re: #100 KGxvi

There are 9 countries with nuclear weapons. India and Pakistan aren’t giving up their weapons (and arguably, that’s the only thing preventing a war between them), Israel won’t even admit that it has any. North Korea has seen that having nuclear weapons gives them a seat at the table (and a helluva shield against invasion, regardless of how realistic invasion actually is). The other five nations are permanent members of the security counsel and are, generally, smart enough to know that using nuclear weapons won’t end well.

I’d love to see worldwide disarmament of nuclear weapons, but this little thing called “reality” isn’t going to allow for that anytime soon.

We’ll be lucky if Trump’s version of “diplomacy” does not inspire a bunch more nations to develop their own nukes. In Australia, for example, a few right wing cranks have always advocated an independent nuclear capability. Now, though, this has seeped past the bounds of crankery since no one has an answer to the obvious question of what to do now that they can’t count on the yanks. Imagine the behind-the-scenes discussions in the defense ministries of Japan, Singapore, or Taiwan, let alone South Korea. I personally think that Japan has a secret stash of devices that can be turned into full blown weapons in a matter of hours, if not minutes, “the turn of a screwdriver away.”