Is it reasonable.....

[AZslim]

.....to expect us to be able to keep any more countries from obtaining nuclear weapons indefinitely?

I think not. Eventually they will get them.

How should we handle a nuclear armed world?

[opsyscw]

.....to expect us to be able to keep any more countries from obtaining nuclear weapons indefinitely?

I think not. Eventually they will get them.

How should we handle a nuclear armed world?

We should help them by sending them some warheads
http://www.google.com/search?q=minut...w=1280&bih=800

[Sneaky SF Dude]

.....to expect us to be able to keep any more countries from obtaining nuclear weapons indefinitely?

I think not. Eventually they will get them.

How should we handle a nuclear armed world?

You are absolutely correct.

Excellent question.

Hence the term "Arms Race".

[Crossriflesonblue]

.....to expect us to be able to keep any more countries from obtaining nuclear weapons indefinitely?

I think not. Eventually they will get them.

How should we handle a nuclear armed world?

.....to expect us to be able to keep any more countries from obtaining nuclear weapons indefinitely?

I think not. Eventually they will get them.

How should we handle a nuclear armed world?

I believe that proliferation must be controled, the idea of Nukes becoming a common weapon among nations of the world leads to the spectre of future Gaddafi's, Hussien's and Amin's having these weapons(which is bad enough) then having one of these countries falling apart like Libya.... responsible countries around the globe are currently engaged in a hunt for Gaddafi's 20,000 shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles...they recently found a stash buried in the Algerian desert....

If proliferation continues as you assume there should a commonly known and believable policy of complete annihilation of any country or entity that uses such weapons against the US or it's interests.....by the way when the world dithers about what to do about Iran and North Korea don't be confident that a future perpetrator finds that threat credible right now...

Also there needs to be a nuclear finger print data base that allows all nuclear materials to be traced back to their source....not optional....

There needs to be more money put into missile defense and deep penetrating nuclear weapons and neutron weapons....

[Historian1912]

I think we should be able to defend ourselves against a nuclear attack (shoot down missles, aircraft, etc) if we assume nuclear proliferation is unstoppable. MAD only works when both sides care about thier populations. I'd actually be happier getting rid of nukes entirely, but I'm not about to recommend that unless there is a way to get every nuclear-armed country to give up its arsenal.

[AZslim]

You are absolutely correct.

Excellent question.

Hence the term "Arms Race".

Since we can't stop everybody from getting them forever, how much effort do we out into stopping individual countries like Iran now? The up side is we delay them, of course. The down side is we have to invade the their sovereignty and very likely kill people, thus creating long term bad relations with other parts of the world.

Of course "who cares" is what many would say but what about down the road when when they get these weapons anyway?

Unfortunately, a nuclear free world is out of the question. I think we can convince countries it's a bad idea to use these weapons in a first strike mode. But smaller countries possessing even few of these weapons will should deter an invasion by a superpower, making world wide diplomacy and interesting proposition.

[Mr. Tempus]

Since we can't stop everybody from getting them forever, how much effort do we out into stopping individual countries like Iran now? The up side is we delay them, of course. The down side is we have to invade the their sovereignty and very likely kill people, thus creating long term bad relations with other parts of the world.

I don't believe we should be doing anything with Iran now. Our demands that they halt the operations of programs that are being inspected and are operating within the law is ridiculous. The NIE, IEA, and both Israeli and US intelligence have all recently said that Iran is not currently pursuing a nuclear weapon and they are working within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Of course "who cares" is what many would say but what about down the road when when they get these weapons anyway?

I agree this is problematic. People take too short a perspective on these type of issues in both military and economic policy. It has been said by many in regards to China that based on its population size its growth the the largest country is inevitable(if not already taken place) do we want their history books to teach them they did so while being welcomed and helped by Americans to get where they are or in spite of us.

Unfortunately, a nuclear free world is out of the question. I think we can convince countries it's a bad idea to use these weapons in a first strike mode. But smaller countries possessing even few of these weapons will should deter an invasion by a superpower, making world wide diplomacy and interesting proposition.

