Nuclear weapons, countries possessing

Indeed, when new countries like the U K. France or China became nuclear powers, countries which were already members of the club were strongly opposed, but now it is quite well accepted that possession of nuclear weapons by those countries did not provoke a catastrophe. Some even consider that the existence of nuclear weapons in different camps was a stabilizing factor during the Cold War and prevented a major conflict during the past half-century. Why, then, the possession by India should not stabilize the relation between India and China, and by Pakistan the relation between Pakistan and India, preventing major conflicts in these zones At least the question may be asked. In the same way, the possession by Israel of nuclear weapons, in the opinion of some, has stabilized the situation in the Middle East. In any case, when a country has decided that it is worth while to make the effort and take the risks of developing nuclear weapons, it seems that after some initial outcry, the world accepts it without major retaliation That shows some kind of hypocrisy in the initial claim of a fundamental evil connected with the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The real issue is probably to avoid the acquisition of nuclear weapons by unstable, not very democratic countries. May be Pakistan is in that category clearly the West would not like Libya or Iran and Iraq to possess such weapons. A real, major issue is full nuclear disarmament, but this is another story. 

Latin American Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Tlateloko) 1968 29 countries (24 in force) obligates Latin American parties not to acquire or possess nuclear weapons, nor permit the storage or deployment of nuclear weapons on their territories by other countries. 

The Nonproliferation Treaty and the international safeguards to support it failed, unfortunately, to stop new countries from getting possession of nuclear weapons. The effectiveness of political measures would be largely enhanced, if the processes of potential danger from the viewpoint of nuclear proliferation were phased out with development of the new nuclear technology. Such processes include the following ... 

Israel has traditionally maintained a policy of ambiguity as to whether it possesses nuclear weapons. However, on 12 December 2006 Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert caused this policy to be called into question when he seemed to state during a German television interview that his country in fact possesses such weapons. See also OSIRAQ REACTOR BOMBING. 

North Korea has also been implicated in the work of the so-called A. Q. Khan network, which may have aided the country s acquisition of nuclear weapon technology and knowledge. In 2005 North Korea publicly stated that it possessed nuclear weapons. It is estimated to have between 5 and 10 nuclear warheads. On 9 October 2006, North Korea exploded a nuclear device. Seismic and other monitors confirmed the... 

NUCLEAR WEAPON. An explosive device that uses radioactive materials as the primary fuel for the explosion. This fuel undergoes either a fission or fusion reaction, resulting in the release of an enormous amount of energy. A weapon using a fusion reaction is more commonly called a thermonuclear homh or sometimes a hydrogen bomb. At least nine countries are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. South Africa is believed to have had nuclear weapons but to have destroyed them prior to its transition from an apartheid regime. 

The accelerating proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in other countries around the world is probably of gravest concern. The more countries that possess such weapons— even if acquired for deterrent purposes—the greater the likelihood that such weapons will be used.1(p2)... 

The proliferation of chemical and biological weapons involves a spread in the possession of weapons or of the capability to produce them. Like nuclear proliferation, this phenomenon can have a vertical as well as a horizontal dimension - that is, it can involve the development, refinement, or accretion of weapons by the great powers as well as the spread of capabilities to countries outside the orbits of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. It can also imply qualitative as much as quantitative developments, since the use of new agents or combinations of agents or new delivery systems could affect the tactical utility of chemical weapons or their effectiveness as a deterrent. 

Despite the efforts by America and other countries to abide by treaties and control the proliferation of nuclear arms, nine countries are known to possess atomic weapons. In addition to America and Russia, the other nuclear-armed states are Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, China, and North Korea. Of those states, diplomats find a nuclear-armed North Korea most alarming because the country is ruled by a Communist dictatorship that has maintained unfriendly terms with the West for more than sixty years. 

Iraq argued that each nation had the right to retain the weapons necessary for its own defence, including weapons of mass destruction, in the light of the threat it faced. The Israeli nuclear capability was cited by a number of Arab states as justification for the possession of chemical weapons. Non-aligned countries pointed also to the superpowers retention of substantial chemical warfare capabilities, and to the slow progress in achieving nuclear disarmament. 

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