18 - 24 June 1998
Issue No.382
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 18 - 24 June 1998 Issue No.382 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
The parity pitfall
Some people had expected that the new world order would put an end to the arms race. They must be quite let down. Pakistan and India have shown decisively that this is not the case. Certain states cannot monopolise nuclear weapons forever, since technology can obviously be purchased, produced or pirated. Hence, rather than designating nuclear-free regions and seeking to guard against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, we would do better to think of ways of discouraging the use of such weapons.
It has often been said that, if the two parties to a conflict both possessed nuclear capacities, this parity would guarantee that neither would take the first step. Parity, in other words, was seen as a deterrent. But a surprise attack could easily give the lie to such facile beliefs. Nor can we discount the possibility of error: Chernobyl is still wreaking havoc. The growing proliferation of nuclear weapons we are witnessing today sends a message to humanity. We must solve our problems by other than military means. Nuclear weapons mean that war will only wipe humanity off the face of the earth.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy. |