Obama’s get rid of nukes stance a smart move

The more I think about it, the more I like Obama’s get rid of nuclear weapons stance.

Not because I think it will work. You can not uninvent science. I don’t think it will suceed in its stated goal.

But it may suceed in some other goals – stopping further proliferation and reducing the current stockpile.

The growing number of countries with nukes is of major concern. I trust the big five powers (and Israel) to use them responsibily. They don’t threaten their neighbours with them. But the world is a far less safe place now India and Pakistan have them, let alone Iran and North Korea. And sooner or later one of them will do something stupid with them, and/or give the technology to terrorists. We should not accept this as inevitable.

But the problem is it is hard to pressure countries not to take them up, when the major powers (and Israel) all have them and are saying we are keeping ours.

The dynamic that Obama brings is he is willing to say “We’ll get rid of ours, if you get rid of yours”. Now it won’t quite happen like that, but it will make it harder for other countries to justify their acquiring of nuclear weapon technology. They will be swimming against the tide so to speak.

Also the policy may lead to significant reductions in current stocks. By saying let us get rid of them all, he may get China and Russia to agree to reduction of greater than 50%.

So while I am realistic that the policy will not suceed per se, I think it will be beneficial overall.