Should Australia withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty?

The Non-Proliferation Treaty is nothing but paper. We could quite legally withdraw from it by simply giving 3 months notice. As it stands right now we are totally reliant upon America's nuclear arsenal for protection. This means that our national defence is externally sourced and if ever we should fall out with America over a difference of political opinion then we could find ourselves completely defenceless. I consider it naive to assume that America will always be in a position to protect us anyhow. Even Super Powers come and go as the relatively recent collapse of Russia demonstrated.

Nuclear Weapons are here to stay. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle and utopian fantasies about disarming the world are just that... childish nonsense. Proliferation will continue either openly or disguised forever. The mere knowledge that nuclear weapons are possible makes the task already half complete for those seeking the most powerful weapons known. Weapons which ensure a sovereign nations independance and guarantee invasion an impossibility.

India and Pakistan recently had their own miniaturised version of the Cold War with exactly the same result. Mutual respect with each others new devastating military capability has forced peace talks upon the pair. After ignoring interfering do gooders like the US they resolved the problem themselves. If anything the threat of sanctions from outsiders only worsened the situation.

N.Korea, India, Pakistan, Russia, China. How many more neighbours are going to nuclearise before we wake up and counter with our own equivalent defence?

What's the matter Wayne?

You were out voted and out smarted on your last rant "Nuclear Power is the Future!" so you have to start another thread in the same vein?

Talk about a bee in the bonnet!

Accent, who are you to decide what people can talk about! We have to put up with people who have conspiracy theories about 9/11, think David Hicks is a saint and comment on foreign policy when they probably do not even have a passport. I think there is little use in becoming a nuclear power, but don't appoint yourself the judge of what should be discussed!

"You were out voted and out smarted on your last rant "Nuclear Power is the Future!" so you have to start another thread in the same vein?"

The opinions of a noisy mealy mouthed minority is no reflection of true public opinion. Polls indicate that the majority of people want nuclear energy. Throwing insults simply because you have nothing of any substance to add only further weakens your stance. This is a very different topic. After posting it I discovered that it was the front page story of an independant newspaper called the Epoch Times. Strategists are indeed considering nuclear weapons now for Australia in the face of N.Korea's new nuclear status. Not for the first time either.

If Japan declares it will go nuclear at some point then I think we will have little choice but to follow suit.

Wayne,

I’m sure you can refer us to the polls indicating that the majority of people want nuclear energy.

Why haven’t you done so on this occasion? You seem to know all about the subject, so it should be no trouble for you to produce the polls, or at least tell us where we can find them.

Matt, if you read most of what our Wayne says in his previous topic you’d have to conclude there a few bats loose in his belfry. Starting a new topic on the same note he left the previous one may be ‘live to fight another day’, but it appears more like cut and run then start again.

When are you guys going to get over 9/11?
Just because a handful of religious nutters committed a stupid, criminal act it's not the end of the world.
Some 20,000 people die of hunger and disease every day, largely because their governments are so indebted to western corporations that they have to grow cash crops, raze their forests and rip minerals from their soil, just to pay the interest.
That is real terrorism, day in, day out.
Of course I could mention Chile, Greece, Guatemala, and the terrorist thugs known as the Contras or ‘freedom fighters’ by Ronnie Reagan. Compared to the cold-blooded torture, murder and terror committed by ‘the good guys’ 9/11 was a surgical strike.

David Hicks is no saint, just another stupid mug who’s been duped by superstition and acted with impetuosity of youth.
That he is locked up in a quasi-concentration camp rather than treated as a prisoner of war is a crime. Everyone who claims to represent ‘freedom and democracy’ should be deeply ashamed, especially when trigger-happy cowboys are shooting civilians in Bagdad or blasting them with missiles in Gaza.

Only when we remove the stain of hypocrisy from our own rhetoric will we have any chance of fighting terrorism. We are losing the battle for hearts and minds.

And, to remain on topic, no amount of nuclear arsenal is going to protect anyone when the very core of our society is rotten.
The only answer to global conflict is tolerance, education and wisdom, three elements sorely missing in the international debate.

And by the way I have a passport, enjoyed over 50 years of international travel and have lived in several countries.

By the way, rightthinker, that is the best oxymoron I’ve heard this week.