Throughout the 2012 election season, I have learned that President Obama and Governor Romney have very similar positions in terms of nuclear disarmament and containment (mostly in regards to Iran’s nuclear program). During the Foreign Policy Presidential Debate, both candidates said that they would provide military support to Israel if they were attacked by Iran. President Obama announced that he would consider an attack on Israel to be an attack on the United States as well. ”I will stand with Israel if they are attacked. And this is the reason why, working with Israel, we have created the strongest military and intelligence cooperation between our two countries in history,” he stated. Governor Romney replied by saying,”if Israel is attacked, we have their back, not just diplomatically, not just culturally, but militarily. That’s number one.” By now you are probably asking yourself, “why is this even an issue again?” In recent years, tensions between Iran and the Western world have grown in response to progressions by its nuclear program. In August 2012, New York Times reports that international inspectors founds that Iran “installed three-quarters of the nuclear centrifuges it needs to complete a site deep underground for the production of nuclear fuel,” which led the White House to warn that “’the window that is open now to resolve this diplomatically will not remain open indefinitely.’” In September, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the US needs to establish a “red line” the before spring or summer 2013 in order to contain Iran’s nuclear program. Lastly, in October Iran agreed to the first one-on-one negotiations over its nuclear program. The diplomatic handling of the US/Iranian negotiations will be essential to the future of nuclear disarmament and containment and the United State’s foreign policy as a whole. No matter who is elected president, nuclear nonproliferation should be at the forefront of their mind.
Nonproliferation in Real Life?
The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall
In your opinion what’s the best solution for America? Getting rid of all the nuclear warheads in our country, or keeping some in storage so that just in case of attack we have them as defense?
I believe it is unrealistic for America to completely get rid of all of its nuclear weapons. The best thing to do is reduce our stockpile and encourage other nations to do so as well. Doing so will promote nuclear nonproliferation while keeping America prepared to defend a nuclear attack.