Can you blame them? Would North Korea still exist in its present state if not for its military threat? How many ME countries have we entered in the last decade? With Israel and the US both having hostile relations with the current Iran regime and calls from many figures to strike, it is hard to see why they wouldn't want that capability.

[Crossriflesonblue]

I don't believe we should be doing anything with Iran now. Our demands that they halt the operations of programs that are being inspected and are operating within the law is ridiculous. The NIE, IEA, and both Israeli and US intelligence have all recently said that Iran is not currently pursuing a nuclear weapon and they are working within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
I agree this is problematic. People take too short a perspective on these type of issues in both military and economic policy. It has been said by many in regards to China that based on its population size its growth the the largest country is inevitable(if not already taken place) do we want their history books to teach them they did so while being welcomed and helped by Americans to get where they are or in spite of us.

Can you blame them? Would North Korea still exist in its present state if not for its military threat? How many ME countries have we entered in the last decade? With Israel and the US both having hostile relations with the current Iran regime and calls from many figures to strike, it is hard to see why they wouldn't want that capability.

LMAO, North Korea's isolation is self enforced and totally deserved, it's no victim...

We should not "leave Iran alone" the full court press should continue, only through sanctions and a credible threat of the use of force will Iran abandon it's goal of developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran can follow IAEA rules and prosper....if not they have two models for the future Norht Korea or a little closer to home Iraq....

In the case of Israel and Iran, Iran has more than adequately communicated it's desire to have Israel disappear...Not an easier way for Iran to accomplish this than a couple of well placed Nuclear weapons....

[AZslim]

LMAO, North Korea's isolation is self enforced and totally deserved, it's no victim...

We should not "leave Iran alone" the full court press should continue, only through sanctions and a credible threat of the use of force will Iran abandon it's goal of developing a nuclear weapon.

Iran can follow IAEA rules and prosper....if not they have two models for the future Norht Korea or a little closer to home Iraq....

In the case of Israel and Iran, Iran has more than adequately communicated it's desire to have Israel disappear...Not an easier way for Iran to accomplish this than a couple of well placed Nuclear weapons....

I agree. I also think it would be naive to think they are not tying to build a nuclear weapon. Once they have one, if nothing else, they get to sit at the big people table when it comes to negotiations.

I have a hard time believing they would commit suicide by attacking Israel with a nuclear weapon, although I suppose anything is possible.

Terrorists delivering one might be a little more likely, but I *bleieve* physically smaller ones are harder to build. Anybody here know anything about this?

The situation isn't really cut and dry.......as usual.

[Sneaky SF Dude]

I don't believe we should be doing anything with Iran now. Our demands that they halt the operations of programs that are being inspected and are operating within the law is ridiculous. The NIE, IEA, and both Israeli and US intelligence have all recently said that Iran is not currently pursuing a nuclear weapon and they are working within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
I agree this is problematic. People take too short a perspective on these type of issues in both military and economic policy. It has been said by many in regards to China that based on its population size its growth the the largest country is inevitable(if not already taken place) do we want their history books to teach them they did so while being welcomed and helped by Americans to get where they are or in spite of us.

Can you blame them? Would North Korea still exist in its present state if not for its military threat? How many ME countries have we entered in the last decade? With Israel and the US both having hostile relations with the current Iran regime and calls from many figures to strike, it is hard to see why they wouldn't want that capability.

So it's all our fault.

[Mr. Tempus]

LMAO, North Korea's isolation is self enforced and totally deserved, it's no victim...

I know, perhaps I could've been clearer, why have we allowed N.K. to remain so oppressive? Why have we not invaded for their atrocities?

We should not "leave Iran alone" the full court press should continue, only through sanctions and a credible threat of the use of force will Iran abandon it's goal of developing a nuclear weapon.

What goal? Our intelligence agencies(NIE) and Israel's both said they were not. They are allowing IAEA inspectors and are operating within the NPT.

Iran can follow IAEA rules and prosper....if not they have two models for the future Norht Korea or a little closer to home Iraq....

