"NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION SYNDROME"

North Korea has fired a missile and some people are scared to death.

This fear is a symptom of “Nuclear Proliferation Syndrome.” This is a condition urgently requiring a psychiatric code. Anyone suffering from it needs to have a “time-out.”

Those concerned about New Members coming into the Nuclear Weapons Club are like youngsters in college who discover “Romeo And Juliet” or Thucydides’ “Peloponnesian War” – write a 2500 word paper on it - and suddenly think they are experts on the subject. They aren’t, but they would never know it. Why? Because they lack perspective.

The same is true for those who quake at the thought of the Nuclear Club’s newest member, North Korea, or a possible future member, Iran, or whoever else might someday be getting nuclear weapons. Those who forecast nuclear doomsday lack a nuclear perspective and thus they subject themselves to irrational fears.

Let’s establish the necessary perspective regarding the actual threat of nuclear weapons. Here are the nuclear facts:

1. Any nuclear attack on the West immediately triggers the complete and utter destruction of the attacking nation.
2. Any nuclear attack on China or Japan or South Korea likewise triggers the same devastating response upon the attacking nation.
3. Any nuclear attack on Israel also triggers an immediate, totally destructive response upon the attacking nation.
4. Any nuclear attack elsewhere (targets not mentioned in the above examples) may have the potential for success in that no immediate nuclear response upon the attacker is guaranteed – Why? Face the truth… nobody really cares about anyplace else.

--- THINK ABOUT IT ---

Who would retaliate for a nuclear attack on a target that was not a Western power, a major Asian power, or Israel? Who? Nobody, that’s who. Of course, ask yourself also – Who wants to attack such a target? Nobody, that’s who.

More nuclear facts:

5. Not one of the 9 existing nuclear powers – The United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – has given ANY INDICATION WHATSOEVER that they have any agenda (except self-defense) that includes the actual use of their nuclear weapons against any nation listed in #1, #2 or #3 above.
6. Thus, for the United States and the West, there is NOTHING TO FEAR from any of the existing nuclear nations.
7. Iran has a long and glorious national history – older than Western Civilization – and no one can point to anything in Iranian policy or Iranian action that would show any suicidal wish on the part of the Persian Empire.
8. The world is chuck-full of Enriched Uranium – some 14 countries currently have enrichment programs actually operating – and any nation can build nuclear weapons if they realy want to – If they have the money and the national will. Nuclear science is not a secret. Nuclear resources are available to anyone who can afford them. In time, there will be additional members of the Nuclear Weapons Club. There’s no way to stop it - except for...
9. The only way to actually enforce non-proliferation is to kill anyone who decides to make a nuclear weapon and do it before they have one. There is no other way. Yes, dead men don’t wear plaid, don’t talk and don’t make nuclear bombs. But they’re the only ones.

FINALLY ---

There are at least 4 countries with submarines constantly at sea equipped with multi-warhead nuclear missiles – The US, Russia, Britain and France. China may soon have this capacity and nobody knows if Israel already has one or more such subs already in service. This fact alone means nobody can attack countries in #1-#3 above without assuring their own absolute and complete destruction.

Can nuclear powers be negated? The United States has somewhere between 25,000-40,000 nuclear weapons. The Russians have about 12,000, maybe thousands more. The British, the French and the Chinese too have substantial supplies as well. Israel is said to have as many as 400-500 nuclear bombs. The nuclear capacity of these countries cannot be completely destroyed. Therefore, none of these countries is vulnerable to nuclear attack without the certainty of devastating retaliation to the attacker, even if the initial attack is successful.

India, Pakistan and North Korea do not have a large number of operational weapons. Combined, they probably don’t have more than a tiny handful of nuclear weapons and none of them have the money needed to build an indestructible working arsenal. Thus, they hardly represent a meaningful threat… to any nation, anywhere… except perhaps themselves.

To believe that any nation would launch a nuclear attack requires you to also believe that such a nation is fully prepared for its own total, irreversible destruction. What country fits that category?