[lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
- From: Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 15:19:44 EDT
I had read somewhere that during one of the Paki-India conflicts in the late
'90s, Clinton brought pressure to bear to help curb Paki use of nukes. Lacking
the delivery systems they now have, the Pakis were loading nukes onto a cargo
jet with the intention of flying over India and pushing them out and down
onto their enemy's cities.
Fortunately that flight was canceled at the last minute.
Also in the mid-90s, the Soviets nearly launched because of flaws in their
decaying early-warning system and their own bureaucracy. A Swedish weather
satellite, which had been announced but whose news didn't reach the Soviet
military
command, was interpreted as an incoming first strike. Fortunately Yeltsin was
not too hung over so he didn't push the panic button.
Now the US is spending millions annually to help maintain the failing Russian
early-warning system--in the interest of avoiding error-driven mushroom
clouds.
From this we can conclude that some countries are better than others at
maintaining nuclear stockpiles. It's better that France has nukes than Sierra
Leone; it's better that the UK has nukes than Bangladesh. The reasons are not
purely ideological but are technical, economic, and cultural.
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