North Korea has announced it has "manufactured nukes for self-defence". I think that about shows the effectiveness of the US's tough, all stick, no carrot, demand-total-surrender-before-negotiations-begin approach.
Unfortunately for the world, the US has adopted the same approach towards Iran, refusing to join the EU in negotiations with Iran unless the latter gives up the very thing those negotiations are supposed to be about. And without a major change in policy, I don't really expect the result there to be any different.
Frankly that NK has nuclear weapons only proves your own strategies fail, both isolation ANd economic packages. that and if you have a bligerant despot with a nuclear program on the verge of starting he is not every likely to stop for anything.
ReplyDeleteBasically, having actual nukes that go bang gives you a "get out of jail free" card as far as the US is concerned.
ReplyDeleteOver a million troops lined up on the inter-Korean border helps as well, of course.
Actually, that was my point - Saddam would still be in power if he had real, as opposed to imaginary, nukes. The lesson for dictators is to get your own A-bomb, and quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe "machinery" to enrich uranium typically involves a factory the size of Ericsson Stadium with power requirements similar to all of Auckland. Once you've made some enriched uranium, making a bomb is indeed much easier than with plutonium, as you can use a "simple" gun design (the uranium device dropped on Hiroshima was not pre-tested, unlike the Pu device used on Nagasaki, which was similar to that fired at Trinity).
It is quite fortunate that U235 is hard to make and Pu is hard to make bombs out of - otherwise there would be a lot more nukes around.
> The lesson for dictators is to get your own A-bomb, and quickly.
ReplyDeleteYour point here must be that the USA should be more agressive and attack countries that try to get A-bombs quickly right?
Otherwise your argument makes no sense.