Having experienced the Tokyo Air Raid in March -- in which U.S. bombs killed about 120,000 people, most of them civilians -- and the Battle of Okinawa in April, May and June -- in which 220,000 Okinawa people and military personnel perished -- Japan was given an ultimatum in the form of the Potsdam Declaration in July, with terms of total and unconditional surrender.

But it was the United States' newly developed bombs that pushed the inevitable. Two atomic bombs exploded upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, killing 150,000 and 70,000 people, respectively. It was an unprecedented manmade horror. In that sense, it was reasonable for the Americans to believe that the atomic bombs would end the war.

In the following decades, the better the bombs' devastation and long-lasting radioactivity became known to the world, the more attention they drew as the most effective military means humanity had ever known.

Here is the first irony: "The final weapon," as it was known to military experts, thus became so attractive to strategists that the world's major militaries focused on further developing, producing and installing atomic bombs.

In addition, the means to transport them -- missiles -- were developed and refined into ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and short-, medium- and long-range missiles.

The latest player in this game is North Korea, which belatedly discovered the military as well as the political merits of nuclear weapons and missiles. North Korea is believed to have produced and deployed many short-range Scud missiles targeting South Korea and about 320 medium-range Nodong missiles facing Japan. Even amid international condemnation, Pyongyang is busy testing long-range Taepodong missiles that would reach Hawaii and the continental United States.

But here is another irony that has remained valid so far: As nuclear weapons have proved ever more devastating and the probability of a retaliatory nuclear attack ever more certain, these prospects have effectively prevented the actual use of tactical or strategic nuclear weapons.

This so-called mutually assured destruction strategy has been sustained in part thanks to the very concrete impact on the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who witnessed and experienced the effects of the atomic bombs. Thus, their sacrifices did contribute at least to preventing the "pre-emptive" use of nuclear weapons, though they did not lead to the annihilation of nuclear arms, as they have been calling for ever since that tragic summer of 1945.

The Cold War was sustained on the MAD strategy for a couple of decades. But how did the United States and its Western allies break through the impasse and defeat the Eastern bloc? This was achieved thanks to the nuclear solidarity among the United States, Britain, France and West Germany, as well as their supremacy, purportedly achieved by the Strategic Defense Initiative popularly known as "Star Wars."

Facing the nuclear-armed Soviet Union, the United States appreciated the political wisdom of making both Britain and France nuclear-armed states, and both countries soon possessed their own nuclear arsenals. Later, West Germany allowed the installation of U.S. nuclear weapons within its territory, assuming the role of a front-line state in NATO.

Without the nuclear solidarity of these four nations protecting Western Europe, the Cold War could have been much hotter, causing more tragic bloodshed across Europe. This is the third irony: The supremacy of the West's nuclear power eventually restrained the Soviet Union from indulging in seductive nuclear scenarios.

With the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union as the United States' only counter power, the main battlefield has shifted from Europe to Asia. Here the major nuclear power is China, governed by the Chinese Communist Party. Experts forecast that China's military might surpass that of the United States by 2020.

The U.S. State Department also predicts that China will have launched three aircraft carriers for actual operation by 2020. Indeed, for the last two decades China's military spending has expanded by double-digit percentages every year. China's ambition appears to be to gain hegemony over the entire Pacific Rim area, in direct confrontation with the United States.

Leaders of the Pacific Rim nations should be reminded of the lessons of the Cold War in Europe, where the Soviet Union was never allowed to be the sole nuclear power. On the contrary, the Soviets' nuclear arsenal was constantly nullified and eventually superseded by those of the United States, Britain, France and West Germany.

By the same token, China should not be allowed to flex its nuclear muscles freely around the Asia-Pacific region. The United States, whose nuclear umbrella is guaranteeing the security of Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Pacific nations, needs to reshape its strategic thinking. It should establish a Pacific Rim Security Cooperation Organization involving India, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

(Tomoji Nagashima is a senior researcher at the Japanese Institute for Global Strategy in Tokyo.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News