The Destruction of Nuclear Weapons - Research Paper Example

?Running head: THE DESTRUCTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS The Destruction of nuclear weapons Table of Content Topic Page No. 1. Abstract……………………………………………………………………………..3 2. Reaction Statement…………………………………………………………………3 3. Explanation of the reaction statement………………………………………………3 4. Defining the issues addressed………………………………………………………4 5. Position on the reaction question……………………………………………………….4 6. Analysis……………………………………………………………………………..4 7. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..10 References Abstract The paper is a discussion paper based on the adverse effect of the nuclear weapons. It discusses about the several hazards the development and the usage the nuclear weapons have. The paper supports the argument in favor of the destruction or renouncement of the nuclear weapon, which is a means of mass destruction. Reaction Statement Should human beings attempt to urge the power game forward by deploying nuclear weapons or should he take steps towards renouncing nuclear weapons for the sustainability of mankind? Explanation of the reaction statement The reason of choosing this statement is not only concerned about the mass destruction that the nuclear weapon creates but also about the obsessive desire of few countries to gain military superiority and supremacy. 66 years ago, at the dawn of August 6, 1945 the entire city of Hiroshima was shaken with a destructive nuclear bomb attack from US. It was soon followed by another nuclear bomb attack on August 9, 1945 at the city of Nagasaki in Japan. The whole world witnessed how in a span of time the cities with its population of 100,000 to 200,000 individuals went into the clutch of death, devastation and destruction. (Dahat, 2009, p. 1) The most important question that arises now is that whether the entire human species can simply stand and witness the destruction of his fellow being or will he act to destroy the human killing weapons and let humanity flourish. (Makhoul, n. d, p. 82) Defining the issues addressed Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction, which threatens the life of all the living beings living on the planet. The paper discusses the several grounds on which it deem essential for the elimination of the nuclear weapons. After the wreck the nuclear attack had created in 1945, the nations of the world should understand that the destruction created by nuclear attack of any kind havocs demolition. The paper discussed the several adverse effects of the deploying of nuclear weapons. It has harmful effects on environment and the living beings. It is also against the self and other imposed limitations and ethics of war. Position on the reaction question In the discussion paper the stand taken is in the favor of the destruction of the nuclear weapon and thus states that human being should take a firm step against the usage of nuclear weapons in any form. It criticizes the development and usage of the nuclear weapon under any circumstances. Doing something wrong is regarded as sin, likewise just standing and watching someone doing wrong is a sin as well. The paper focuses on the fact that despite of the presence of Non Proliferation Treaty (NTP), the world is under the threat of destruction of the humanity. The NTP rather than minimizing the threats aggravates it and to some extent favors the Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) state against the non Nuclear Weapons States (NNWS). Analysis It has been known that today the nuclear warheads of the World, Russia and US have ten times more arsenals than what it had during bombing the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is known that nuclear weapons have not been used after the 1945 attack on Japan but there have been several instances when the NWS leaders have thought of using them. This is a constant threat for the humanity and the human being. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled against the use of nuclear weapons as that violates the international law. But that has not been made into a rule or a law; it’s just an advisory opinion. It has been mentioned that the threat or employing of nuclear weapon should essentially comply with the Article 2(4) and 51 of the United Nations Charter. The danger that was becoming grave from the wide spread of nuclear weapons among the nations made the countries step ahead and negotiate an agreement of non proliferation under the auspices of United Nations. The treaty mentions that the nuclear arms should be reduced and the nuclear energy must be utilized in a right way. It prevents the transferring of nuclear weapons or technology from the nuclear weapon states (NWS) to the non nuclear weapon states (NNWS). Besides it prohibits the NNWS to develop, manufacture and control nuclear weapons. The Article 3 mandates that the NNWS countries should let the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) verify whether the countries are abiding by their obligations. The Article 6 of the treaty mandates that each country that has signed the treaty would get into a negotiation in “good faith” (Magnarella, 2008, p. 509) on efficient actions to cease the nuclear arms and disarming the nuclear weapons. One of the most negative aspects of the treaty is that it fails to involve the negative security guaranty for the NNWS. (Magnarella, 2008, pp.501-510) This treaty of non-proliferation is not enough as it has several lacunas and drawbacks. It strengthens the power of NWS and weakens the NNWS. Despite of signing the