Inkwell Institute
International Group
Monday began the largest summit of nations since the creation of the UN…Obama has called the summit in an effect to handle the misuse of nuke material by countries…..
But even the most idealistic internationalists know that the number of nuclear-armed states is likely to grow rather than shrink in coming years, weakening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and increasing the production of dangerous materials around the globe.
Obama began the unprecedented two-day gathering with a series of one-on-one sessions with some of the world leaders gathered for the summit, which is aimed at preventing terrorists from gaining access to nuclear materials.
His talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao were expected to go some way toward determining whether China is prepared to join the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Germany in a new round of U.N. sanctions on Iran. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and it does not intend to build a weapon. (Reuters)
I think it is wonderful that all the nations are talking about the curb of nuke material…however this series of meetings is likely not to produce anything but a wealth of papers on what we need to do to protect the world from nuke terrorism….sorry there needs to be concrete decisions made, not a bunch of hot air that does little to protect the US or for that matter the world…..
Okay Iran and North Korea are problems, but the bigger problem is that of Pakistan…..a country where the unruly terrorists filled areas are no more than 60 miles from the nuclear storage area…..that needs more attention that just about any other problem…..Iran or NK want nukes but are probably bluffing in their rhetoric…..and then there is the AQ they are NOT bluffing and they will use them….so any thoughts on control should be centered on Pakistan….a country with stable nukes and an unstable government…..not a good formula no matter how you look at it…..
Good post, but I tend to think that the arms race (the one that mattered) was never between the US and the USSR – it has always been between the legitimate establishment and the “others” and it is always escalating. The bad (well, they’re all that, but the worst lot) guys are catching up faster all the time.
Time was when crooks, terrorists and the like had clubs, knives and the occasional gun. Then it was homemade explosive; next it was plastic explosive; now they have AK47s and are looking for nuclear material for “dirty” bombs; next it will be H-bombs along with high tech bacterial weapons and so on…
Will the human race survive? Probably, but likely not in its current form and not in the numbers we have today and probably not even on planet Earth either.
It’s sci-fi fantasy, of course, but how much has science fiction predicted our future so far? Quite a lot I’d say. In fact, human survival may in the end all depend on timing. If we get to live in space colonies before we screw up our mother planet completely, we might survive as an advanced and sophisticated species.
I have heard the summit outcome as a “pinkie swear” with the rest of the world…the problem I have with the whole thing is that those giving up the nuke material and the US will store it for them….we have NO adequate storage facility….Yucca Mtn will be closed, if it has not already….and that was about the only storage we had…..so all the world’s nuke crap will come to the US…..not my idea of a good plan…..
Hmmm… fine, but not in my back yard, eh?
Sort of I guess……I say if we make it we store…but opening up to all comers could be disastrous for us…..
I understand. But like you said… places like Pakistan could be a serious problem – so how do you solve that without doing it for them?
That is an excellent question and I wish I had an excellent answer….other than what they propose…..I do not like it, but I understand why they propose it……..I would have a better answer than that if only I was a bit more knowledgeable on nukes and their containment……sorry, I could not be more elegant….