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Nuclear Weapons Debate

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Nuclear Weapons Debate

Part. 1 Sagan / Waltz - The Great Debate Assignment

Do you think the international community should strive for ‘nuclear zero’ or not?
Both authors have strong arguments, the threat of terrorist using the nuclear weapons on the one hand (Sagan), and than nuclear weapons “have caused sixty-five years of peace” (Waltz). But I think that position of Waltz has more logic behind. Sure, terrorists is a big threat, but they do use a lot of different kinds of weapons. Should we ban all weapons? And they for sure use internet to communicate, should we also ban it. In case with terrorism, I think it’s better to concentrate on the problem of how terrorism appears and what drives people to become terrorists and how to stop them or change their mind.
Another thing that nuclear weapons are already exist, and they “are small and light”,
“easy to hide and easy to move” and “can be placed in small vans or small boats and sent across borders or into harbors” (Waltz). So even if all countries will agree on zero, it will be almost impossible to check it or control it.
Another point in which I agree with Waltz is that “nuclear weapons are the only weapons capable of dissuading the United States from working its will on other nations” (Waltz) and that Sagan faces the problem from one specific cite “the most dangerous nuclear threats to the United States today” (Scott D. Sagan). I think that as far as these weapons exist, it possible to destroy or ban it, so the we need to ban usage of it, and the best way to do it is nuclear deterrence.

Part 2. Russia nuclear situation

1. Is your country a signatory of the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty)?
Yes.1 Russia is one of the key players in non-proliferation efforts.
2. Is your country a member state of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)?
1

http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/npt

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Yes.2 Russia was among the first who joined the agency.
3. Did your country ever have nuclear weapons? What may have been the main reason for having/acquiring them? If your country renounced its weapons, when and why?
Yes it have. Soviet atomic bomb project was started after discovering that USA be actively involved with nuclear programs and was accelerated after Hiroshima and
Nagasaki bombing.
4. Does your country currently have nuclear weapons? If so, provide an estimate of how many.
Yes. Around 7,500 nuclear warheads comparing to 7,200 in the US and of “which about 1,800 US and Russian warheads are on high alert, ready for use on short notice”3 2

https://www.iaea.org/about/memberstates

3

http://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/status-world-nuclear-forces/

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