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El Espectador, Colombia

Great Power Puzzle: Possessing Nuclear Weapons Prevents Attack

"The international community failed to maintain sanctions against Pakistan when the country tested its own atomic bomb. And it is fair to ask: if Iraq had possessed nuclear weapons, would it have been invaded? Truman announced the possibility of using the atomic bomb during the Korean War. Perhaps he didn't because Russia already had nuclear weapons."

By José Fernando Isaza

Translated By María Celeste Chantre Fortes Alves

March 1, 2012

Colombia - El Espectador - Original Article (Spanish)

Mordechai Vanunu: Like some of the scientists on the Manhattan Project who leaked secrets to the Russians, Vanunu leaked information about Israel's nuclear program to the London Times to, in his words, 'prevent another Holocaust.' RUSSIA TODAY VIDEO: Obamam-Netanyahu brinkmanship at AIPAC, Mar. 7, 00:23:55

There is speculation about an Israeli attack on Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has told The Washington Post that there is a high probability of an Israeli attack between April and June. Such an action which would trigger a war of unpredictable consequences, and even if the attack succeeded, it would only postpone nuclear weapons construction by a year or two.

An example of the incoherence of contemporary international politics is the permission the United States provides certain countries, that they may possess nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the only nation to use atomic bombs against cities with no military value. In the guestbook at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Museum, someone wrote: Japanese: they deserve it. This is our answer to the attack on Pearl Harbor. And yet, even though Pearl Harbor was committed without a formal declaration of war, atomic attacks on cities can in no way be compared to an attack on a military naval fleet.

The international community failed to maintain sanctions against Pakistan when the country tested its own atomic bomb. Its political stability and democratic institutions are far from the standards set by the exclusive nuclear club. And it is fair to ask: if Iraq had possessed nuclear weapons, would it have been invaded?

Truman announced the possibility of using the atomic bomb during the Korean War. Perhaps he didn't because Russia already had nuclear weapons.

One cannot turn back the clock of history. The atomic and hydrogen bombs exist and are capable of destroying civilization, non-proliferation regimes are regularly violated and sanctions for noncompliance vary depending on the geopolitical expediency displayed by the leading powers.

The fear that a nuclear strike could destroy both attacker and attacked explains why, since 1945, there has been no direct confrontation between great powers. Such wars were more frequent in the past.

Those who leaked information to the USSR, allowing the country to in short order build the Bomb, had the intent of ensuring that mutually assured destruction would deter such a war.

It is a truism to say that nuclear weapons are dangerous when in the hands of dictators. But history has shown that they are also a hazard to democratic societies. It seems clear that the Iranian nuclear program not only seeks energy-related applications, but military ones as well. Israel, which has in the past attacked Syrian and Iraqi facilities, citing the risk that they were being built for non-peaceful purposes, has always neglected to mention that it owns a vast atomic arsenal.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

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