It’s an old debate that has resurfaced since President Obama suggested it as a priority: Should the nations of the world, particularly the major nuclear weapons states, make a serious attempt to cut or eliminate nuclear weapons?
Within the past 24 hours, the people of WORLDMEETS.US have translated two articles on the subject – one from Austria’s Die Presse and the other from Poland’s Wprost.
In an article with the headline ‘A World Without Nuclear Weapons? It’s Worth a Try’ For Austria’s Die Presse, Christian Ultsch writes in part:
“In the current era of asymmetrical conflict, there are enough screwballs, from Osama bin Laden all the way down the ranks, who would be crazy enough to accept yet another world war. The al-Qaeda terror network has demonstrably attempted to obtain fissile material. The more nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons states there are, the more likely it is that bin Laden’s purchasing department will succeed. This is one of the main reasons that Iran and North Korea should have their nukes removes from their hands by force. Otherwise a fatal news arms race will ensue”
And in an article headlined, ‘America and Russia: Sausage Instead of Rockets’ from WProst of Poland – a nation with perhaps a greater interest in the subject than most – Maciej Szopa writes in part:
“The American proposal to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and the sudden positive response from Russia may not bring hope for a safer world, but at least a richer one. Both sides can profit from the agreement and one side even more than the other. … America will save on its actual nuclear potential, and Russia will save the money it has been spending to support a fiction that has been growing less and less credible.”
By Christian Ultsch
Translated By Ulf Behncke
February 6, 2009
Austria – Die Presse – Original Article (German)
Disarmament … is there anyone left still interested in disarmament? START I, START II, the ABM – all code phrases for boredom which, like the dreariness of the Cold War, peace marches and hand-knit cardigans, are about as exciting as peg-topped trousers, Knight Rider and the old tape recorder of the 1980s. The Day After – that’s yesterday. Hardly anyone today is troubled by the idea that around the world, thousands of nuclear weapons lie dormant in bunkers, while a push of the wrong button could devastate the planet.
Thanks to an enormous effort to suppress reality, we have settled quite blithely on top of a volcano. So far things have gone well; no atomic bomb has been detonated since 1945. So why get wound up for nothing, now that the Cold War is over?
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