. This is also called competition which we’re all trying to promote, but this is the most dangerous form of competition that the world can participate in
The answer is actually in augmenting The Global Economy. By doing this, you’re forcing countries to lessen their fear of losing their political sovereignty in order to develop a better life-style for their people which the Global Economy promises to establish worldwide. This in turn would create much more of a demand for cooperation among all the nations. And part of this cooperation will concern itself with their security. And this will also result in more of a demand for greater democratization and secularism in their governments so that the people will have much more of a say in how this type of economy should work.
Therefore you’ll find that dictators will have less of a hold on their people, and that a specific religion controlling a country will be a thing of the past. Concerning this latter case, a country in the future should never be Islamic, Jewish, or Christian, but only Secular with a tolerance for all religions and how they practice it as long as it’s not forced upon the others. Thus, the growth of the Global Economy will tend to create peaceful cooperation, including in security operations., among all the nations Of course, you’ll always have individuals who will try to attain nuclear weaponry for destructive purposes, but you’ll also have much more protection for the nuclear facilities in these countries when you have them cooperating with each other.
An Autobiographical Sketch of the Author
I was born in New York City in 1931, grew up on Long Island, graduated from Roanoke Collegein Virginia with a BA in Political Science, and from New York Theological Seminary with a Masters in Religious Education. I became a committed Christian in 1958, and after a number of years became
a committed Ecumenical Christian. I worked as an accountant in various companies for about 25 years in New York City, then moved down to Argentina and worked for about 20 years as a Business English conversationalist teacher with some of the top managers. My greatest positive life-changing experience occurred in the early 70’s when I became very active for about 3 years in a social nudist (both sexes) camp. I also became a Stephen Minister (trained counselor) while down here. Married twice (the last to an Argentine) widowed once, no children, one cat.