THE MERE POSSESSION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS A THREAT TO THE PEACE John W. Lango, prof. @ CUNY, Jan. ʼ05, Preventative war, just war principles, and the United Nations Journal of Ethics, p. 254 The controversy today concerning the Bush administrations preventive war policy is reminiscent of the controversy two decades ago concerning the Ronald Reagan administrations nuclear war fighting policy. In the midst of the earlier controversy, McGeorge Bundy advocated the efficacy of existential deterrence Instead of relying on credible threats about nuclear retaliation – such as threats about escalation dominance in a limited nuclear war – existential deterrence does not need provocative threats For the mere possession of nuclear weapons – their mere existence – creates terrible and unavoidable uncertainties about how (or even whether) they would be used in retaliation, uncertainties that are sufficient for deterrence. Analogously, my claim is that the mere possession of WMD by states – even ones that do not (apparently) have aggressive intentions – creates terrible and unavoidable uncertainties about what could happen, uncertainties that constitute a threat to the peace.
10NFL1-Nuclear Weapons Page 71 of 199 www.victorybriefs.com
