Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: jgd@cix.co.uk (John Dallman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom Subject: Re: Babel Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2024 07:28 +0100 (BST) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: jgd@cix.co.uk Injection-Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 06:28:01 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="416ee61272a68b3e2f328b4eb1cbba44"; logging-data="1290192"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/sJEfytIuiGRdUSUAAg04reG+ig1g2mzc=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:Q0pKaSCFSA2PiJiCZQCTa7Gak1c= Bytes: 2043 In article , jeff.urs@gmail.com (Jeff Urs) wrote: > Gary McGath wrote: > > Confiscating the major weapons is the real problem. Picking up > > nuclear weapons and carrying them off would cause all kinds of > > international and logistical issues, and someone might decide to > > launch them rather than give them up. They're probably already > > poorly maintained and unreliable, but that could just mean that > > instead of blowing up their intended target, they'll blow up > > somebody else. > > In all the history of the Thing, only Bilbo -- I mean, Ukraine -- > has voluntarily given it up, and that took all our help... More than just Ukraine. Kazakhstan and Belarus also inherited nuclear weapons from the USSR and returned them to Russia. Apartheid South Africa developed nuclear weapons, but dismantled them before the transition to the majority-elected African National Congress–led government. There have also been states capable of building nuclear weapons that decided not to do so, at lest so far. They include Sweden, Japan, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands. -- John Dallman "This isn't a supernova problem. It's a pointy-haired boss problem."