Another good reason to actively curb nuclear proliferation

[natedogg]

It's not always just to protect ourselves from threats, but to prevent other parts of the world from escalating themselves into a nuclear exchange, which would be at the very least economically bad for us, and everyone.

Maybe North Korea will not nuke us, and will not give away their weapons to people who will, but they might just nuke one of our friends, and they may incite a regional nuke race.

This interesting analysis at http://www.techcentralstation.com/022205D.html discusses the possibility that Japan will go nuclear in response to North Korea's nuke. The article notes that Japan has the tech capability to build a nuke in SIX WEEKS FROM SCRATCH.

Japan's willingness to do so is not just conjecture, as the article point out that Japan's parliament has already begun discussing abandoning the article (9?) in their constitution that prohibits themselves from building a military....

Maybe we should have been a little more proactive about North Korea's nukes?

natedogg

[lastchance]

Remember, technology always spreads outwards. You can only delay it.

Scary, scary stuff though.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
at the very least economically bad for us, and everyone.

[/ QUOTE ]

...at the very least? that's the worst case scenario. if india-pakistan or the middle east goes gamma-ray, then world financial collapse, and far more death and suffering than would result from the bombs, may be just around the corner.

also, i believe that if japan decided to re-arm, they could be the world's fourth leading military power so damn fast it'd make all of our heads spin. (behind the US, russia and china).

[CORed]

Although I don't like the idea of more nuclear powers, it seems to me that it is perfectly reasonable for Japan to build nuclear weapons if North Korea has them. Their only defense is the ability to retaliate in kind. I can certainly see why they wouldn't want to rely on the U.S. to provide that deterrence. What worries me is that Kim Jong Il might be too crazy to be deterred by the threat of nuclear retaliation. He is playing a very dangerous game of nuclear blackmail.