Oliver Stone in his new book," The Untold History of the United States' notes that the reason why they nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki was that Russia was about to invade Japan and so they needed to show their power.Japan was already defeated.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident which was used as an excuse to escallate the Vietnam War,we now find did not happen.

War is all about making money and giving power to an elite few.

You cannot divorce nuclear weapons from other weaponry. We either negotiate genuine, verifiable, disarmament or states will hang on to their nuclear deterrents.

In the end nuclear weapons are the great equaliser. Israel would likely have been destroyed in 1973* if it had not possessed a fledgling nuclear arsenal.

It is nukes that keep aggressive neighbours reasonable. Australia too may one day want to avail itself of a nuclear option.

C'est la guerre

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nickel_Grass

>>On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir authorized the assembly of thirteen 20-kiloton nuclear warheads on Jericho missiles and F-4s, which were prepared for action against Syrian and Egyptian targets;[3] their preparation was made easily detectable, likely as a signal to the United States.[4] Kissinger learned of this threatening nuclear escalation on the morning of 9 October. On that same day, Meir issued a personal appeal for military assistance, which European nations declined. U.S. President Richard Nixon, however, ordered the commencement of Operation Nickel Grass, to replace all of Israel's materiel losses.[5] The decision was taken the same day the Soviets began their own resupply operation of Arab forces by sea.[6] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Kissinger had told Anwar El Sadat that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to "going nuclear.">>

And this from the US Air Force's "Air University"

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/farr.htm

>>On the afternoon of 6 October 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in a coordinated surprise attack, beginning the Yom Kippur War. …This crisis brought Israel to its second nuclear alert.

Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, obviously not at his best at a press briefing, was, according to Time magazine, rattled enough to later tell the prime minister that “this is the end of the third temple,” referring to an impending collapse of the state of Israel. “Temple” was also the code word for nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Golda Meir and her “kitchen cabinet” made the decision on the night of 8 October. The Israelis assembled 13 twenty-kiloton atomic bombs. The number and in fact the entire story was later leaked by the Israelis as a great psychological warfare tool. Although most probably plutonium devices, one source reports they were enriched uranium bombs. The Jericho missiles at Hirbat Zachariah and the nuclear strike F-4s at Tel Nof were armed and prepared for action against Syrian and Egyptian targets. They also targeted Damascus with nuclear capable long-range artillery although it is not certain they had nuclear artillery shells.62

U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was notified of the alert several hours later on the morning of 9 October. The U.S. decided to open an aerial resupply pipeline to Israel, and Israeli aircraft began picking up supplies that day. Although stockpile depletion remained a concern, the military situation stabilized on October 8th and 9th as Israeli reserves poured into the battle and averted disaster. Well before significant American resupply had reached Israeli forces, the Israelis counterattacked and turned the tide on both fronts.>>

After such a close call does anyone really believe the Israelis can be persuaded to give up their nuclear deterrent?

Does anyone believe other small countries have failed to learn from Israel's near death experience?

We either have a verifiable general disarmament or the nukes will stay.

I don't believe Steven.Israel is the prime aggressor in the Middle East.They pushed for the Invasion of Iraq and now want to take Iran and Syria.Who will be next?

Only a fool would not realise that the MAD, mutually assured destruction, policy of the cold war saved millions of lives, & is still doing so today.

With out the nuclear deterrent a third world war was inevitable, & would have made the WW11 deaths look like a picnic. The few thousands of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki earned the rest of the world a reprieve that has lasted almost 70 years. We should always remain greatful to those who's deaths was a demonstration that saved so many.

Only an utter fool would believe any nation could eliminate their nuclear deterrent, when almost any tin pot country, [even us], could produce a bomb in just a few years.

That such fools are on the payroll of any of our universities is an indictment on the management of those institutions.

When, in the history of mankind, has an invention been un-invented? We are saddled with nuclear weapons and all the pious words, all the treaties, all the earnest supplications of 149 or whatever nations mean absolutely nothing. The ability to make nuclear weapons is in the public domain and the best we can do is to manage it. The assurance that any nation which starts a nuclear war will quickly be reduced to a pile of radioactive rubble is our best and only assurance that it will not be started in the first place. Better to have treaties that keep existing weapons secure and out of the clutches of terrorists than ones that support the romantic notion they can be done away with altogether.

