Message Number: |
474 |
From: |
Andrew Reeves <andrew.reeves Æ wayne.edu> |
Date: |
Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:35:08 -0400 |
Subject: |
Re: "We GAVE Israel nuclear weapons" |
Trixie:
Your idea that the USA "dictate[s] who is allowed to have nuclear
weapons and who isn't" has no historic validity. Those weapons were
first developed in this country with British collaboration, and in the
first few years after the war only these two countries had them.
I think you can take it for granted that the USA would have liked
nothing better than to keep it that way. However, by about 1949 the
Soviet Union developed its own atomic bomb (whether by research of
their own or by spy services is uncertain) and France soon followed
suit. The secret was out (by today's standards, it's scientifically
no big deal, really) and in short order India got it and Pakistan too.
Somewhere around then Israel also developed it, although as Rob pointed
out, they never explicitly admitted that. Thus far, the "nuclear club"
acted responsibly and avoided its use in local skirmishes. The collapse
of the Soviet Union gave the world some anxious moments in this respect
and I am afraid we haven't heard the last of that problem yet--but the
last thing the world should allow to happen is the spreading of this
weaponry to the Ayatollahs of Iran or other crazies like Kim Jong Il.
If you see this as arrogance of the USA then you are quite mixed up,
Trixie--as you were in adding the last paragraph of your job-seeking
letter to your e-mail! --love, Dad
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