NZ does not allow nukes into its ports, however, under the ANZUS treaty they still get the protection of the nuclear umbrella.

As with all umbrellas they are only needed when it is raining.

I've visited the Nagasaki bomb museum.

And I've been to Hiroshima.

Had a browse through Helen Caldicott's book:
*The New Nuclear Danger*
too.

Have also on more occasion than one protested in disgust the use of U235 enrichment waste munitions, in forums such as this.
(I prefer that term to DU)

..

If we were too assume hypothetically for moment that the majority of us are not going to lay down the so called "Right to Self Defence," it then becomes a given that when people fight, then people are going to die.

Thus, given the war tech available today, it then becomes a question of whether to attempt to only just kill combatants, or just to all out slaughter the opposition in their entirety, woman, children, oldies, the lot.

And not just the current generation, but to keep killing and mutating for generations when it comes to ionizing radiation.

I can't see any honor in this, or any sense in risking nuke winter and or the irradiation of your own.

Having said that though, if Auntie Sam is supposed to be the good guy, and they've already used these weapons, what does that say about the potential intentions of the "bad guys."

Bit silly really isn't, good guys vs bad guys but then, not everyone is calm and rational as defined by Australian conventional wisdom.

Clearly the Israeli's, paranoid or not, are of the view that without the threat of obliteration hanging over their heads that some of their "enemies" would indeed slaughter them.

Is this a reasonable belief though, or is it delusional? Just listen to them if you dare when they start talking about the
"Arab mentality."

Mind you, saw plenty of cheers and laughs when in south Israel in 2000 at the time when the then head of Syria died.

I suspect that the hate runs so deep in some parts of the world that it would be an error to base our views on solely on the notion that we are dealing with reasonable people.

If we could assume people were reasonable there would be no nuclear weapons and no depleted uranium being dropped either.
Great article.

New Zealand has simply figured out a shrewd way to save money on weapons and at the same time portray themselves as all moralistic by being against nuclear weapons , because they KNOW that Australia would always come to their aid if they were threatened and there is no way America would allow the setting up of an enemy base so close to an allies homeland.

So what does the author suggest? The symbolic gesture of refusing any nuclear powered/armed defense of our nation, even in the case of being unable to defend ourselves from attack or invasion? Other than being a totally useless gesture, I'm sure this would be overturned (if the offer still remained) if this scenario was immanent.

Anyhow, the saying "There are no rules in love and war" a true observation of the traits of humanity. The term "war crime" is an interesting concept. I'd like to see if throughout history any wars have been fought without war crimes being perpetrated.

Sue Wareham <civil society organizations around the world galvanized to push for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. A TREATY TO BAN ALL NUCLEAR WEAPONS . Such a treaty is feasible and long overdue.

Who is going to police these treaties to make sure countries don’t break them?
Iran is being told not to produce nuclear weapons at this very moment by the United Nations but it doesn’t seem to be stopping them from doing so.

Do you mean treaties like the Versailles Treaty signed by Germany after World War 1
Among other things the treaty required Germany to place a ban
. On the manufacture , import and export of weapons and poison gas.
• Restrictions on the manufacture of machine guns (e.g. the Maxin Machine gun)
• Armed aircraft, tank and armored cars are prohibited
• No submarines

Wikipedia – The treaty was undermined by subsequent events starting as early as 1932 and was widely flouted by the mid 1930’s.
By 1939 Germany was totally remilitarized and World War 2 began.

Or maybe you would prefer some of the treaties signed by the early American Indians as an example of trustworthy documents. Hardly.