Opinion

Is Moratorium to Nuclear Weapons Possible

to Promote World Peace?

Nuclear Age

The two Atomic Bombs dropped in Japan by the USA to bring an end to the Second World War opened a new era called the Nuclear Age! After this fantastic historical achievement each and every nation that was capable of developing its own nuclear weapons started carrying out tests under the ground and under the sea. Now, perhaps in the sky too! The reasons, these nations declare to the world for such practices are 1. Peaceful purposes only and 2. Defensive purposes. Whatever be their explanations about it, devil is devil though nuclear power is developed in any shape or size or form.

Nuclear Business

“The flourishing Nuclear Big Business”, an article in an Indian Newspaper on Sept. 1977 added a few more eye-catching facts such as the following : “The nuclear powers to-day are China, Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union , and to a lesser extent India and Israel. The near nuclear powers include Canada, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and Pakistan. Other nations producing or intending to produce, plutonium are Argentina, Australia, Belgium , Brazil, East Germany, Egypt, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Rumania, Spain , Syria, Switzerland, South Africa and Yugoslavia.

The curious thing about France and West Germany is that while they are seeking in part to gain political preferment and hegemony of sorts, this essential purpose in encouraging proliferation is to offset the costs of their own nuclear programmes. A French plan to supply a nuclear reprocessing plant to South Korea was abandoned after American intervention. Early this month, the U.S. and Britain managed to persuade South Africa not to explode a nuclear device in the Kalahari Desert. The West Germans are under pressure not to get too involved with the nuclear business in Brazil. But for them it is a deal worth some Rs.4000/- crores. The Pakistanis now talk of making a killing in the nuclear export business and they have a ready market in the Arab World.”

Neutron Bomb, SDI

During the President Ford's period, the USA manufactured a new weapon called the Neutron Bomb, which is capable of killing living beings, with out destroying the lifeless materials! It is a new achievement, no doubt but it is a harmful weapon in a lesser degree than the usual devastating ones. This showed that limited nuclear war could be expected in the future, as the Big Brothers showed the tendency of reducing their war habits by using neutron bombs in preference to other bombs in the 1970s. But in the 1980s the ballistic missiles have become an important weapon and a most important issue for discussion in the world.

Many nations have started including missiles type of weapons programme in their Defence preparations. When this is going on so the USA got the idea of using Communication Satellites for military purposes i.e., using satellites to counter attack missiles offences. This new type of advancement in the armament race was described by the President of the USA, Mr. Reagan as Satellite Defence Initiative (SDI) which is being famously quoted as Star Wars Programme. So, War in the space can become an innovation in the War between nations in the future!

Missiles War, Laser Weapons War

After the two World Wars the world could not forget the impact made by the Vietnam War. It seems, some 6.3 million tons of bombs were dropped in Indo-China from 1965 to 1971. Of these, 3.9 million tons which is equivalent to twice the quantity of bombs dropped by the US planes in all theatres of War between 1941 and 1945. Perhaps the next war between Russia and America through their respective allied countries in Europe could be a Missiles war. In the 1980s the headlines in the news paper are about the deployment of missiles in Europe either by the USA or by the USSR or by both. This preparation is going on the land. In the space, perhaps War using Laser weapons may take place as such type of equipments are also invented and tested too! When the position of the World is so, how the detente between the war minded nations could be started and detente established between them?

Refugee Problem

Every country has its own complexities like the economic crisis, unemployment problem, population explosion, poverty and so on. Some have all these problems and more; some have solved some of them and some are about to achieve self-sufficiency in all respects. But whether they are developed or developing to provide the refugees with the fundamental necessities and rehabilitate them is a real task at the expense of their own complexities. Perhaps the economy of such a country may get affected in this sort of venture.

Exodus of Refugees

So, refugee problem is also not a new thing to this world. But the refugee problem after the Vietnam War was the most formidable one in the world. “Some 301,000 Indo-Chinese refugees have fanned out across the globe” said Christian Science Monitor at that time. Then according to the office of the U.N. High commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), more than two thirds of that great exodus has found permanent homes in 22 countries. To quote a few, the nations that were accommodating those refugees were the following: Canada-6, 857, United States- 145,000, Norway-164, United Kingdom-434, Netherlands -140, Belgium-880, France-51, 337, Switzerland-1, 137, Denmark-300, West Germany-390, Austria-217, Italy-214, Laos-585, Thailand -81,770, Malaysia-1400, Singapore -122, Philippines-119, Hong Kong -154, South Korea-348, Japan-1,110, Australia -2,706 and New Zealand-249.

