Nuclear Disarmament

Nuclear disarmament I believe is, unfortunately, an impossible dream that would never work in reality. Nuclear weapons are close to a seventy year old technology. They are not even terribly difficult to make. However, it is the material which is hard to obtain. I agree, a war free world would be great but, in order for that to happen every single last nuclear weapon must be destroyed. Considering there are over nineteen thousand nuclear warheads in the world today, and many are in the hands of dictators and countries who mean harm to the UK, it would be unwise to consider disarming ours. The UK currently has approximately two hundred and twenty five nuclear warheads - this is only one point eighteen percent of the world's nuclear weapons. It is believed that Russia alone has around ten thousand warheads, which dwarfs the UK's stockpile. Some countries depend on nuclear weapons purely to preserve their very existence and will not be disarming theirs anytime soon. Frankly, if the UK was to disarm nuclear weapons would leave us vulnerable and weak in the eyes of other countries. As for the money it costs; the UK spends far more on education and hospitals than it does on its military. By supporting this supposed philanthropic argument of nuclear disarmament, I believe it would make the world a less stable place. Let me give you one immediate example; disarming our nuclear weapons, would cost the UK its seat on the UN Security Council, as the only reason we are on the Council is because we were one of the first five countries to have nuclear weapons. We should be proud of this. Also, disarming one's own nuclear weapons would not solve the problem of international violence. One would merely put oneself at a disadvantage that other nuclear powers could capitalize on. Sadly, some people naively believe that the disarming of nuclear weapons could discourage violent ideologies. But this isn't the case as violent ideologies have existed even before the creation of nuclear weapons. Unlike what Nuclear Disarmament activists lead you to believe; aside from the initial investment, the UK's nuclear weapons are not at all expensive. The running cost has been four to five percent of the defense budget, which is itself only thirty six billion pounds. The defense budget makes up a trifling five point nineteen percent of our National budget. The UK spends two hundred and twenty billion pounds on social protection such as benefits and tax credits and over twenty billion a year on EU membership alone. This shows us that the cost of defending out country is actually comparatively small. The Nuclear disarmament viewpoint can, unfortunately, sometimes come across as not comprehending the larger geopolitical situation and the implications of their own argument. This view involves closing ourselves off and pretending the world is a sound and stable place where everyone wants peace. As much as I would also like to believe this, this is a naive view that will sadly benefit no-one. The world needs us, and the rest of the civilized, developed nations, as strong nuclear powers and disposing of our nuclear weapons will create a power vacuum which other, malicious states would - in these times - quickly exploit. In conclusion, let us not forget that during World War Two sixty million died due to the use of conventional warfare and it all ended because of ....nuclear weapons. Although many lives were lost, a far greater number of lives were saved as a result. Nowadays, we never use nuclear weapons as 'weapons' but as a deterrent to prevent wars from occurring in the first place. Surely, this is a good thing. The idea is that stable and powerful countries can posses them to "balance the power" and ensure less stable countries don't develop nuclear technology. Nuclear weapons have prevented wars between great powers. Let's take the Cold War for an example: if it had been a conventional war, there would have been millions of casualties. However the nuclear threat "stabilized" the power as there was a mutual fear of going to war, consequently virtually nobody died during the Cold War. Nuclear war is a war nobody can win, so it's a war that will never be fought.