Light of Peace

One of the questions that haunts the peace lovers is that can the world communities coexist mutually with peace despite piling up of nuclear arsenal around them? Unfortunately the history provides the answer in affirmative. We are not at all in favor of countries possessing nuclear weapons, but at least as an interim measure it seems a rather plausible solution to create a sense of security, howsoever it may be a false one.

Testimonies from survivors of the two times nuclear weapons that have been used in World War II are stories of unimaginable cruelty and suffering. Charred corpses, eyes that melted out of the skull and powdered human bodies were results of just some of the atomic bombs the Americans dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Nuclear weapons have been improved since then. Any full scale nuclear war would result in casualties that may be in millions, if not billions and an unlimited destruction of mankind.

The capability of nuclear weapons to unleash total destruction is still the most plausible reason why they have not yet been used.The fear of nuclear war can be seen as the guarantor of the peace that has prevailed between the world's major powers since World War II. Without nuclear weapons the world would probably have been a dangerous place to live.

Balance of Terror - The Cold Peace

With the exception of the first years after the nuclear weapons were developed by the United States, the world in the nuclear age was characterized by less uncertainty. Terror balance between NATO and the Soviet Union, a situation in which there was no doubts about both sides' ability to annihilate the other, urged the parties to do everything they could to avoid war. Cuba missile crisis of 962 is a good example. Had this been a crisis between the two conventional forces, it could soon have developed into a bloody war. The two countries being nuclear power if went to full fledged war would have meant an inevitable counterattack and thus a catastrophic consequences for one's own country and people would have followed. it has been emphasized by analysts that the period between the World War II and fall of the Berlin wall should not be named as the era of cold war, rather a more suitable name would be the cold peace.

Example of India and Pakistan

There is also a good reason to believe that relations between India and Pakistan would have been much more unstable and strained, had both countries not been nuclear powers. Even if India were a nuclear power and Pakistan were not, the balance of power would have severely tilted in favor of India, thereby putting the whole region in a very dangerous situation. In 1998 both countries came to the brink of a full fledged war on Kargil issue, but thanks to the nuclear weapons held by both, the catastrophe was averted. Similarly in 2001 when the Indian parliament in New Delhi was attacked by a few gunmen, the Indian government mobilized their forces and deployed all along the Pakistan border. As a reaction Pakistan also deployed its forces. The armed forces of both countries remained in eyeball to eyeball contact for about one year. However not a single shot was fired from either side, again due to fear of a possible nuclear escalation.

Iraq Catastrophe