These 2 references give an Enlightened perspective on the topic of nuclear weapons and the situation we are all in - a very small boat on very rough seas.
http://www.dabase.org/not2p1.htm particularly sections 1-21 to 1-28

On the origins of the fight to the death psychology/psychosis that generates the will/urge to almost inevitably use nuclear weapons.
http://www.dabase.org/p5egoicsociety.htm
Also
http://www.coteda.com

Arjay, learn some history! In 48 the UN created the state of Israel, it's Arab neighbors attacked. The only nation which stood with Israel was the USSR, (which was also the first nation to recognize Israel) because Stalin assumed the migration of 300,000 Russian Jews would ensure Israel would be a socialist state.

As for the US plan for Europe, really, a US plan, when both the secretary of the Treasury, and the secretary of State were Russian agents!

France was to be reduced to an agricultural wasteland along with Germany as they were obviously the real problem. The British empire was to be dismantled, thus leaving the way clear for the glorious march forward of the motherland. The US part in the aftermath of WWII was seriously compromised by Soviet infiltration. As of course was the British effort.

Mr Ruff actually has some important points to make, although one wouldn't know it from the tenor of many of the comments thus far. The selective use of history in support of Israel from the usual suspects is predictable. Ruff notes that there are 9 nuclear states. That is an understatement. South Africa built the nuclear bomb and tested them in conjunction with the Israelis. Japan has had nuclear weapons for years and that fact is not unrelated to the ongoing disaster at Fukushima.
India and Pakistan are not signatories to the NPT but nonetheless allow inspections. Israel is not and does not. Despite Steven Meyers valiant attempts to obscure the position, Israel does not even officially acknowledge that it is a nuclear power. That fact is the probable reason it acts with complete disregard for international law and the rights of other nations in the region. It's desperate attempts to get the US to attack Iran is motivated in part by its perceiving Iran as a threat to its regional monopoly of nuclear weapons.
It is worth noting that this June is the 50th anniversary of John Kennedy's speech to the American University in which he pointed out the imperative of nuclear disarmament. If James Douglass' thesis is correct that speech amounted to Kennedy signing his own death warrant. Read the book to learn more about how the world really works (although don't expect to read about it on OLO as such reviews are censored here).

Leaving aside the usual conspiracy theorists I and "Israel is the root of all evil" rants I have to agree with Graham Cooke. We cannot uninvent nuclear weapons. Realistically no country, least of all one that has had a near death experience like Israel, is going to give up its nuclear deterrent unless some other credible means of guaranteeing its security can be found.

Does anyone have any ideas about that?

What are you going to say to virtual nuclear power Japan as it faces an increasingly aggressive China?

Don't you think Taiwan regrets not having acquired a nuclear weapons capability?

The Saudis have made it clear that if Iran goes nuclear it will follow suit.

Iran's nuclear program was largely triggered by fear of Saddam – they tried to destroy the Osirak reactor before the Israelis did it. Now it has acquired a life of its own.

Neither Pakistan nor India are going to give up their nukes.

I'm afraid sooner or later we are going to have a nuclear catastrophe. If Israel is involved:

--25% of the world's oil pumping capacity will be radioactive dust

--The Suez canal will be rendered impassible

--Aleppo, Alexandria, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Mecca and Tehran at a minimum will be radioactive waste. Maybe Istanbul as well.

--More people will die in within a few days than died in both world wars. The ones who die in the initial blast will be the lucky ones. The rest will die slow lingering deaths from thirst, starvation and radiation and other sicknesses. The scale of the catastrophe will overwhelm the capacity of the rest of the world to offer humanitarian aid.

A nuclear winter of some sort is a real possibility.

C'est la guerr

Wow Steven, what a good argument to do a lot of car driving, motor boating, off roading & all those other things greenies hate.

We'd better get in there, get that oil, & have some fun, before it all goes up in a cloud of nuclear smoke.

