To Arm, Or Not To Arm

IN THE EARLY nineteen seventies, the United states sold heavy metal radioactive material to India, intending that they should use it to develop a nuclear power system for generation of electricity. Instead, they turned the isotope into plutonium, and made atomic bombs out of it, in 1974. In turn, India's pakistani enemies moved to develop their own nuclear arsenal, post haste, and even as we speak the two nations have a good old fashioned cold war hapnin', after the fashion of the U.S - U.S.S.R. phony but very serious cold war from 1947 to 1990. It is to be assumed that the U.S. state Department was displeased with this, but we never heard much about it. Never accuse the American government of owning up to its own mistakes. But time heals all wounds, and affords us the opportunity of forgetting our mistakes. So here we go again. Obama is in India, selling more heavy metal to India, only this time, it is said, the U.S. will closely monitor its use. Counting North Korea, there are now, presumably, nine members of the atomic bomb club, none of which can be trusted to do anything productive with their weapons. Indeed, what can one do, productively, with nuclear weapons, other than instill fear and responses in others? When to arm, when to disarm, and when to sell weapons. That is, or seems to be, the question. the answer to the selling part is easy; sell as much as possible, to any and all buyers, as the French, chinese, Russians, and Americans do. Since the end of World War Two, the Western European nations have tended to decrease their military spending, and particularly since the fragmenting of the Soviet Union. But now the shadow of Vladimir Putin is upon the Earth, making practice bombing raids over Copenhagen, scaring the hell out of passengers of Danish passenger planes with cute fighter plane exploits. One just never knows.