treaty, no NWS country has been willing enough to disarm its nuclear weapons. According to the U.S based Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, U.S has become the most serious offender of the NTP as it shows no interest in disarming the nation from nuclear weapons. It shows how the world is facing a grave condition today. It has also been revealed that US has declined from the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, which mandates a restriction on the deploying of nuclear weapon. This purely indicates that United States stands the opportunity of the “first strike capability”. (Magnarella, 2008, p. 509) As the result of this it creates a threat for the other NNWs countries that possibly stands the chance of a nuclear attack, as they do not have a base for combating. Some countries having the nuclear weapons make the situation all the more vulnerable as they poise the threat of nuclear attack at any moment. As in the year 2001 US was considering the use of nuclear weapons on seven countries out of which five were NNWs. (Krieger, 2007). This becomes apparent from the situation under a situation like this the NNWS countries would want to develop an arsenal base to defend their own nations. If the treaty could not back their security and safety from the supposed nuclear attacks then it becomes natural from their part to take steps to safeguard their interests. Thus a nuclear plant in a country initiates the development of nuclear weapons in other countries thus increasing the number of states having the nuclear weapons. Hence the world becomes all the more vulnerable to nuclear attacks and massive destructions. As the Secretary General of United Nations Kofi Anan opines that “the more that those states [NNWs] that already have [nuclear weapons] increase their arsenals or insist that such weapons are essential to their national security, the more other states feel that they too must have them for their security.” (Krieger, 2007) A study by Crutzen and Birks in 1982 reveals that the massive fire that is being ignited when a nuclear weapon is deployed would generate an amount of sooty smoke. The sooty smoke released would reduce the amount of sunrays reaching the surface of the earth. This has an adverse effect on the earth’s climate. Other scientific research conducted at that time reveals that the dense clouds of soil particles that are released in the ignition would result in the extinction of certain species on earth. Scientists are of the opinion that during a nuclear war the temperature of the ground can rise up to 3000 degree Celsius or even more than it. This may result in the burning of hundreds and thousands hectares of forests. Besides, if the heavy soot of the industrial releases adds on to this that would create a devastating effect on earth and on its living beings. Any nuclear war has the capability of darkening the surface of the earth over a number of weeks and can generate sub- land freezing temperatures. Apart from this the global temperature will also undergo a massive perturbation in the circulation of the global air. This would result into striking changes in the local weather. The precipitation rate will also undergo changes, which would result in the creation of a “harsh nuclear winter” at anytime of the year. The situation can also results into more aggravated situations like the destruction of essentials of life like medical facilities, food stores and civil services. (Weeramantry, 1999, pp. 29-31) The usage of nuclear weapon or the testing of it releases radiation, which causes diseases like cancers, congenital defects, mental retardation, immune destruction, cancer, stillbirths and other health problems. Human body also stands the health hazard because of the exposure of ionizing radiation, which is released at all stages of nuclear weapon manufacture. Uranium is one of the ingredients used for the development of nuclear weapon. The mining of uranium causes lung cancer; hence this has direct adverse effect on the health of the labor involved in the work. The toxicity of the plutonium- one of the main ingredients of modern day nuclear weapon has been considered to be the cause of skin cancer. If inhaled, plutonium causes lung irradiation. The children of the radiation worker has been detected with large chances of cancer as the presence of a-particles in the human bone marrow causes “genomic instability” in the progeny of some stem cells. The UK’s Committee on Medical Aspect of the Radiation is of the opinion that the actual human cost due to deployment of the nuclear weapons can never be known exactly. They are of the opinion that the radioactive elements released due to the nuclear weapons enters the human body cautiously and damages the health of the individual furtively without leaving any signs of it. The health practitioners also opine that the rampage of the radioactive gases will continue till they are fully exhausted. But the bio-statisticians shared the view that there are some radioactive elements, which will require a span of over hundred years from now to get exhausted completely. The nuclear testing has been regarded as the most destructive for the human health and for the environment as well. The global fallout that arises from the nuclear testing has been predicted to result in more than 2 million cancer fatalities. (Holdstock Douglas, Lancet, 2000) Cohen and Lee (1986) observe that nuclear weapon is a “distinctive species of violence.” (Cohen and Lee, 1986, p.3) They are of the opinion that nuclear weapons give rise to moral