Refugee Offers By Anti-Communist Countries

From this, it is clear that the nations that were in a position to offer homes to those abandoned people were against Communist policies. The refugees were also not interested in the Communist countries. Some of the Communist countries were also members in the UNO! But they were not extending their hands to alleviate the miseries done to those helpless peoples. The anti-communist countries were really friendly to those needy people. But the Communist countries were friends only in treaties, which means that their duty is simply to spread the ideals of communism and nothing else. When this is so, how could competitive spirit be replaced by cooperative spirit so as to bring about real peace and happiness to the world? And when the bare necessities have to be provided and safe-guarded too, how could Culture and civilization thrive in this world?

Refugees in India and Pakistan

Then after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Afghan refugees entered Pakistan for respite. Because of Pakistan's trouble to India, India encountered the problem of refugees and solved it somehow. Pakistan is still coping with the Afghan refugees without knowing how to survive with its poor economy. The pity is that it has to maintain its friendship with America in order to overcome the possible future invasion by Russia! If the friendship between Pakistan and India is firmly established both the countries can go ahead smoothly minding their development activities. India which has experience in tackling the refugee problem is again facing such a situation as 2, 00,000 Sri Lankan Tamils have come to India as refugees due to the ethnic crisis resulting into violent genocides in Sri Lanka. India is trying its level best to solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.

International Peace

The present World is divided into many groups. Some countries are considered to be developed, some are developing and others are under-developed as far as industry, agriculture and Science & Technology are concerned. The under-developed countries are not at all posing as a threat to the peace of the world. The developing countries are struggling to achieve a self -sufficient economy. These developing countries require assistance or cooperation or support from the friendly developed countries. Though the developed countries are well off in all respects are not able to pluck away the maladies of mankind. But for one or two of the developed countries, the rest of them without understanding the problems of the developing and under-developed countries are diligently sticking to their own meaningless, rigid and obsolete dogmas, which are the actual dangers constantly threatening the peace of mankind.

Time and again such developed countries have experienced that their dogmas are having no effect upon those developing countries they are trying to convert for their own advantages; even after this, they have not come to the conclusion that no two countries are similar as far as culture, language, geographical positions and climatic conditions are concerned. Hence the dogmatic principles (Protectionist attitude of Trade policies) and the rigid foreign policies of the developed countries could have a change only when they clearly understand the problems of other countries. Therefore it is a fact that developed countries are in need of re-education, under developed countries require fresh education and developing countries require untainted cooperation from the both.

Free Society, A Dream?

A free society with the moral principles is the crust and cream of humanity. In such a society, the governing principles of human life are liberty, justice, friendship and love. The countries that could develop such a society in the world can be such as India, France, Britain and Canada. In such a nation the perfection of human beings is the aim of culture. Through cultural activities the friendship between nations can be developed and strengthened.

Friendship is quite invaluable in the relationship of mankind, because man distinguishes himself from beasts or machines as a result of this relationship, which is also a form of love. It is a practical fact, which could not be ignored by anyone. Every human being aspires to lead a life in this manner. Through education, the knowledge of both art and science could be gained by everyone (without the neglect of either of the two). Then there will be a possibility for mankind to have a happy and peaceful life in the world.

Promotion of World Peace

The confessions of Dr. A.Q. Khan, Pakistan's Father of Nuclear Bomb reveals how nuclear technological know-how has been stolen from Europe and sold out to North Korea, Libya and Iran. This is just a tip of the iceberg. So far, nobody has ascertained where else further this nuclear technology might have spread to. Also, the danger of nuclear proliferation, clandestine sales or smuggling of nuclear materials has not been brought to an end by the Nuclear Club members of the world such as USA, UK, France, Russia and China, the permanent five members of United Nations Security Council.

It has come to the open that nuclear fuel has been brought from Niger for the production of Nuclear Weapons in Iraq by the Intelligence Report of Britain, which was the cause for the start of war on Iraq by the Anglo-American forces. Unfortunately nothing of the sort has been unearthed or proved so far! But both the President of America, George W. Bush and the Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair say that irrespective of the proof not found out for the existence of WMD and the link between Iraq's Ba'ath party and the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, they have waged war on Iraq in order to eliminate the threat to world peace and the war will continue wherever there is threat to world peace due to the programs of production of WMD or perpetration of terrorism.

In spite of the opposition from their own people and the international community for unilateral war on terrorism, they justify for their pre-emptive action in Iraq on the ground that they have ousted the tyrant Saddam Hussein from power, which is a great relief for the suffering Iraqis, brought freedom and created condition for the commencement of democratization process there.

Recently, Mr. Blair has philosophized that international law should be amended in such a way that pre-emptive intervention can be made in any country if it is supporting terrorism, perpetrating terrorism for the freedom of any other country and producing Nuclear Weapons for that purpose. According to him, to develop new world order, UNO should be reformed and also with or without the approval of UNO, unilateral action can be taken against the country posing a great threat to world peace and security. This philosophy of Tony Blair, according to the intellectuals of the world, is only a prescription for world anarchy and not for world order.