Eat, drink, fornicate, drive & be merry, because tomorrow we're toast.

@Steven Meyer. I think the term is projection. I don't recall seeing a single "conspiracy" advanced by anyone. Neither did a see a single reference to anyone alleging "Israel is the root of all evil". But if the cap fits.

A nuclear war is highly unlikely for the sort of apocalyptic reasons you advance. No sane government is going to launch a nuclear attack when the inevitable consequence is their own immediate annihilation. Even less than sane governments and non-government actors are tempered by this reality.

Surely one of the minimum goals must be to eliminate the causes of cross-national friction. This would include not stealing other people's resources, land etc. you can recognise the worst perpetrators as well as I can.

You are fond of putting forward reasons for Israel's continued existence. You might therefore be invested in a recent article by Jewish scholar Eran Elhaik entitled The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry. Journal of Genome Biology and Evolution, December 2012 . He destroys a central claim of Israel apologists. They have no genetic link to that part of the globe and hence all claims of a Jewish homeland are bogus.

Really Jon R.Israel in 1966 attacked an unarmed intelligence ship The USS Liberty and tried to blame it on Egypt.The USA believed the ruse for a while and had planes armed with nuked on the way to attack Egypt.

Israel said it was a mistake but the ship was clearly marked and the crew now say that it was no mistake.This is all on record if you wish to know the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRfhUezbKLw 5 Israelis were arrested on 911,held for 10 weeks and released.Back in Israel on a talk show one said,"Our purpose was to document the event" If Israel knew about the attacks of 911,why did they not warn the US people?

Hasbeen

The scenario I described will only come to pass if Israel is backed into a corner which I think is unlikely. Israel's nuclear mobilisation in 1973 seems to have spooked its neighbours.

Muslim imams are happy to to use gullible young men and women as suicide bombers but seem strangely averse to having their sacred backsides vaporised.

But who knows. Anything can happen. See my piece:

You owe your life to Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14044

If a nuclear war does happen I think it will be by mistake:

>>Russia and the US are on opposite sides of the world. During the Cold War alerts air defence commanders had the luxury of a few precious minutes to double check and make sure they did not start a nuclear war by mistake. How much time would Indian and Pakistani air defence commanders have; or Israeli and Iranian commanders? We are talking seconds rather than minutes in both cases.>>

Israel has a submarine born second strike capability so it could annihilate its enemies even if the country itself were destroyed.

Arjay. One could write a whole book on Israeli false flag operations. Most intelligence agencies have that assumption as their starting point for terrorist attacks that seek to discredit Israel's enemies.

It is also useful to look at the 1948 map of the Israel/Palestine territory and compare it with a modern map. It is not the Palestinians who are doing the land theft. One could also look at the plans formulated decades ago as to what Israel's leaders considered to be "greater Israel". Their territorial ambitions extend from the Nile to the Euphrates. The annexation of the Golan Heights, the repeated invasions and occupations of southern Lebanon, and the treatment of the West Bank and Gaza are further illustrations. As recently as 1 March 2013 they have set up a separate bus system for Palestinians. Apartheid is the best word to describe much of their policy.

For all the bluster of Israel's apologists they refuse to acknowledge the reality of the Israeli state. They also refuse to address the issue of Israel's non-membership of the NPT treaty and the refusal to allow inspections of their nuclear facilities. All the while of course claiming that Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program constitutes an existential threat to Israel's existence. The hypocrisy is frankly sickening.

Yes Israel is larger and good luck, spoils (compensation) in defensive wars. Simple stimulus / response, Arabs start a war, loose and loose land, sounds fair enough. It is not anti Israel, just anti West led by fantasists in Unis (the useless bits), the Greens and others parasitic growths.

McCackie,

Many people believe that Israel was an illegitimate state from the outset, that all the land of Israel was "stolen" from the Arabs. They object in principle to the idea of a Jewish state and they will always find reasons to demonise it, reasons that to them seem good.

And that's OK. They're entitled to their opinion. I never argue with people who think that way.

However for good or ill Israel exists and will defend itself. I don't think it's ever going to die quietly. The Israelis will go on defending themselves and those that regard Israel as illegitimate will continue to demand concessions that they know will end the Jewish state.

