From the point of view of "defence" as it is called, having a few (or a lot of) nuclear weapons has so far proven enough of a deterrent to prevent full scale invasion of the owner of those weapons in, I think, every case on record (a possible exception to that being Israel, debatably). The most recent case was that of India and Pakistan. Without the Bomb they would most likely have fought a bloody war this summer, which would have killed hundreds of thousands.

I believe THAT is why smaller countries wish to have the Bomb themselves. It gives them a sense of immunity from large scale attack.

This is not the route I would take if I were running a small country, but I believe it is the primary rationale behind smaller countries acquiring the Bomb. They are not acquiring it so that they can attack someone bigger and get annihilated, they are doing it so that someone bigger WON'T attack them.

This is not to say that a secret terrorist organization would not attack someone with the Bomb (they undoutedly would, given the opportunity, and that someone would probably be the USA, Russia or Israel). The thing about a terrorist cell is...they hide themselves among other people, and are not subject to a nuclear counterstrike in the same way that a nation state is.

Therefore, I think it is unrealistic to expect nations NOT to try to acquire their own nuclear weapons as time goes by...given people's natural desire to arm themselves as their neighbours and competitors have armed themselves.

It's also a bit morally hypocritical to be so self-righteous about limiting the "Club". It's like saying...Oh, well, we can have the Bomb because we are richer, we are morally superior, and we are more mature (let's face it, more human) than you are. You can't have it because we say so. Only we in the Club have the right to the means to instantly annihilate entire cities full of people if we so choose. You don't. This is a closed shop.

This is ludicrous to those not in the club, you see, and they will resist it. They don't see themselves as second-class people or as children, and given my exposure to 3rd World people I can understand why...they are frankly more mature in many cases than a good many of their North American counterparts.

Don't misunderstand me. I am not personally in favour of building any more nuclear bombs anywhere, but I am simply pointing out the prejudice and arrogance of the Haves, their self-serving maintenance of inequality, and the results of them foisting those attitudes on the Have-nots in the world.

- LH