Boom. There goes Washington, DC. Boom. There goes New York City. Boom. There goes Los Angeles. Suddenly the entire United States is on alert – all the major cities rush to find shelter from the fallout, and the war has begun. Nuclear war’s beginning is starting right now – and it’s starting with the Bush administration’s neglect of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
It’s not going to be the large nations that begin the world war – it’s the rogue states and the terrorist factions whose dearest wish is to kill themselves in a holy expurgement of extremism. Fundamentalism and nuclear warheads – welcome to the new land of terror. Your backyard.
The problem, as I have seen it, is that there has been no focus on the threat of states like North Korea and Iran in developing nuclear arms. No serious focus, at any rate. John Kerry’s not focusing on Iran, nor North Korea. We know the quality and depth of Bush’s focus – in the foreign policy department, any state or terrorism group that has a Q in the name must be the most important.
Most Americans are spooked as hell by the Middles East, and instability. But, in my opinion, if North Korea and Iran come out of the closet wearing garter belts of nukes, that’s going to take us all one step closer to nuclear war.
Not even nuclear war. Nuclear terrorism. See, North Korea is dead broke, and are willing to sell opium and heroin using state-owned cargo ships throughout the world. The current regime in Pyongyang is funded almost solely through means that other nations would cry foul at.
North Korean ships routinely smuggle drugs from out in the open ocean to the shores of Australia, bound for the major cities of the continent and to the Western states. It’s not unlikely that a North Korean regime with enough nukes to keep itself xenophobically safe would find it convenient to sell cash on the barrelhead, one nuclear warhead, ten million United States dollars, and free of charge, here’s an instruction manual on how to rig it to explode outside of a missile for free. Now, go tell your friends, and remember, as long as you use it against the evil of the Western democracies, you’re good to go.
How hard would it be for a terrorist cell, then, to gather enough cash to fund themselves one nuclear weapon?
Iran, on the other hand, will merely be a belligerent. Its neighbors, India and Pakistan, and its religious and ethnic enemy, Israel, all have nukes – and the technology for delivering them. Why wouldn’t Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and even South Africa try to protect themselves from the nuclear threat by developing their own nukes? There goes Bush’s much-touted “nuclear nonproliferation” – right out the window.
Second – when North Korea has nukes, then Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, and any other nation remotely within the range of the NK guns will scramble to pick up some technology. And for good reason – the North Koreas are about as stable as nitroglycerin.
The Bush “war of preemption” did nothing to contain the threat of Iran or North Korea. Iraq was far too impoverished to build a serious nuclear weapons program – the country’s funding primarily went to a vain man who wrote bad romance novels as a hobby. Instead, it encouraged Iran to demand from Britain, France, and Russia that in order to work with Iran on its nuclear capabilities and limit the proliferation, the Brits have to provide a security guarantee against nuke attack by Israel. In addition, Iran is demanding dual use nuclear technology, conventional weapons, and more nuclear warheads. Basically, it’s saying, “We’re going to have nukes, and if you want us to think about being nice, you’ll help us get them. Otherwise, once we get them, we won’t be very nice.”
But the point is still made – Iran will encourage nuclear proliferation. North Korea – more so, because North Korea will not be choosy about whom it sells weapons to, as long as the sales prop up the corrupt regime.
In times like these, we don’t need leaders who refuse to pay attention to the wolves raiding the henhouse while off killing the foxes. We need someone who’ll pay attention to what’s happening – and actually WORK with the countries to ensure that two generations from now, children don’t ask their grandparents why they only have two eyes. If they are able to ask that question at all.
Mutation aside, I’d prefer an earth that doesn’t undergo a nuclear winter. I’d prefer not having to make a choice, or living through the days of holocaust.
In the words of Earth Abides, because something has never happened does not mean it will never happen. Because a terrorist faction has not exploded an atomic bomb in the cities of the United States does not mean it will never happen. The madness of jihad – whether it be Christian or Islam, crusade or “martyred war” – is such that the most deaths of the unholy will equal the highest praise.
It’s the reality. Letting North Korea, Iran, and any other little state looking for a slice of power have a nuclear weapon will fuel the market. We need no weapons of mass destruction – it’s a pity the Bush administration has been failing to keep any of the ones that count from entering the hands of terrorists.
