Do you think it is wise to bribe other nations not to make nuclear weapons ??

Question

In light of the recent deals we have had with North Korea ( that equates to bribes and payoffs ) in order to get them to agree not to build nuclear weapons, might we ( the USA ) be setting a dangerous precedent for other nations to follow ?

If we pay one off, surely others ( like Iran ) will seek to follow this same path, which is basically a form of " insurance ", non unlike what the Mafia used to do.

Basically it is, Pay us and no harm to come to you, else-wise, we cannot guarantee what may happen, which is just another form of cortion at best, only groomed to look like something else.

What is your thoughts on this matter ?

Answer 1

I think that policy sucks and we got suckered by North Korea (see my post half an hour ago and its replies).   It's a bad policy and encourages other countries to do the same.

We don't have to worry about that with Iran, though.  They have every intention of having a nuclear program so they can use it on Israel and on us.  They'd take the payoff and keep the program.

Answer 2

the precedent was already set, this was not the first time. however i think it is good that we are willing to subsidize them so they do not obtain nuclear energy.

Answer 3

I guess if Communist Cuba had a nuke they could bargin for Most Favored Nation Status too.

Answer 4

No I don't think its a wise way to spend our TAX money. I wish we could opt out of all the bribes and kick-back schemes to other countries...esp. Israel. We're the gift horse that keeps getting kicked in the teeth.

Even if we could somehow be able to afford to pay off every country that had the capital to start a nuke program as a way to get on the US welfare rolls...we would still not be safe from nukes since they stopped trying to secure the weapons that are in the former Soviet states that are now run by repressive dictators (even if they call themselves presidents - they don't have free and fair elections.)

Pakistan is probably the biggest threat to Europe, India and its neighbors, including us because they were selling nuke technology to North Korea (with CIA knowledge, which I don't understand).

In addition, Nukes are not the most likely form of attack anyway...biological weapons such as smallpox, SARS and god-knows-what virus based weapons would be so easy to introduce in any major population area. Remember they don't inspect much of the baggage or shipping containers coming into the country.

And then we have the fact that many countries have political leaders who have little control over their militaries and corporate facilities (research labs and the like) so even pay-offs are not necessarily going to the people that control the threats.

We need to focus on what we can control and stop sticking our nose in everyone else's business! Certainly, we need to stop propping up DICTATORS that just cause their people to hate us!