It has been said of the treaty which brought the welcome end of World War I, the treaty of Versailles, that it contained within it, the seeds of World War II. Now the question arises, could the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 contain within it, the seeds of the next major nuclear conflagration, or possibly even of World War III? Within the wording of the treaty of Versailles, the former proud German Empire was trampled upon, spat out, and forced into a planned 'endless subjugation' to the victors of World War I.
The German state was saddled with a huge war reparation debt, and told it could never again raise a meaningful army. As history has shown, Germany was not quite ready to play the role of the perpetual under-dog that the treaty had dished out to it. When the soldiers who fought World War I asked their generals and their politicians why they must fight in this terrible war, they were told that they must fight because they were fighting the “war to end all wars”. Unfortunately, at the time such an eloquent hope was not yet a concrete reality, but still a dim vision of a far distant, yet still hoped for future.
Today we have a new treaty which is supposedly designed to keep the peace in the atomic era. In this treaty, the people of the world are essentially divided into two tiers, the atomic-haves, and the atomic-have-nots. Essentially, in this well intended but bizarre treaty all of the atomic have-nots promise never to become atomic-haves, and all of the atomic-haves, promise never to assist an atomic-have-not to become an atomic-have. Perhaps this is simple on paper, but what about the reality of the situation?
Now, predictably, some of the atomic-have-nots are hell bent on becoming atomic-haves, and there seems to be nothing the atomic-haves can really do to ultimately stop this march towards some form of nuclear conflagration somewhere. Duh, should this be a surprise to us? Isn't it basic human nature for an official 'underdog' to forever despise what it may perceive to be an artificial hierarchy of power over it, and to always and forever try to topple such a hierarchy?
Once upon a time, wasn't it the Americans who were into into the toppling hierarchies-of-power? Wasn't it they who started their country by toppling a certain British hierarchy-of-power that once held sway over North America?
The only question I have about the current nuclear non-proliferation treaty is this? I don’t ask “if” the treaty will ultimately fail, I only ask: “When and how” will it fail? Will it be on the morning when Tel Aviv and Tehran simultaneously get “wiped off the earth,” or will it be Seoul and Pyongyang, or perhaps even New York and Tehran?
What will it take before the world will finally be willing to create a new and realistic Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NNPT)? Namely a NNPT where all governments are treated equally, and not some as the haves and the rest as the have-nots? Until the two brothers Cain and Abel might have been ready to see one another as equals and not as the privileged and the opressed, how could the sorrow and the travesty of the slaughter have been avoided? And another more sinister question that one must ask along these lines should be, "Would the human race even survive in any meaningful sense if it were to prove incapable of achieving a realistic NNPT?"
Until mankind is able to uproot the seeds of division in its treaties and in its hearts, will it not always have its victims and its victimizers? When and how will mankind finally end the tedious nightmare of divisiveness? Is the destruction of divisiveness our true destiny, or are we actually capable of achieving our vision and our hope of unity? ... and finally, what are the real stakes involved if we succeed or should we fail?
Gulp.... well, I think I'd rather leave that question to my kids, thank you very much... Right now I've got enough problems just battling with the crabgrass that's trying to invade my back yard! Enjoy.
