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Nukes have momentum of their own
http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/08/12/nuclear-weapons-can-obama-anyone-resist-push-for-larger-arsenal/4x47XKJ56qsNcgIbIHTr0N/story.html
Nukes have momentum of their own
By James Carroll
August 13, 2012
Here’s a tragic fact of contemporary history: An overloaded weapons arsenal generates its own momentum toward the use of weapons. Weapons override rational choice. That was the great lesson of August 1914; as Barbara Tuchman made clear in her classic account “The Guns of August,” the flood of armaments in Europe before World War I was the single largest factor in unleashing that astonishingly irrational conflict.
The dangers of a too-large arsenal are being flagged this August not by an antiwar writer but by a sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a story published last week, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz told the Globe that the time has come to sharply reduce the US nuclear weapons cache.
<snip>
The Cold War is over, but we still have Cold War thinking, Cold War levels of defense spending, and Cold War nukes. Why? Don’t look for the answer in rational threat analysis, or authentic national security requirements. The answer is the hideous momentum that runs on, like a deeply submerged current, below the surface of political debate and economic activity. Congressional hawks and defense industry flacks — and now Mitt Romney — work to keep the momentum going, and they are sure to oppose General Schwartz.
Niagara is the context in which to evaluate President Obama’s record as commander in chief. Critics on the left accuse him of presiding over George W. Bush’s third term, but that fails to reckon with what he is up against. He cannot turn back the century-old current, like King Canute ordering back the tide. He can re-channel it, though. Obama’s firm commitment to nuclear abolition is what frees General Schwartz to advocate real cuts in the arsenal. Eventual elimination remains possible.
<snip>
Nukes have momentum of their own
By James Carroll
August 13, 2012
Here’s a tragic fact of contemporary history: An overloaded weapons arsenal generates its own momentum toward the use of weapons. Weapons override rational choice. That was the great lesson of August 1914; as Barbara Tuchman made clear in her classic account “The Guns of August,” the flood of armaments in Europe before World War I was the single largest factor in unleashing that astonishingly irrational conflict.
The dangers of a too-large arsenal are being flagged this August not by an antiwar writer but by a sitting member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a story published last week, Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton A. Schwartz told the Globe that the time has come to sharply reduce the US nuclear weapons cache.
<snip>
The Cold War is over, but we still have Cold War thinking, Cold War levels of defense spending, and Cold War nukes. Why? Don’t look for the answer in rational threat analysis, or authentic national security requirements. The answer is the hideous momentum that runs on, like a deeply submerged current, below the surface of political debate and economic activity. Congressional hawks and defense industry flacks — and now Mitt Romney — work to keep the momentum going, and they are sure to oppose General Schwartz.
Niagara is the context in which to evaluate President Obama’s record as commander in chief. Critics on the left accuse him of presiding over George W. Bush’s third term, but that fails to reckon with what he is up against. He cannot turn back the century-old current, like King Canute ordering back the tide. He can re-channel it, though. Obama’s firm commitment to nuclear abolition is what frees General Schwartz to advocate real cuts in the arsenal. Eventual elimination remains possible.
<snip>