Although, the Cold War has been over for decades the threat of imminent nuclear destruction still looms over America; not from terrorist groups such as ISIS or Russia the country with the largest stockpile of nuclear weaponry, but rather, a persistent threat that many Americans do not even perceive as one. North Korea is not shy about demonstrating their nuclear weapons, with the most recent of their tests being fired into the Japanese ocean. Both the articles I’ll be addressing today give a clear statement of how America has addressed nuclear conflict in the past and how Americans still fear the same kinds of attacks without thinking of new ways their country could be compromised by nuclear weaponry.
The first article by Simon Reich gives
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Jorgensen discusses how America is not prepared for new age nuclear war as new ways to facilitate a nuclear explosion are not in always in the form of a war head. He begins his argument by stating how ineffective fallout shelters would be today as nuclear bombs have increased in destructive capabilities since the cold war (Jorgensen 2016,2). Fallout shelter being outdated is a valid point as in the past 25 years, technological advancement has exponentially increased, giving nations the means to construct bombs far more destructive than the “Little Boy” or “Fat Man”. He then discusses MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) and how it is not a safe defense strategy anymore as “a single weapon by a rogue nation or a terrorist group now poses a more likely scenario for a nuclear confrontation than a nuclear war” (Jorgensen 2016, 4). I think this is a far speculation on Jorgensen`s part as MAD only works when a countries leader has thought for their own populous. Groups like ISIS do not care about who dies in their conflict and Kim Jong Un has let half his citizens fall into extreme poverty, so he probably does not care enough about his citizens to worry about MAD. Jorgensen`s next insight into how nations or terrorist groups do not need to be able to develop long range missiles, as they could just but a bomb on a cargo ship and produce the same results. Again, this argument as there are multiple ways other than missiles to deliver a bomb, even if we protect against the last way a bomb was smuggled in, it does not stop new ways of the bomb being brought in. This article also articulates its points very well but, has the same Americanised bias as the other
Two main theorists of international relations, Kenneth Waltz and Scott Sagan have been debating on the issue of nuclear weapons and the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the 21st century. In their book The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: An Enduring Debate, they both discuss their various theories, assumptions and beliefs on nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons. To examine why states would want to attain/develop a nuclear weapon and if increasing nuclear states is a good or bad thing. In my paper, I will discuss both of their theories and use a case study to illustrate which theory I agree with and then come up with possible solutions of preventing a nuclear war from occurring.
The cold war in conjunction with the nuclear arms race raised a countless number of dangers that were new to Americans. One of the most obvious risks raised by the nuclear arms race was the blast of the bomb itself. The bombs that were emerging were only getting colossal, and the effects were reaching potential world destruction. For example, the atomic bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were minuscule compared to the Hydrogen bomb, which the U.S built to stay ahead of the Soviet Union. But as history has shown itself, the Soviet Union came kept up with the competition and created a Hydrogen bomb as well. Now both countries possessed bombs that could decimate out entire countries.
Since the invention of nuclear weapons, they have presented the world with a significant danger, one that was shown in reality during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, nuclear weapons have not only served in combat, but they have also played a role in keeping the world peaceful by the concept of deterrence. The usage of nuclear weapons would lead to mutual destruction and during the Cold War, nuclear weapons were necessary to maintain international security, as a means of deterrence. However, by the end of the Cold War, reliance on nuclear weapons for maintaining peace became increasingly difficult and less effective (Shultz, et. al, 2007). The development of technology has also provided increasing opportunities for states
Research this week was fruitful and my bibliography grew substantially. A large part of the reason for this growth was the mining of the bibliography of other sources. One of the most fruitful was, The Cold War in a Cold Land: Fighting Communism on the Northern Plains. The book provided me with a variety of both primary and secondary sources. The list of sources includes, books, articles, and government reports. A second book that provided more sources was, How We Forgot the Cold War. The bibliography provided some sources created by the North Dakota State Historical Society. In addition to these sources, I have been looking into newspapers. I have ordered some rolls of microfilm of the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier and am still waiting for them to arrive. I started with these rolls because they came from the paper closest to the geographic center of my research, as well as the dates of my research. In addition to the rolls, I have ordered The Cold War in a Cold Land, which provided a list of other newspapers that may be useful. In addition to ordering more microfilm reels that I will have sent to me at school, I will also have the opportunity to examine many more when I return home for spring break. Many are housed at the State Historical Society, just twenty minutes
Since the 1950’s North Korea has posed as dangerous threat to The United States and its allies. With North Korea development of Nuclear arms and its consistent hostile rhetoric and actions towards the United States. With the North Korea’s development of a long range ICBM, more now than ever the United States has been put into a position where its and many of its
In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.