Apparently they can not as we are constantly attaching far more strings on to them than we are for other countries and has Israel complied with the IAEA or the NPT?

In the case of Israel and Iran, Iran has more than adequately communicated it's desire to have Israel disappear..

No it is hasn't.

.Not an easier way for Iran to accomplish this than a couple of well placed Nuclear weapons....

Iran was attacked by a WMD by Saddam and did not strike back....Iran does not have a death wish, they are vying for regional power especially as we continue to implement regime change and undermine them. Of course we complain about them being a 'bad theocracy' and not democratic or brutal, yet look Saudi? I don't suppose we will boycott their oil anytime soon.

[Crossriflesonblue]

I know, perhaps I could've been clearer, why have we allowed N.K. to remain so oppressive? Why have we not invaded for their atrocities?

That answer would fill volumes...google is your friend.

What goal? Our intelligence agencies(NIE) and Israel's both said they were not. They are allowing IAEA inspectors and are operating within the NPT.
Apparently they can not as we are constantly attaching far more strings on to them than we are for other countries and has Israel complied with the IAEA or the NPT?

Iran was not and still is not in full compliance with the NPT they signed...Why not? Their program would still be secret if they had not been found out...

Israel is not a signatory to the NPT....

No it is hasn't.

Yes it has, since you brought up the Iraq/Iran conflict you should be familiar with one of the Iranian war Slogans

"The Road to Jerusalem Goes through Karbala"

...so you see the destruction of Israel has been the goal of Iran since the birth of the Islamic Republic..

Iran was attacked by a WMD by Saddam and did not strike back....Iran does not have a death wish, they are vying for regional power especially as we continue to implement regime change and undermine them. Of course we complain about them being a 'bad theocracy' and not democratic or brutal, yet look Saudi?

Iran didn't have the capability to strike back.

I don't suppose we will boycott their oil anytime soon.

Educate yourself...The US and the EU are currently boycotting Iranian oil.

[ressurectedUltraSaiyanUSA]

"how should we handle a nuclear armed world?"

try to get off of it; establish a Manhattan project/Apollo program-level type of effort that seeks out habitable Earth-like planets like what we are doing now and aggressive research and development of faster-than-light space travel in say 10 years, branch our civilization out, problem solved. this should be the toppest priority. and last i checked the United States is still capable of carrying out this kind of undertaking if there was only political will. we can worry about other things later (missile defenses, etc.).

[AZslim]

"how should we handle a nuclear armed world?"

try to get off of it; establish a Manhattan project/Apollo program-level type of effort that seeks out habitable Earth-like planets like what we are doing now and aggressive research and development of faster-than-light space travel in say 10 years, branch our civilization out, problem solved. this should be the toppest priority. and last i checked the United States is still capable of carrying out this kind of undertaking if there was only political will. we can worry about other things later (missile defenses, etc.).

Hmmmmm I hadn't really thought about this option.

[Mr. Tempus]

That answer would fill volumes...google is your friend.

A big part of the answer is that NK's military strength and the proximity of South Korea's population.

Iran was not and still is not in full compliance with the NPT they signed...Why not? Their program would still be secret if they had not been found out...

They were not always in full compliance, but they are currently allowing inspections and have even at times complied with the additional protocol, something almost no other country would agree to.

Israel is not a signatory to the NPT....

Which is a bit of an issue... We constantly threaten striking any M.E. country who is producing non weapon nuclear technology according to all of our intelligence agencies and allowing inspections while ignoring that one country is producing weapons and not at all complying with the inspectors.... And we wonder why they think our own only priority is regime change...

...so you see the destruction of Israel has been the goal of Iran since the birth of the Islamic Republic..

Iran is not trying to destroy Israel, this is fearmongering at its finest. Their Khamenei has issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, stating they are forbidden under Islamic law.

Educate yourself...The US and the EU are currently boycotting Iranian oil.

I was referring to Saudi oil, a country who does not exactly have a stunning record on human rights or democracy. A country who was ranked 160th out of 167 on the Economist's Democracy Index. It was worse then Iran in all but one category including Human Rights.