By Marcelle Meyer
For a man who came into office on the platform of decreasing our military intervention abroad, President Obama has found himself making some surprising decisions recently.
In addition to a sudden increase of military action in the Middle East, he is also launching a nationwide effort to refurbish and upgrade our nuclear arsenal, while stating that this in no way affects his plans for a nuclear-free world.
Are you confused yet?
As contradictory as this may seem, I think that this is exactly what he should be doing as commander-in-chief.
One only has to reference the year 1945 (and the disastrous years that followed) to understand why nuclear bombs are far too dangerous and destructive to exist in a peaceful world. Does that make the president wrong in his decision to direct efforts toward their improvement and expansion?
Theoretically, yes. Practically, no.
If the president could perform any action that would eliminate or decrease the existence of nuclear weapons, he would of course be wrong to neglect that course of action.
The problem is that the state of the world and diplomatic relations are currently not conducive to a global reduction of nuclear supplies. As undesirable as this is, the president has a different nuclear obligation than when he entered office because he simply cannot eliminate other countries’ nuclear weapons. The only option is to make nuclear weapons as safe as possible and keep the United States at the forefront of nuclear research and technology — which is exactly what he is trying to do.
When we see protests against developing nuclear facilities and politicians vehemently criticizing the proliferation of deadly bombs in an already war-filled world, it is easy to sympathize. Nuclear weapons are arguably the most immoral and unethical means of warfare.
Still, even if we do not waver in our opposition to the expansion of our own nuclear programs, there is no guarantee that other countries will do the same; just has many different definitions, and I think it is important that the American people support President Obama in his attempts to secure America’s safety in an unsafe world.
Maybe one day, when our relationship with Russia does not consist of a stare-down over Ukraine, when we are not walking on eggshells to recruit Iran’s help in fighting ISIS and when we can confidently deter unstable leaders’ attempts to build nuclear weapons on their own, maybe we can then seek a nuclear-free world. Right now, however, it is not the responsible thing for the U.S. to do.
