In response to Hassan Tahsin's article “Stop the spread of nuclear weapons” (July 12), there are a few things I would like to say. The nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 forever changed the face of war and the 50 years of Cold War that followed was dominated by nuclear destruction threats. Both superpowers raced to produce a greater arsenal than the opponent, leading to the point where they had the ability to destroy the world several times over — which led to the concept of “Mutually Assured Destruction” — where both sides knew that the use of weapons would lead to their own as well as their enemy's destruction. Of course, the world political situation has changed drastically since the Cold War. Nuclear weapons have — in theory — ceased to solely dominate world politics. The so-called “good guys” have defined the villains of the world as the “axis of evil” and nuclear arsenal in the hands of the “bad guys” will make the world a not-so-safe place. Whether nuclear weaponry is a threat to the whole world or a necessary evil will always be a question people will ponder over. However, the debate misses the real problem with nuclear weapons: Human beings have crossed the threshold of knowledge that has given us the power to destroy ourselves. Also, there is no miracle solution that will end the possibility of nuclear war for all time. Because you can't dismantle every weapon there is. And you can't purge every bit of scientific knowledge about how to build nuclear weaponry from every database. The writer's view that nuclear weaponry be eliminated entirely remains both unlikely and delusionary. Let's get real for a minute here: none of the nuclear nations are going to give up on their stockpiles of nuclear powers no matter whatever the hypothetical reason is. Nuclear weapons stand for power and no country will want to weaken itself. Even if we assume that the countries destroy their nuclear arsenal, the race for dominance and power will not cease. The logical solution is to make yourself strong so that no country would mess with your internal affairs. Your strength will serve as a deterrent and no country would dare to invade you for fear of retaliation. Those countries are being messed up by the greater powers is because they are weak. My message to them is to go nuclear and be strong. Sadly, power is the only language this world understands.
