Henry DiGennaro - Blog post 2


The idea of a world without nuclear weapons sounds great, reduced risk of a catastrophic history-changing event and a more safe world in theory. What if that was not the case, what if disarmament could lead to an increase in violence and more fear in the hearts of civilians. It is truly impossible to eliminate a nuclear threat with the knowledge held today. Thomas C. Schelling wrote that if we were to reach a point of no active warheads, all of the countries that have nuclear knowledge would have “hair-trigger mobilization plans to rebuild.” The theory makes sense. I equated it to riding a bike, once you learn how to ride a bike you truly never forget, i.e. the saying “it's like riding a bike.” 

In class and more specifically the discussion on what it means to be a great power in today's world revolved around nuclear capability and the prestige it brings. We concluded that power comes from the threat of a nuclear strike. However, this does not support a path to nuclear disarmament because it will require a leading nuclear-capable state to take the initial risk and begin to relinquish its firepower. In reality, this means the United States or China. The two countries combine for close to 12,500 warheads with neither side trusting the other to follow suit with nuclear elimination. While Obama in 2009 delivered a speech in Prague saying America was committed to a world without nuclear weapons, the US presidency is too short and bureaucratic to carry out such a monumental feat. Additionally, with the power dynamic and the flipping of parties with each president, any long-lasting talks are bound to fail. President Trump exemplifies this by not only expanding nuclear capabilities but undermining many arms-control talks that had been happening for decades. 

In a perfect world if all made and readily available warheads were destroyed the next global conflict to begin would just trigger those involved to rebuild and launch a nuclear bomb before their opponent could. It would be a similar path to that of WWII, drop the bomb before they can drop one on us. It is not possible to exterminate the know-how to create the weapons of mass destruction and removing them from active use would only set the tensions even higher if a war were to break out.  


Comments

  1. pols170 claire doyle blogOctober 4, 2021 at 9:17 AM

    The topic of nuclear weapons is so interesting and the readings we had for this topic produced a lot of information and analyses for us to process. I found it interesting how you immediately questioned something we feel so secure about - not using nuclear weapons. I also really liked your analogy to riding a bike, it shows how simple and normal things can become to us.

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  2. Jack de la ParraDecember 8, 2021 at 11:48 AM

    I agree with what you are saying in the latter portion of this post. Regardless of what decision is made about decreasing arms, the imminent pressure to re-build arms will always exist in countries looking to gain an edge in protecting their homeland via stacking their offensive weapons.

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