1947 through 1991 was the time period of the Cold War; the Cold War was a result caused by the tension of the after math of what had happened with world war 2 .The tension that was there wasn 't just any kind of tension it was military tension between the power of the eastern bloc and the power of the western bloc. The Cold War wasn 't only one war but it was decades of "little"wars and intimidation. Germany was busy after the war, there where so much tension between the Soviet Union and the western allies because they had feared each other because they had thought a new war could arise. Minister Churchill then decided that he would put what would be an iron curtain across Europe. The Cold War had so many little conflicts within it like the Chinese revolution, the Palestine liberation organisation, and so many more hundreds if you would that happened in the Cold War time.
U.S. actions throughout and around the war will have lasting effects both during the conflict and afterward. How President Obama chose to work with allies and against enemies will set the playing field for the new administration.
The Cold War was a frightening time for everyone involved, with the threat of nuclear destruction constantly looming over the lives of American and Soviet citizens alike. Since the Cold War ended in 1991, the immediate concern over nuclear war has definitely dwindled, though not vanished. More recently, concern has risen over the few more sporadic and antagonistic countries (mostly North Korea), that do have nuclear weapons. Where the Cold War brought constant tension, the modern nuclear menace brings a constant uncertainty over which small power (or potentially large one) may decide to actually use their nuclear bombs for gain or posturing. Nuclear war was without a doubt a much closer and much more direct fear during the Cold War, but today
While the immediate threat of nuclear war has diminished since the end of the Cold War, nuclear threats remain an imminent concern to be prepared for. Recent events, such as the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, show us that although the possibility of ICBMs raining down may be less there is still a need to be ready for nuclear radiation.
The Cold War was fought between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The war was a battle to be the most powerful country in the world. Although the Cold War was not a violent one it affected many other countries besides the United States and the Soviet Union. Most of the battles were races to get the achieve technology. South Korea was deeply affected by the Cold War; “Letter to General-Lieutenant Hodge on Northern Korea Providing Electricity to Southern Korea” proves that South Korea’s debt to North Korea was directly associated with the Cold War. North Korea was also very much affected by the Cold War; “Soviet Report on Communists in Korea, 1945” validates the fact that the North Korean
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in major shift in United States foreign policy. For years, the United States supported tyrannical dictators in return for stable anti-communist government receptive to United States interests. The Cold War resulted in a new world order with the United States as the lone global hegemonic power. In Eastern Europe in particular, the end of the Cold War ushered in an era of economic growth and a large increase in the number of liberal democracies. Although the world saw a large increase in liberal democracies, a new regime type referred to as competitive authoritarianism began to emerge. According to Levitsky and Way, “In competitive authoritarian regimes, formal
Since their invention nuclear weapons consist the most destructive and lethal weapons of the world history. But having a nuclear weapon stockpile does not necessarily provides an ultimate immunity against security threats. Despite its theoretical deterrence, using one of them is a highly contested issue. Even under extraordinary circumstances, such as massive terrorist attacks or conventional wars which are more likely than any other security threat, deciding to use nuclear weapons would have more serious consequences.
adding these precautions in response to the proliferation of both countries nuclear munitions, there have been countless false alarms that had the potential to start a full-scale nuclear war. There have been countless false alarms by both countries since the Cold War began, many of which only a fraction of are reported, with the rest unreported or hidden in classified records. Due to the nature of the dilemma, most ordinary citizens lead their lives simply unaware of an oncoming nuclear threat. What would happen if sometime in the near future, if a nuclear war were inevitable because of a miscommunication or an unintentional launch of a nuclear missile? With taking all of these things into consideration, countries such as the U.S. maybe frightened with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test done by the DPRK in January 2016 (O’Neil 103). Some people may question the significance of the test with North Korea threatening to bomb the U.S. before and without showing any evidence pointing towards the country letting up with its weapons program.
It is a well-known fact that the dropping of the two atomic bombs near the end of World War II in 1945 ushered in the dawn of the Atomic Age. For the first time in human history, the world was introduced to the awesome power of nuclear weapons. Since that time, there have been several different nuclear threats to the world, and one of those threats can be found along the Pacific Rim, in the country of North Korea. Like the dropping of the atomic bombs, it is also known that the North Korean government has admitted to possessing nuclear weapons, and in doing so, it stands as a silent, potential nuclear danger to the rest of the world.