problems, which are self-defensive in nature. Nuclear weapons are the means of limitless destruction imposed on a country and make the country incapable of reviving from the grave loss. The characteristics of nuclear weapons disregard the conventional notions of prudential and ethical restrictions that have been imposed on violence. To inculcate morality in war or aggression traditionally there have been certain limits imposed on it. In the war fought, there are certain limits and restrictions; some are self imposed and some are imposed by others. Before a battle both the countries analyze the factors like the amount of civilian power that is available to the other nations and the financial and natural resources. Most importantly the traditional notions of other imposed limits lay down the rule that both the nation should consider the defensive capabilities of the enemy. These factors are considered so as to put a limit on the amount of devastation that each side in warfare is competent of invoking. But a war involving the usage of nuclear weapon does not abide by these limits, as it does not consider of any of the factors mentioned before. A nuclear war means there would be no scope to mobilize resources for producing armaments. The nuclear weapons are more destructive in nature than the present ones. As there exists no resistance against a ballistic missile nuclear attack the country on which it has been inflicted cannot combat its adverse effect. Now that the 9 states of USA, UK, China France, Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea already have the arsenal of nuclear warheads, any action of nuclear strike by the opponent initiates the risk of nuclear retaliation. Other than the retaliation that a nuclear attack will invoke, it is also harmful for a nation, which is firing it. Recent studies conducted has also revealed that even if a small amount of nuclear weapon is fired of the nuclear weapons, it would release a sun blocking layer of smoke that would cause severe damage for the entire Northern Hemisphere. (Cohen and Lee, 1986, pp. 10-18) Conclusion The destruction of nuclear weapons are necessary because it itself is destructive in nature. The nuclear attack on Japan by United States has already proved how gruesome, ghastly and dreadful the impact of a nuclear attack can be. It simply claims the lives of innocent people. With the changing political and social scenario of the world, humanity has also attained a new turning point. Hence as it (humanity) cannot stand and witness the crime of mass destruction it will have to make an effort to bring an end to the nuclear practice. To flourish in a peaceful situation without the constant threat on life is the need of the hour. The destruction that is associated with the usage of the nuclear weapon makes it necessary for all to find out a way to eliminate the use of nuclear weapons. Again it is noteworthy that the old nuclear order which had borne out of the ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki does not stand relevant to the present day situation; hence a nuclear order is needed which will ensure that no country possesses nuclear weapons, that is, it should provide for a destruction of the nuclear weapons. The anti-nuclear order will have to make sure that no country lies exception to this. There are lurking threats of nuclear weapons on humanity. The production, development and testing of nuclear weapons imparts a severe damage to the environment and thereby put human lives and other species in danger. Murder of any kind is the decisive and permanent violation of the human dignity and for the individual it is a terror. Every human being wishes to live the life of peace and sanctity. But the wish can get trapped in the dark cloud of threats for mass destruction if the nuclear weapons are not destructed. References: 1. Cohen, A, Lee, S. (1986), Nuclear Weapons and the future of humanity: the fundamental questions, Rowman and Littlefield. 2. Dahat, P. (2009), Danger of deploying weapons and nuclear power in space, Working Paper Series, Social Science Research Network, retrieved on June 22, 2011, from: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1419084&http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1419084 3. Holdstock, Douglas, Lancet, (2000), Nuclear weapons a continuing threat to health, The Lancet, 335 (9214), retrieved on June 23, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=79a6bfd4-8b06-4ef7-ab4e-32df586b949c%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=25&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d 4. Krieger, D. (2007), The greatest immediate Danger to humanity, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, retrieved on June 22, 2011, from: http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/07/19_krieger_greatest_immediate.htm 5. Magnarella, (2008), Attempts to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons through the nuclear non proliferation treaty and the creation of nuclear weapon free zones, Peace and Change, 33(4), retrieved on June 23, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=eaece59c-d681-4275-a8b5-42e4563f72a4%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=12 6. Muller, E. (2007), The evil of terrorism: diagnosis and countermeasures, Charles C Thomas Publishers. 7. Thermal radiation, (n. d), Atomic Archive, retrieved on June 22, 2011, from: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects7.shtml 8. Weeramantry, C. (1999), Nuclear Weapons and scientific responsibility, Martinus Nijhoff publishers. Read More