by Jim Rose in Thomas Schelling, war and peace Tags: arms control, disarmament

Thomas Schelling 1962

We cannot abolish conventional wars for the same reason:

Thomas Schelling 1961

While I have your attention, imagine if all nuclear weapons were abolished:

Thomas Schelling 2009

Compare the sleepy world we have now with one where the first country to reacquire one nuclear weapon would be dominant. Some practice a variation of this with nuclear weapons now.

Because latent capacity to develop nuclear weapons is not prescribed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as a work-around of the treaty, this is sometimes called the “Japan Option”. Japan is a clear case of a significant advanced country with the complete technical prowess and nuclear materials to develop a nuclear weapon quickly.

A country does not need to test weapons nor declare its latent nuclear potential. Yet just keep the resources for a latent nuclear potential on hand for a crash programme.