I’m sometimes tempted to consider National Review “roving correspondent” Kevin D. Williamson a “thoughtful conservative,” but then sometimes Kev, as in his Jan. 1 “2015 Non-predictions”, thinks like this:
“The Iranians will almost certainly continue pursuing nuclear weapons, and the United States will almost certainly continue doing nothing very credible to dissuade them. It won’t come to pass in 2015, but our national-security thinkers need to start considering what the world is going to look like when any organization — states and non-state actors alike — with the inclination and a spare $1 billion or so can lay hands on a nuclear weapon. That is the direction in which the world is heading.”
That’s a lot of predicting for a column of “non-predictions.” I will predict that the right will continue to pursue the meme that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, a meme that they have pursued for the past 25 years without the Iranians ever coming up with a bomb. The Iranians have a couple of nuclear reactors and want to build a couple more, but the evidence that they are trying to build a bomb is less than conclusive, except in Kevvie D.’s fevered fantasies.
As for the notion that in the near future anyone who can put down $1 billion in cash can walk away with a bomb is nonsense. Recall that North Korea has had nuclear weapons since 2009, which somehow bothers the right not a bit, even though, as you may also recall, President George Bush labeled the North Korea as a member of the illustrious “Axis of Evil.” Somehow, when the North Korean bomb actually arrived, it wasn’t so scary. So Kev and his hysterical, right-wing crew needed something new to be afraid of. I suspect that Kev is laying the groundwork for the arrival of the Iranian bomb. “Okay, the bomb itself isn’t so scary. But someone might buy it! That is scary! Really scary!”
Afterwords
Am I being a complete spoilsport in pointing out that the only country ever to use nuclear weapons is the good old U.S.A.? And am I wrong in suggesting that the current prejudice against nuclear weapons worldwide is so deep that any nation or group using one would the recipient of massive and lasting censure that would likely overwhelm any advantage obtained by the blast? Something for Kevin to consider if he feels like doing some actual thinking for a change.