In the long Vietnam War, France had bitter experience in the past. Afterwards America also did not materialize anything according to its plan in Vietnam. Then, the way USA waged war in Afghanistan and later in Iraq, it seems that it has not learnt any lesson from the Vietnam experience as the approach to tackle the problem has not changed in the least.

Unilateral intervention with arrogance, recklessness and meaninglessness in the internal affairs of other nation as USA has done in Iraq is nothing but sheer neo-imperialism only. To solve the problems of proliferation of nuclear weapons and international terrorism, multilateral effort with the collective and cooperative involvement of all the nations is necessary.

Freedom, reform, democracy, good governance and modernism are needed in the West Asian countries in order to stop the politically and economically disenfranchised individuals opting for extremism and terrorism. Then to stop the production of weapons of mass destruction by new nations or vulnerable nations, genuine nuclear non-proliferation treaty that is popularly acceptable only can be signed and followed by all the nations.

To keep this world a peaceful place for human habitation, nuclear weapons are a great threat to mankind. So, total elimination of nuclear weapons is the biggest task for all the nations now in the world. Disarmament and destruction of all weapons of mass destruction have to be carried out unanimously by all the nations of the world. In this connection, the American proposal of new nuclear order for the whole world holds the attention of both the nuclear and non-nuclear nations now. The old Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty was rejected by India and other developing countries because of the discriminatory approach being followed by the Nuclear Power nations. Now India is cautiously accepting to consider the matter in order to do something positive so that the new nuclear order can be achieved for the promotion of world peace. But India is not ready to sign on the dotted line initiated by the Nuclear Non-proliferation regime unless a credible multilateral mechanism is initiated by UNO to inspect and monitor the peaceful nuclear activities of all the nations without any partiality or discrimination.

Of the seven proposals of the New Non-proliferation Protocol of International Atomic Energy Agency, two items such as Countering proliferation and Completion of nuclear fuel cycle have assumed importance now. So, prevention of proliferation and inspection of civil nuclear activities should be carried out not in discrimination but with genuine approach, which would be the best way to solve this international problem.

According to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) I and II between America and Russia, Nuclear Weapons were reduced from 22,000 to 6,000 or so in each of the two countries, which have to be further reduced to 200 in each, as strategically that would be enough to maintain world order according to the view of Robert McNamara, the former US Secretary of Defence. How far this is going to be implemented depends upon the decision of these two Nuclear Powers of the world only. If it is sincerely accomplished, next, NPT and CTBT also can be implemented by the efforts of the UNO soon.
Multilateralism rather than unilateralism is the best approach that can credibly be followed to solve the problems of proliferation of nuclear weapons and international terrorism. But war on terrorism has been unilaterally started by USA with some like-minded nations and has made this matter a big mess needing the help of UNO to set right it in order to bring a good end to it. To prevent nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists, strategic partnerships among nations are also taking place here and there. In this connection as part of war on terrorism, the US proposal of participation of nations towards the proliferation security initiative is now on the international agenda so as to interdict ships suspected of carrying nuclear spare parts or smuggling nuclear materials anywhere on the mid ocean. Though this is a new idea, if it is initiated by UNO and implemented with the cooperation of all the nations, something positive can be achieved according to international law so that it will not lead to new crisis later.

Now both America and Russia are taking efforts to develop anti-ballistic missile defence system, which is useful to intercept and destroy enemy missiles in the space itself before they reach the targets. In this respect, Russia has achieved an edge over other countries in making a breakthrough in the development of anti-ballistic missile defence system. But by such acts both the countries have broken the arms limitation programme started some years ago. So, it has come to the stage that no political mechanism can bar any nation going ahead with the programme of producing nuclear weapons for its defence purpose. As a result, proliferation of nuclear weapons by some nations has resumed without any control or restriction being imposed by any UN resolution.

World Nuclear Misconception

Nuclear misconception among world nations provokes the thought on arms race, leading only towards utter destruction of the world and not promotion of security to maintain world peace for socio-economic development.

Holocaust of the World

It is well known that as far as economic and defense matters are concerned advanced Western countries are for the domination on other nations according to their policy of protectionism. It is interesting to witness Nuclear Missiles War in James Bond movies like Diamonds are Forever or The Spy Who Loved Me or Golden Eye but not in reality as holocaust of the whole world without victory for anyone is sure.

Nuclear Missiles

Thereafter America and Russia dropped the idea of making big Nuclear Weapons from their agendas as in the Cold War period. Instead of that their attention has turned from Atomic Bombs to limited Nuclear Weapons like short or long range Nuclear Missiles. America is interested in deep penetration weapons in lieu of nuclear arsenals. But Russia seems to have successfully achieved an edge over other nations in the development of Anti-Missile Shield. So, USA is trying its level best in its program of Satellite Defense Initiative, which is famously called as Star Wars Program or Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System.

