Michiel,
 
> JD> It would make sense if all nations in the world had decimated their
> JD> stock of same, but that is not so.  Both the USA and Russia, along
> JD> with several other countries, have a stockpile of these weapons.
 
> Exactly. The US policy of denying Korea, Iran and some others nuclear
> weapons has zero credibility. It is like a chain smoking parent trying to
> keep their kids from smoking by telling them how bad it is.
 
Allow me to dissagree.
 
I have no problem with the US and Russia and China and France and the UK
keeping a balance in weaponry which at this moment in history seems to
guarantee a kind of a semblance of peace.
 
The cold war seems to be over for a large part and I have a certain trust
that none of these nations will bomb another nation to oblivion now that we
know the further implications of nuclear warfare. After all, what good is
there in a war that you will not survive yourself in some way.
 
Israel has been stopped from nuking Tripoli, India and Pakistan now have
respect for eachother.
 
The real scare to me is to put such a device in the hands of a religious
fanatic who believes it is justified to annihilate the 'infidels' and that
God will reward him with eternal martyrdom and a daily fresh batch of 70
virgins to fornicate. Whether one believes in some form of a 'higher being'
or not, to me that is the perfect example of a 'civilisation' which has not
passed the mentality of the Middle Ages.
 
How to deal with it?
 
I do not have an answer at this moment. The knowledge to develop such a
weapon is now so broad based that almost every country with physics
scholars can make one. My own country, Belgium, has a nuclear research
centre and the means to make one but we don't, there's no reason/need to
make one. Same with your country, the Netherlands.
 
So why would someone else want to make such a weapon and by doing so risk
the wrath of 'the West'?
 
It may be shocking to some that I say this but when crazy people such as
this Iranian president call for the destruction of another sovereign
country without blinking an eye and in the same breath push forward to
develop a nuclear weapon with an obvious intent of using it, then I'm glad
England is one hour flying to the west, France is one hour to the south and
Ramstein AFB is one hour to the east. I have no confidence at all for the
kind of nuclear umbrella that Russia or China would be providing me.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/{at}rd

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