The Perverse Logic of MAD 0
Der Spiegel interviews Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who did more than anyone else to end the Cold War, regardless of the claims of Ronald Reagan’s PR machine. Read it.
Here’s a bit.
Gorbachev: There’s a dangerous logic in that. Here’s another question: If five or 10 countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons, then why can’t 20 or 30? Today, a few dozen countries have the technical prerequisites to build nuclear weapons. The alternative is clear: Either we move toward a nuclear-free world or we have to accept that nuclear weapons will continue to spread, step by step, across the globe. And can we really imagine a world without nuclear weapons if a single country amasses so many conventional weapons that its military budget nearly tops that of all other countries combined? This country would enjoy total military supremacy if nuclear weapons were abolished.
SPIEGEL: You’re talking about the US?
Gorbachev: You said it. It is an insurmountable obstacle on the road to a nuclear-free world.