Axis of Evil

After being described as Rogue Nations of the Axis of Evil by the USA, Iran and Libya accepted the inspection of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to check for the existence of Atomic Bombs in their Nuclear Plants and were ready for elimination of nuclear weapons if such weapons were found in their stocks. No weapons were found out so far. In the meantime Libya normalized its relationships with both the European Union and the USA. But Iran has developed a dispute with the USA over the issue of Nuclear Power for civil purpose as it cannot oblige to the diktats of the USA.

Nuclear Weapons Free World

Even North Korea came forward for the dismantling of its Nuclear Weapons Program if an assurance was provided for its National security and economic development by the USA. Six party meetings were also initiated among North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and America for settling the issue between North Korea and the USA. Conclusively no solid decision was taken till the recent meeting. So, North Korea went on with its nuclear program. In July 2006 it has tested its missiles causing displeasure to its neighbors and concern to the whole world.

So, Japan and the USA have now gone to the UN Security Council to decide about this matter in order to stop North Korea's Nuclear weapons program. In this connection it has to be said that if the USA is steady with its Foreign Policy and acts under the direction of UNO, Nuclear Weapons Free World can be created in the near future.

Promotion of World Peace

Even though Israel can be believed to be sincere in its efforts towards peace with Palestine in accordance with its Anti-Terrorism policy, Pakistan cannot be relied upon for the promotion of World Peace after being made into a major Non-NATO ally by the USA in the War on Terrorism because of its double talks and non-development of genuine democracy. In this circumstance it has become a necessity for India also to develop anti-missile defense system to protect itself from the potential nuclear neighbors like Pakistan, China and others. So, for the prevention of nuclear attacks, the best option for India is to follow the policy of give and take with its neighbors so that peace and a close rapport can be established with them in pursuit of mutual economic development in order to achieve a nuclear weapon free zone in South Asia and in the world.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Sometime back China has started Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with central Asian countries like Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia to jointly combat international terrorism and for economic development among themselves. Slowly SCO developed with the view of cooperating with its neighboring countries for the promotion of World Peace. In the recent meeting observer status was conferred on countries like India, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel, Palestine and other Saudi Arabia States for seeking international cooperation to fight against terrorism and to meet energy needs among themselves by laying oil and gas pipelines in Central Asian region.

American Cold War Policy Not Changed

After the Cold War, War on Terrorism has started. To fight against international terrorism some East European counties like Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and others have joined hands with the USA. For the promotion of freedom and democracy in those regions and for solving its energy needs USA is increasing its influence in the Caspian and Central Asian regions. As a result its influence played a big role in the Rose, Tulip and Velvet Revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan that created virtually irksome atmosphere in that region similar to Cold War situation in pursuance of balance of power there.

This has provoked Russia to take counter measure against this trend by holding control over energy supply in Europe and in the west. If the West and the USA act against its reasonable interest, Russia will facilitate energy supply to Eastern countries like China, Japan and others by laying oil and gas pipelines there in lieu of Europe. Now Russia has emerged again as a Super Power as far as energy supply for the world is concerned.

Recently the former Premiere of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachov has stated that it is better for the USA to take off its hand on the countries of that region and invited all countries to think about the disarmament of Nuclear Weapons and the creation of Nuclear Weapons Free World as dreamt by the late Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi making use of the UNO the best they can as he thinks that is the best way to achieve World Peace. Accordingly if America and Russia in the coming G8 Conference of advanced Countries drop confrontationist attitude and strengthen their friendship for cooperation and coordination towards disarmament, World Peace can be achieved with certainty in the future.

Threats of Nuclear War!

Testing atomic bombs in ground, air or water is different from waging Nuclear War sure...! No one can win in a Nuclear War in the world! For, Earth itself will be destroyed once and for all!

Not knowing this some incorrigible nations are indulging in testing atomic bombs now and then warning against America and western countries just as North Korea does in the Korean peninsula!

Communist dictatorship nations and Islamic terrorist outfits are indulging in slogans against other nations and testing atomic bombs and making dirty bombs bent on destroying not only others but also themselves!

These threats are not going to bring anything good to themselves and others or humankind in the world...!

What A World We Live In!

Just a civil war between govt. and rebels leading to the killing of 200,000 citizens in five years in Syria has led to refugee problem for the world by way of migration helping much the ISIS terrorist group persons entering European countries amidst refugees migrating to Greece, Turkey, Spain, Germany and other countries very easily!
In that way the IS army has captured some portions of Syria and Iraq to form a terrorist nation called Kurdistan is mind boggling and has turned into a big headache for the World now involving 14 nations to send armies to oust the terrorists out of Syria, news says...!

20-Mar-2016

More by :  T. A. Ramesh

Top | Opinion

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