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India and Pakistan both rushed their programs back in the 40s/50s ( or maybe later I can't recall off the top of my head). Libya and South Africa were negotiate

by ericmay 27d ago

India and Pakistan both rushed their programs back in the 40s/50s ( or maybe later I can't recall off the top of my head). Libya and South Africa were negotiated away. That leaves Israel probably from the, what, 70s or 80s? And North Korea was supported by Russia and China. I'm not sure you could consider any of those countries to be "pursuing nuclear weapons" today. Plus by that logic you'd have to throw in the US, UK, China, Soviets, and France too. So when you sort of set aside countries from prior to, idk, 1980s ish you don't really have anyone at least publicly (to your point) pursuing nuclear weapons. However it's not just the enrichment of uranium which is tightly controlled it's also the missile technology to deliver the weapons. Keeping a nuclear program secret these days I think is quite a bit more difficult than in the past. So when you look around today you've got Iran that we know of pursuing a nuclear program. I'm not sure anyone else is by virtue of how difficult (I think?) it would be to do so undetected. Though there are countries (Japan and Korea come to mind) who we think have the ability to scale up a program very quickly.

drTobiasFunke 27d ago
India and Pakistan were late 90s. Japan and South Korea literally have 100s of American military bases on their territory. You really think they are sovereign nations who can pursue an independent nuclear program?
- deleted 27d ago
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- ericmay 27d ago
  > You really think they are sovereign nations who can pursue an independent nuclear program? Yes? Are you really sitting here telling South Korea, Japan, Germany, and more that they’re not sovereign nations because they choose to have American military bases on their home soil? > India and Pakistan were late 90s. Source please
mmooss 27d ago
> India and Pakistan both rushed their programs back in the 40s/50s India worked on them on and off for decades and first tested one in 1998, and IIRC Pakistan matched them soon after. North Korea was in the 2000s. > So when you sort of set aside countries from prior to, idk, 1980s ish you don't really have anyone at least publicly (to your point) pursuing nuclear weapons. I'm not going through the comment correcting all of it.
- ericmay 27d ago
  > I'm not going through the comment correcting all of it. Yea, why bother when you're peddling misinformation? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha > North Korea was in the 2000s. Yes supported by Russia and China they got the keys they needed for the delivery mechanism (ballistic missiles). But the problem with North Korea is they threatened to kill hundreds of thousands of people in South Korea if anyone stopped them from building their bomb. South Korea didn't want that to happen and China would have fought against American forces had we tried anything in North Korea. Not much we can do.
  - mmooss 27d ago
    These are well-known, non-controversial facts. For anyone unfamiliar with the topic, I encourage them to lookup when India, Pakistan, and North Korea developed nuclear weapons - you will find the answers in an instant.
    - ericmay 27d ago
      > These are well-known, non-controversial facts. Yes, like India successfully tested their first nuclear weapon in 1974, not 1998 like you are asserting.

by ericmay 27d ago

drTobiasFunke 27d ago

India and Pakistan were late 90s. Japan and South Korea literally have 100s of American military bases on their territory. You really think they are sovereign nations who can pursue an independent nuclear program?

deleted 27d ago
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ericmay 27d ago
> You really think they are sovereign nations who can pursue an independent nuclear program? Yes? Are you really sitting here telling South Korea, Japan, Germany, and more that they’re not sovereign nations because they choose to have American military bases on their home soil? > India and Pakistan were late 90s. Source please

mmooss 27d ago

> India and Pakistan both rushed their programs back in the 40s/50s India worked on them on and off for decades and first tested one in 1998, and IIRC Pakistan matched them soon after. North Korea was in the 2000s. > So when you sort of set aside countries from prior to, idk, 1980s ish you don't really have anyone at least publicly (to your point) pursuing nuclear weapons. I'm not going through the comment correcting all of it.

ericmay 27d ago
> I'm not going through the comment correcting all of it. Yea, why bother when you're peddling misinformation? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_Buddha > North Korea was in the 2000s. Yes supported by Russia and China they got the keys they needed for the delivery mechanism (ballistic missiles). But the problem with North Korea is they threatened to kill hundreds of thousands of people in South Korea if anyone stopped them from building their bomb. South Korea didn't want that to happen and China would have fought against American forces had we tried anything in North Korea. Not much we can do.
- mmooss 27d ago
  These are well-known, non-controversial facts. For anyone unfamiliar with the topic, I encourage them to lookup when India, Pakistan, and North Korea developed nuclear weapons - you will find the answers in an instant.
  - ericmay 27d ago
    > These are well-known, non-controversial facts. Yes, like India successfully tested their first nuclear weapon in 1974, not 1998 like you are asserting.