Consequence of building the National Missile Defense, Детальна інформація

Federation has all right to start developing counter measure so that the

United States defense system could be penetrated. The violation of this treaty also means that the Russian Federation is allowed to help any country in the development of its nuclear weapons. Already, Russia is helping Iran in developing its nuclear facilities, and as we know Iran is one of potential threats to the US. The violation of this treaty puts no restraints on Russia’s assistance to any country willing to build nuclear weapons. There are many countries willing to develop such facilities for offensive or defensive purposes, and they are willing to pay handsome amount for such assistance. Of course this has not started as of yet, but surely implications are there.

At present the only state that has the power to launch weapons of mass destruction against the United States is Russia. Dean Rusk, Secretary of

State in 1984 stated, “It would be foolish in the extreme to suppose that we could obtain any significant or lasting advantage over the Soviets in space weaponry” (Cordesman). Although the Russia of today is not the same as the Soviet Union of 1984, it is still very powerful in the field of nuclear weapons. The violation of this treaty would greatly encourage

Russia to upgrade its weapons. An upgrade of nuclear weapons by Russia could trigger another dangerous arm race, which would lead to Cold War once again. The author of ‘Defending America’ James Lindsay states that:

“Most countries, including many of America’s closest allies, warn that missile defense will trigger an arms race jeopardize three decades of arms control efforts.”

Everybody remembers how dreadful those times were. The infusion of constant fear and anxiety on peoples’ minds were beyond what words could express.

But in the absence of a National Missile Defense system, Russia is currently willing to decrease its production of nuclear weapons (Ellis 89).

These statistics show the superiority of Russia in nuclear weapons. It would be a good move by the United States to do the same. In fact, these two nations could cooperate in fighting against the unconventional production of nuclear weapons by other states. The statistics in the book called ‘Strategic Threats and National Missile Defenses’ by Anthony

Cordesman show that the US posses 33,500 nuclear weapons, and Russia posses

62,500 nuclear weapons. If the United States agreed on nuclear arm reduction, then this move would reduce the risk of the United States being attacked by weapons of mass destruction. Once this nuclear arms race between the Russian Federation and the United States begins, the consequences of could be devastating, both for the US and Russia as well as for the entire globe, resulting in ultimate destruction of the planet earth.

With Russia’s help, the US government could actually avoid the threat of being attacked with weapons of mass destruction, and reduce the nuclear production of both nations. Building bigger weapons could make the United

States more powerful, but this will increase our enemy’s desire to harm the

US more. This will create more hatred against Americans. Having a more powerful nuclear arsenal is not what makes a number one nation. The United

States and Russia could really change the world, and stop this nuclear race, and bring peace to earth, rather than attempting to find security in a technological solution.

One of the overlooked peaces in this riddle is China. China does posses nuclear weapons, and the building of the National Missile Defense will incite China to upgrade its nuclear arsenal. China does not want the

United States to have superiority over them. Unlike Russia, China is not a declining power but a rising one, and again, unlike Russia, China has specific territorial issues over Taiwan over which it could conceivably wage a war with the United States. As Saira Khan, the author of Nuclear

Proliferation Dynamics in Protracted Conflict Regions: a Comparative Study of South Asia and the Middle East says:

No one should be surprised, then, that Beijing looks skeptically on

President George W. Bush’s claim that ‘America’s development of defenses is a search of security, not a search of advantage.’”

So as we can see China doesn’t look too favorably on this issue either, and

China should be considered in making such decisions.

Right now the building of a National Missile Defense system should not be the main concern of the United States government. The government should carefully consider everything before jumping to any conclusions. The building of such a system would make the United States less secure rather than more secure at present. Besides we need to stop this madness of nuclear race. As Albert Einstein best put it in 1946,

“There is no defense in science against the weapon which can destroy civilization.”