By Thomas Gaulkin, John Krzyzaniak, October 23, 2019
When Donald Trump rocked the nuclear non-proliferation boat in May 2018 by announcing US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—a hard-won agreement widely seen as a successful restraint on Iran’s nuclear program—it marked a major shift in American foreign policy. One month later in Singapore, Trump became the first US president to meet a North Korean leader, reversing decades of strategy aimed at isolating and containing that nation’s military ambitions.
Since then, both Iran and North Korea have tested ballistic missiles. But while Iran’s activities draw unyielding scorn from the White House, North Korea’s sometimes yield little more than a shrug.
For the latest installment of Say WHAT?—the Bulletin’s video series that takes a clear-eyed look at fuzzy policy—we turn to non-proliferation expert Alexandra Bell to explain the dangerous consequences of the Trump administration’s inconsistent nuclear relations. Watch it now.
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We must avoid looking at these questions from one side. The DPRK faces an existential threat from the US, and by extension forces within its allies. They have witnessed the unapologetic use of nuclear bombs on their neighbor, Japan. Likewise nearly a thousand US bases, some with nuclear capability, are strategically placed around the world. DPRK has no troops outside of its country; the Chinese left in the 1950s, but the US is still provocatively in South Korea. On top of that, impoverishing boycotts and refusal to sign a peace treaty are causes for desperate defensive measures a poor country with less population than Florida. It is easy to see why the DPRK believes the regrettable MAD (mutually assured destruction) adopted by both sides in an attempt to deep-freeze the Cold War is a reasonable response to an unreasonable "great power".
Iran has similar foreboding about Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons, a powerful military, and is presently drifting to the right. Israel has nearly unconditional backing from the US, which has been a lethal military intervenor in the middle east for many years. Iran has not yet demonstrated a nuclear capability, but they certainly could - the incentive is there.
As for UN resolutions forbidding ballistic missile technology, one must consider the overwhelming influence of the US on their deliberations. Notice no resolutions are dictated against the US ; they are only against other countries, none as openly bellicose as the US. Other countries are not likely to respect dictates from the US-controlled UN. Think about it.
The solution is to promote acceptance of differences arising from painful histories. We must demand an end to hostile postures like embargoes, boycotts, and sanctions, and an end to propaganda inciting hatred of the DPRK and Iran. We must show why nuclear war is unthinkable, and an existential threat to the entire world. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists should be commended for pointing this out, and actively campaigning against nuclear weapons.