WE CANNOT EVER TRULY ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS – THE KNOWLEDGE REMAINS. THE CAPABILITY OF BUILDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS CANNOT BE UNLEARNED, POSING PROBLEMS INA NUCLEAR FREE WORLD STRUCTURE. Quinlan, Michael. The Future of Nuclear Weapons Policy for Western Possessors International Affairs, Vol. 69, No. 3, July 1993. pp. 47. It is a truism that the scientific and technical knowledge of how to make nuclear weapons cannot be forgotten. We simply do not have the option of returning to a condition of pre-nuclear innocence (if innocence is an apt way of describing the mindsets and conditions which produced the two world wars. For the rest of history humanity has to live with the reality that almost all substantial and reasonably advanced independent nation could eventually, if it so chose and was forcibly not prevented by others, construct a nuclear armoury to support its external goals, be they offensive or defensive. The case for building such as armoury might be especially compelling if the state found itself engaged in, or imminently facing, military conflict where the stakes were of an order it was minded to regard as vital.
