Is it OK for the USA to insist that another country will not be permitted to have nuclear weapons?

[Nye Bevan]

Or should JFK have simply allowed Cuba to have nuclear missiles in 1962?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_missile_crisis

[DJ13]

1. Those werent Cuba's missles, they belonged to the USSR

[Selatius]

29. Khrushchev was already upset at warheads being stationed in Turkey near the USSR.

The situation with Cuba became, ultimately, a response to encroachment. The crisis ended with a backroom deal. The nukes would be pulled out of Cuba, and in exchange, the US would remove those warheads from Turkish soil.

After the collapse of the USSR, Castro said in interviews that they had already been supplied smaller tactical nukes and that they were already operational at the time the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted. Kennedy became alarmed at the installation of longer-range strategic missiles, but he and others weren't aware of the tactical nukes already in place.

Had Kennedy ordered an invasion to stop those strategic missile launch sites, the Cubans likely would've bombed invading forces with tactical nukes.

[Voice for Peace]

30. thank you for filling in the blanks

[Astrad]

2. The US is in a mess regarding nuclear weapons

it should work through the UN, with all its limitations, to try and unite the world against developing nuclear arms. Picking and choosing who can have nukes and who can't is, in the long run, a more dangerous proposition. It opens the US to accusations of hypocrisy and creates the very conditions where countries see the need for them.

[DonCoquixote]

3. Cuba was a lot closer

and you know that. 90 miles versus several thousand.

The fact is,you cannot stop anyone fromgetting nukes, if nothign else because there are too many people willing to sell that tech to anyone who wants it. We are not talking advanced tech..If the Russians do not sell it,the Chinese will.

If the US was serious about not wanting wars, we would not support people who want them, like Bibi.

[hrmjustin]

4. I live in NY so after 9/11 I say yes, but it is a double standard.

As for JFK he was right. We are alive today because of him in my opinion.

[tama]

6. Oh. My. God.

JFK was ready to push button and very closely did so. It was the Russian guy who really didn't want nuclear holocaust.

[DURHAM D]

7. I just love it when people make up stupid stuff about a Democrat...

[tama]

9. So

"fact checking" does not apply when speaking about a Democrat?

[DURHAM D]

10. what fact checking

you have some Bircher material?

[tama]

12. Just how

insane are you?

[DevonRex]

17. Hahahahahaha. SNORT!!!!!!!

Jesus effing Christ.

[DURHAM D]

18. I know. right?

And tama thinks I am insane.

[DevonRex]

21. My jaw dropped when I read that.

The nerve of some people. And by god, the need to take a history course.

[tama]

22. History course

[hobbit709]

24. What planet are you from?

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Is it OK for a state to ban violent offenders from having guns?

Same basic principle.

[Logical]

8. Lol, so you count us as a non-violent offender?

[morningfog]

11. Only when we disarm all of ours.

Until then, no.

You asked two vastly different questions. I answered the first.

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. It is okay for the USA to insist anything that is beneficial to the citizenry. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

14. Fail analogy is FAIL. I don't mind the clickbait/fake routine but at least....

...have something convincing as your "two" punch.

PB

[Egalitarian Thug]

15. Or should he have reduced/removed our missiles from (IIRC) Turkey?

Last edited Thu Sep 27, 2012, 12:47 AM - Edit history (1)

As with so many things; Please see George Carlin.

5:55

[anarch]

16. in my opinion the best option would be for the international community to come to a consensus

but that presumes that the whole world could somehow cooperate on a basic level, which...well, then why would you need nukes, exactly?

In reality, it's just as OK as a schoolyard bully making all the rules.

[David__77]

19. Yes, Kennedy would have been wrong to launch world war over missiles in Cuba.

Just as the Soviet Union would have been wrong to launch war over missiles in West Germany.

[Agnosticsherbet]

20. Ever hear of the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty?

It isn't simply the U.S., and the UN is one of the chief guarians under this treaty.

[quaker bill]

23. Yes, under NNPT which we and Iran signed

However also under that treaty we are also obligated to assist countries with development for the peaceful use of atomic power. They are obligated not to build a bomb. We are obligated not only to allow them but to help them develop nuke power plants. This is where reprocessing comes into play. If the rods are not reprocessed then developing weapons grade material is nearly impossible to hide.

Plutonium can be seperated from Uranium chemically when you crack the rods open. Seperating U235 from U238 takes the centrifuges we have been reading about and can be done from raw Uranium. That sort of operation is much harder to hide because of the size. NNPT would more or less require that a weapon holding government hold and reprocess the rods under very strict inventory controls.

[RandiFan1290]

25. Deja Poo

I've heard this shit before. Sounds like 2002-03 all over again.
You guys need a new song.

[hack89]

26. Is it wrong to insist international treaties be obeyed and enforced?

or are you arguing that international law is now optional?

[Sekhmets Daughter]

27. It's not just the US

There is a global non-proliferation treaty. Nations that didn't sign on....India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan...all have nuclear weapons. Iran signed the treaty in 1968.

[bananas]

28. Yes. nt