or have picked up bootleg nuclear material or live warheads and/or delivery vehicles from the destitute armies of the Russian republics. In order to help combat the spread of this nuclear material, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was introduced in 1997, which was aimed at ending nuclear testing among 44 nations with nuclear arms arsenals or production capability. Unfortunately, the treaty will not go into effect until all 44 countries considered to have nuclear capability -- including the United States -- ratify it. In the meantime, the world community holds its breath as new developments unfold. I believe that at the present time, only India and Pakistan have yet to sign, but have expressed interest in doing so on a mutual basis. Part II: Another Arms Race?Further aggravating the situation in many people’s opinions is the Bush administration’s wish to develop and implement anti-missile defense system, the so-called Star Wars project envisioned in the Reagan administration. Many experts believe that the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty has brought strategic stability to the region through a mutual fear of retaliatory strikes between the United States and the former Soviet Union. This has allowed arms reductions on both sides, but now the threat is no longer limited to just Russia, whose promiscuous sales of intermediate and long-range missiles and raw material has managed to jumpstart the nuclear weapons programs of other countries. President Bush sees this as a deterrent to a nuclear, chemical or biological strike against the U.S., but many fear that it could be the start of a new arms race, as other countries attempt to reach military parity with other nations.Part III: Personal Thoughts on the IssueIn dealing with nuclear arms issue, there seem to be no clear-cut answers on how to curb the spread of nuclear arms. However, complicated problems yield complicated solutions. What I have learned is that ec...
