The prospect of nukes in the hands of madmen makes me wet my pants. And, as long as any - and I mean ANY - nations in this world continue to develop or maintain stockpiles of nuclear weapons (and any other weapons of mass destruction, for that matter), they will inevitably eventually either find their way into the hands of rogue madmen, or be used in warfare by democratically (or undemocratically) elected madmen.
The only answer - as I see it - is a bold global agreement to ban nuclear weaponry for ALL nations. We MUST operate under the assumption that the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weaponry are so dire that ABSOLUTELY NO NATION is sufficiently infallible as to be trusted to maintain such weaponry in its arsenal. Every day that goes by that we haven't achieved total nuclear disarmament is another day that we risk nuclear weoponry either being used or falling into the wrong hands.
A slow and gradual phasing out of nuclear arms is just not good enough. This approach increases the risk to the world and also increases the chances that more nations might renege on their commitment to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Continuing to maintain massive nuclear arsenals in Russia and the US sends exactly the wrong message to so-called "rogue" nations in the world.
From these concerns was born my idea for a bold and decisive international agreement to once and for all put the issue of nuclear weapons to rest. I call it RTNDA (pronounced like the word "rotunda"): the Rapid Total Nuclear Disarmament Agreement. It goes something like this...
| 1) | The agreement would be managed through the United Nations. |
| 2) | Under the agreement, all nations would commit to a considerably accelerated timetable for the complete elimination of their entire nuclear arsenals and all nuclear weapons programs. |
| 3) | The agreement would come into effect if all members of the UN security council signed on to it. |
| 4) | Under the terms of the agreement, any nations in the world - UN member nations or otherwise - found by the UN security council to be in violation of the agreement would face swift military action to neutralize their nuclear threat or threat of developing nuclear weaponry in order to bring such nations into compliance with the agreement. |
| 5) | All nations would be obligated to maintain complete transparency in their nuclear energy programs and open such programs up to rigorous international oversight by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). |
Incidentally, I like the similarity of the acronym RTNDA to the word "rotunda", since a rotunda is a circular building or domed room. Being round, a rotunda is symbolic of the globe and suggests something that encompasses all nations of Earth. It suggests a large meeting in which all are represented and in which unity of purpose can be achieved. And I can't think of a better issue to achieve unity of purpose on than the issue of nuclear arms.