Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Are nuke fears exaggerated?


Are nuke fears exaggerated?

Op-ed: Preventing other states from acquiring ancient technology like nukes unrealistic, illogical
Asaf Gefen



With all due respect to the Tu B’Shvat holiday, the great national holiday of the past week was the appointment of Amir Eshel as our next air Force chief – an event celebrated at the outset of news programs on television and in the main headlines of newspapers around here.


Major-General Eshel, who was graced with the ultimate compliment of being “an expert on the Iran issue,” won the exaggerated attention in the framework of the growing expectation for a grand operation.

Indeed, the never-ending debate inIsrael on the Iranian nuclear issue provides us not only with information, but also with enjoyment which we draw from the very issue under discussion.


After long years of brawls involving terrorists equipped with explosive belts and attempts to shoot down tin pipes fired from a donkey in the Gaza Strip, the notion that our enemies are nuclear scientists from a mysterious superpower provides us with a pleasant high-tech feeling after all.

Mideast again late for party


However, the truth of the matter is that when it comes to nuclear confrontations, the Middle East has again joined the party at a great delay that is not quite fashionable. After all, nuclear capabilities were a dramatic, innovative notion some 70 years ago.


Today, in the area of biological warfare and computerized terror, possessing an atomic bomb sounds just like the notion of keeping CDs at home: It’s outdated, it’s awkward, it takes up plenty of space and it gathers dust.

This makes one wonder whether 50 years after the Israeli reactor in Dimona was inaugurated, and in an era where uranium is being sold at farmers’ markets in Azerbaijan, is it even logical and realistic to try to prevent other states from acquiring nuke capabilities? And maybe it’s not the technology that is a little old, but also our fears?



http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4187977,00.html

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