Your King decided to watch an oldie but goody movie that got me to thinking, and anyone that knows me realizes that usually means trouble. The movie was "On The Beach" which is a drama about the aftermath of a nuclear war between the USA and the USSR and the people of Australia awaiting the slowly approaching radioactive aftermath of this war. It stars Gregory Peck as the captain of a US nuclear sub that manages to make its way down to Melbourne but that is besides the point.
Watching this movie gets me to thinking why do we need these atomic weapons of mass destruction? Who in their right mind would ever use these in a war? Russia and the USA have just signed and ratified the newest START Treaty which limits our two respective countries to 1550 atomic weapons each. That is 3100 of these dastardly weapons between us and that is not even counting what China, England and the rest of the nuclear fraternity have in their stocks. How many times over will 3100+ weapons destroy this world? Is there any need for even one of these devices of doom to exist let alone the number that actually do exist??
The big question is who has the wherewith all to actually use one of these devices? Pakistan, India...maybe but I doubt it but if I were to lean towards one it would be Pakistan. North Korea?? The thing is I do not think they would. They want attention from the developed world and what better way to get that attention than by having a few of these bombs in their arsenal. The country on this planet that we have the most to fear from if they obtain one of the devices is Iran. This is a country that is populated by a group of people whose radical elements would not hesitate to strap on an explosive device, walk into a crowd of innocent people and detonate it. Their government is led by idiots who could possibly be stupid enough to unleash this weapon if they ever get a hold of one. We need to get together as a world to keep these morons from getting the bomb.
The thing is do the peoples of this planet need to be equipped with weapons that would leave this Earth a radioactive wasteland, uninhabitable for many years? The answer is no. These weapons need to be eliminated from the arsenals of all countries that have them. All it takes is one moment of stupidity, one misidentified blip on a radar, one overzealous nut that just happens to have his finger on the button to make a mess of things. I am sure if the Earth had a choice it would try to cleanse itself of this mess called humanity. We, as a species, do not deserve this planet. We kill each other wantonly, pollute this planet beyond belief and destroy species that have every right to try to survive here along with us. AND we have the ability to render this planet uninhabitable unlike the mountain gorillas or the bottle nosed dolphins.
The ending of the movie "On The Beach" is powerful and it is a movie that needs to be watched. "Fail Safe", starring Henry Fonda, is another movie that shows what can happen when something goes wrong atomic weapon wise. Just sit back and think about the folly of nuclear weapons and you will realize that they are a disease that is waiting to strike. Can you imagine what you would be thinking about if you were stationed in Antarctica and were among the last, temporary, survivors of such a war awaiting the slow southerly march of the radioactive fallout cloud knowing that your time is nearly up?? It boggles the mind to even ponder that this could ever happen. I hope we are smarter than that.
Your King has spoken.
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