So it goes.

The more interesting question is why so many people get so caught up in the question of Israel. Here we enter murky waters. Throughout history nobody has ever said "I hate Jews because I'm an anal orifice." Every generation of Jew haters has its rationalisations. Jews are "Christ killers" or Jews are involved in a conspiracy to enslave humanity as described in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Tragically every generation has believed its rationalisation. Israel-hatred is merely the latest iteration of an age-old process. One can see this by the amount of passion many Australians experience about what is in reality a small conflict far away.

There are many obstacles to peace in the M-E but the biggest, by far, is the venomous, genocidal hatred for Jews that permeates every level of Arab society and, to a lesser extent, the entire Ummah. Many Muslim speakers are smart enough to substitute "Zionist" for "Jew" when they rant about us but, in Australia, we call that a dog whistle.

At this point I am usually subjected to a fake history lecture about how well Jews and Muslims got on prior to the establishment of Israel. I have no doubt the creation of Israel exacerbated the hatred but it was there for decades. Ask Jews who used to live in Arab countries.

To be continued

Many people think Israeli, and Jewish, thinking is dominated by the Holocaust. I do not want to understate the importance of the Holocaust but I think most Israeli strategic thinking is dominated by the near death experience of the Yom Kippur war in 1973.

Firstly let's dismiss the Arab propaganda that all they wanted was to regain the lands lost in 1967 and would never enter Israel proper. If you believe that you should also believe tobacco company assurances that smoking is good for you.

For a while Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan really thought Israel was going down – they certainly did not believe the propaganda. They appealed for help from Europe and the US. The Europeans declined outright. The Nixon Administration dithered.

It was only when Golda Meir very openly mobilised Israel's fledgling nuclear strike force that the Nixon administration launched what was at the time the largest resupply operation ever undertaken. The UK and France did not allow the Americans to use their airfields and were rewarded by being exempted from the Arab oil embargo that followed.

The lesson for most Jews was clear. Arab oil is more important than Jewish lives.

As it happens, due to brilliant tactics, the Israelis defeated the Syrians before the resupply had much effect. At the same time Sharon crossed the Suez Canal and destroyed the Egyptian missile sites. The war ended in the total humiliation of the Arab armies even though they too received new supplies from the Soviets.

Since then the policy of successive US administrations has been that Israel must never again be in a position where it has to consider the nuclear option. So having nukes continues to pay off for Israel.

There is a take-home lesson from the Holocaust. When people rant and rave about how evil you are, when they compare you to dogs and apes, when they say you ought to exterminated, don't endlessly parse their words and wonder whether they really mean it. Assume they do and plan accordingly.

James O'Neill I actually have a book put out by Global Outlook the arm of Global Reserach which names well over 50 false flag attacks dating from the Trojan Horse.

The real power of our present day Oligarchs dates back to 1913 with the instigation of the private US Federal Reserve.From that point in time they had control of the US Govt by creating from nothing all the money for the Govt to function.Their grip on power has just tighter and tigher.

I think they are preparing for the next big economic collapse.They can gain more power on a collapse than a recovery.They cannot continue to print money because eventually their derivative scam will collapse.

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THIS.Notice how the price of gold has fallen even with increaing demand.Both Gerald Celente and Max Keiser think that they are using the derivative market eg put options to artificially lower precious metals while they buy them up.The derivate market is 10 times the size of the real one.This is what gives them so much leverage.

China ,Russia and the central banks are buying all the gold they can get their hands on.They have to get rid of their derivatives since they are worthless.All our banks are involved in these derivative scams.Banrnaby Joyce published an article saying our Banks had a $15 trillion derivative black hole.It is impossible to bail them out.The Citizens Electoral Council recently asked the Commonwealth Bank to reveal their derivative exposure.They refused.

Obama is cutting Govt spending,and when they stop printing the money interest rates will rise.

Watch the precious metals,they won't be able to keep a lid on them when Govt Bonds and their derivate scams begin to collapse.

Put your super in a safe place because Bill Clinton removed the Glass Steagall Act in the late 90's which separated derivatives from the real economy.