Quote:
Originally Posted by Money2Burn
There is fairly broad consensus across the international community, not just in the US, that nuclear proliferation is dangerous and should be prevented. I think the base rationale is that the more nuke there are and the more people that have control of nukes, the greater risk of their use/ a nuclear war. I'm not really that informed though, that's just what I've gleaned over the years.
It's been awhile since I read about this topic so take this with a grain of salt. I think you're basically right, though.
So on a nukes per country level the case against proliferation is geared more towards USA/Russia who have enormous, unnecessary stockpiles which (esp with Russia) are not very secure. So a decrease in that stockpile should also decrease the frequency of warheads going missing and being used by terrorists or being sold to shady nation-states.
Now the argument of whether nations should have the right to develop their own nuclear weapons is uh ongoing. In theory if you have nukes then MAD would ensure the nation's survival. Nukes are also a way onto the international stage. Deterrence (and to a lesser extant saber-rattling) is used as currency to negotiate better deals for more resources which theoretically should also lead to better lives for the people. So why is the US and others acting like *******s and keeping nations like Iran from protecting themselves or getting a seat at the table?
The reason most talked about is the perils of proliferation. If Iran gets nukes then other countries in the region will feel threatened and get nukes etc. Which is obviously a pretty good reason. But I also suspect that if Iran was culturally the Canada of the middle east and wanted to develop nuclear weapons the international community would let it slide and deal with the consequences later. But that's just my opinion.
Basically it's an argument between sovereignty/state's rights and theoretical proliferation/international instability. And right now it's in the US's best interest to be on the 'no more nations get nukes' side.