Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303150540
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW KINDS OF NUCLEAR THREATS
THE BOMBING of the World Trade Center should provoke this thought: What if it had been a nuclear device?If enough Americans consider this possibility, perhaps they'll seek from their government a more determined effort to resist nuclear proliferation.
Indeed, the terrorist threat is only one reason to make the effort. On Friday, North Korea declared it will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, after being accused of violating the accord by trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Other worrisome developments on the world stage:
The Soviet Union's breakup.
A discovery in Iraq.
Resurgent ethnic enmities.
The breakup of the Soviet Union ended a superpower confrontation, but has spawned and highlighted new dangers. Political turmoil and economic hardship in the former Soviet Union could undermine current agreements to cut nuclear forces. And the collapse of centralized power has made nuclear materials, information and possibly weapons from the Soviet arsenal far more difficult to control.
Meanwhile, international inspectors recently discovered in Iraq an advanced effort to develop a nuclear bomb. This was alarming in itself, and also because national intelligence services and international monitoring agencies had previously failed to detect, in such a dangerous country, a sophisticated nuclear program on the scale of America's Manhattan Project.
There could be no clearer reminder that nuclear threats may emerge from unexpected quarters in the post-Cold War world. It's a messy place, scene of proliferating violence and self-destructive behavior in the service of self-determination, tribal hatreds and religious ideals. The possibility that terrorists, regional ethnic groups or outlaw states might acquire and use nuclear weapons is all too real.
Fortunately, while the dangers of proliferation are rising, the world also faces an historic opportunity to stem the tide. The Cold War's end has rendered invalid many of the old nuclear equations based on superpower deterrence. It's safe now to reduce stockpiles and ban weapons-testing, especially if doing so could encourage other countries to avoid joining the nuclear club.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, meanwhile, will undergo mandatory review in two years. This is a time for America to lead efforts to develop a new international framework for fighting proliferation. The alternative, a world of terrorist Hiroshimas and ethnic nuclear wars, is unpleasant to imagine.