No country should have the right to possess nuclear weapons

Thank you for starting off the debate mark.marrocco. I apologize for any confusion that may have risen due to my wording of the resolution. I accept the revisions you have made to my original definitions and we will the newly-revised definitions as the guidelines for this debate. My case line for the debate is that, ironically, Nuclear Weapons protect us. I will be proving this through 3 main contentions. 1.Nuclear Weapons prevent wars 2. Dismantling Nuclear Weapons allows rouge states to gain the upper hand 3. Dismantling Nuclear Weapons is more dangerous than the weapons themselves Now, I would like to make it clear that I am not pro-conflict. I have merely chosen CON for this debate to try and debate something different. I will not continue on to my first contention. 1. NUCLEAR WEAPONS PREVENT WARS The simple fact is, the deterrent effect that nuclear weapons have is amazing deterrent effect. When a nation is trying to achieve a goal that is unacceptable, or participating in an event (e.g. a mass genocide) a nuclear weapon makes it so that the cost of achieving that goal or continuing in that event becomes too high. This simple fact is one of the reasons that during the Cold War no violence was seen. Both the Soviet Union and the US were nuclear powers and any attack on the other nation would be deemed too costly because of the threat of a nuclear retaliation. When Iraq was going to launch surface to surface missiles equipped with biological war heads against Israel, they desisted. Why? Because the United States had promised to intervene with a nuclear strike against Iraq if they did. Now, I'm sure that my opponent will bring up the examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the carnage wrought there at the hands of WMD's. Though what occurred there was regrettable, Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed the potential of A-Bombs. Now, we have weapons that are 600 times more powerful than the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. Would any country desire to bring upon themselves their own destruction? Dismantling nuclear weapons would remove this deterrent effect, thus possibly placing innocent citizens in harm's way. The mere existence of these weapons protects us. 2.DISMANTLING NUCLEAR WEAPONS ALLOWS ROUGE STATES TO GAIN THE UPPER HAND The technology behind a nuclear weapon is no longer secret. Some countries that have the capability of creating nuclear weapons include Russia, the USA, North Korea, India, and China just to name a few. As I stated above, Nuclear Weapons play a major factor in maintaining world peace. If we were to dismantle nuclear weapons, it would not be hard for one nation to maintain a secret nuclear program, just as the US feared that Middle-Eastern countries possessed several years ago. If one of these nations possessed nuclear weapons, yet the rest of the world did not, that one nation could easily become the most dominant militaristic nation on a global scale. 3.DISMANTLING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE WEAPONS THEMSELVES While nuclear missiles may be dismantled, the material that makes them nuclear, whether it be weapons grade plutonium, or uranium cannot be destroyed. One of the current methods of demoting weapons-grade uranium is to mix it with more uranium! The United States currently buys around $240 million in natural uranium from Russia to mix in with weapons-grade. This dilutes the uranium, yet plutonium is not so easily defeated. Plutonium must be stored into missile silos or other storage facilities. There, we wait until the half-life is reached and the plutonium turns into something else. This mere process of securing this plutonium costs 2 – 3 billion in a single decade. Most of Russia's military funds are going towards securing this plutonium in sufficient storage facilities, yet there isn't enough money for constant security and security checks. In fact, in the United States the security detail for the transportation of nuclear materials from place to place consists of TWO PEOPLE. The chance of theft actually increases with the dismantling of nuclear weapons as clearly security is lacking. The ability to steal small amounts of plutonium actually increases with the dismantling of nuclear weapons. It is easy to steal bits of plutonium; it's hard to steal an ICBM. The safest place for the nuclear materials is on the missile. So what have we learned today? Nuclear weapons, ironically, protect us as they act as a deterrent to wars. They ensure the continued safety of people around the world. Thank you, and Vote Con. Sources: http://www.nuclearfiles.org... http://cns.miis.edu... http://www.cbc.ca... Michigan B52 Bomber Fort, 1980's Nuclear Weapons Transporters Account found in "The Darwin Awards: Unnatural Selection."