The Art of Atomic Diplomacy

The term â€Å"atomic diplomacy† refers to a nation’s use of the threat of nuclear warfare to achieve its diplomatic and foreign policy goals. In the years following its first successful test of an atomic bomb in 1945, the United States federal government occasionally sought to use its nuclear monopoly as a non-military diplomatic tool. World War II: The Birth of Nuclear Diplomacy During World War II, the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were researching designs of an atomic bomb for use as the â€Å"ultimate weapon.† By 1945, however, only the United States developed a working bomb. On August 6, 1945, the United States exploded an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In seconds, the blast leveled 90% of the city and killed an estimated 80,000 people. Three days later, on August 9, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. On August 15, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced his nation’s unconditional surrender in the face of what he called â€Å"a new and most cruel bomb.† Without realizing it at the time, Hirohito had also announced the birth of nuclear diplomacy. The First Use of Atomic Diplomacy While U.S. officials had used the atomic bomb in order to force Japan to surrender, they also considered how the immense destructive power of nuclear weapons could be used to strengthen the nation’s advantage in postwar diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. When U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the development of the atomic bomb in 1942, he decided not to tell the Soviet Union about the project. After Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, the decision of whether to maintain the secrecy of the U.S. nuclear weapons program fell to President Harry Truman. In July 1945, President Truman, along with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in the Potsdam Conference to negotiate governmental control of already defeated Nazi Germany and other terms for the end of World War II. Without disclosing any specific details about the weapon, President Truman mentioned the existence of an especially destructive bomb to Joseph Stalin, leader of the growing and already feared Communist Party. By entering the war against Japan in mid-1945, the Soviet Union  placed itself in a position to play an influential part in the allied control of post-war Japan. While U.S. officials favored a U.S.-led, rather than a U.S.-Soviet shared occupation, they realized there was no way to prevent it. U.S. policymakers feared the Soviets might use its political presence in post-war Japan as a base for spreading communism throughout Asia and Europe. Without actually threatening Stalin with the atomic bomb, Truman hoped America’s exclusive control of nuclear weapons, as demonstrated by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would convince the Soviets to rethink their plans. In his 1965 book Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, historian Gar Alperovitz contends that Truman’s atomic hints at the Potsdam meeting amounted to the first us of atomic diplomacy. Alperovitz argues that since the nuclear attacks on ​Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not needed to force the Japanese to surrender, the bombings were actually intended to influence postwar diplomacy with the Soviet Union. Other historians, however, contend that President Truman truly believed the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing were needed to force the immediate unconditional surrender of Japan. The alternative, they argue would have been an actual military invasion of Japan with the potential cost of thousands of allied lives. US Covers Western Europe with a ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ Even if U.S. officials hoped the examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would spread Democracy rather than Communism throughout Eastern Europe and Asia, they were disappointed. Instead, the threat of nuclear weapons made the Soviet Union ever more intent on protecting its own borders with a buffer zone of communist-ruled countries. However, during the first several years after the end of World War II, the United States’ control of nuclear weapons was far more successful at creating lasting alliances in Western Europe. Even without placing large numbers of troops inside their borders, America could protect the Western Bloc nations under its â€Å"nuclear umbrella,† something the Soviet Union did not yet have. The assurance of peace for America and her allies under the nuclear umbrella would soon be shaken, however, as the U.S. lost its monopoly over nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb in 1949, the United Kingdom in 1952, France in 1960, and the People’s Republic of China in 1964. Looming as a threat since Hiroshima, the Cold War had started. Cold War Atomic Diplomacy Both the United States and the Soviet Union frequently used atomic diplomacy during the first two decades of the Cold War. In 1948 and 1949, during the shared occupation of postwar Germany, The Soviet Union blocked the U.S. and other Western Allies from using all roads, railroads, and canals serving much of West Berlin. President Truman responded to the blockade by stationing several B-29 bombers that â€Å"could† have carried nuclear bombs if needed to U.S. airbases near Berlin. However, when the Soviets did not back down and lower the blockade, the U.S. and its Western Allies carried out the historic Berlin Airlift that flew food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies to the people of West Berlin. Shortly after the start of the Korean War in 1950, President Truman again deployed the nuclear-ready B-29s as a signal to the Soviet Union of U.S. resolve to maintain democracy in the region. In 1953, near the end of the war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower considered, but chose not to use atomic diplomacy to gain an advantage in peace negotiations. And then the Soviets famously turned the tables in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the most visible and dangerous case of atomic diplomacy. In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961  and the presence of U.S. nuclear missiles in Turkey and Italy, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev shipped nuclear missiles to Cuba in October 1962. U.S President John F. Kennedy responded by ordering a total blockade to prevent additional Soviet missiles from reaching Cuba and demanding that all nuclear weapons already on the island be returned to the Soviet Union. The blockade produced several tense moments as ships believed to be carrying nuclear weapons were confronted and turned away by the U.S. Navy. After 13 days of hair-raising atomic diplomacy, Kennedy and Khrushchev came to a peaceful agreement. The Soviets, under U.S. supervision, dismantled their nuclear weapons in Cuba and shipped them home. In return, the United States promised never again to invade Cuba without military provocation  and removed its nuclear missiles from Turkey and Italy. As a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. imposed severe trade and travel restrictions against Cuba that remained in effect until eased by President Barack Obama in 2016. The MAD World Shows the Futility of Atomic Diplomacy By the mid-1960s, the ultimate futility of atomic diplomacy had become evident. The nuclear weapons arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union had become virtually equal in both size and destructive power. In fact, the security of both nations, as well as global peacekeeping, came to depend on a dystopian principle called â€Å"mutually assured destruction† or MAD. While President Richard Nixon briefly considered using the threat of nuclear weapons to hasten the end of the Vietnam War, he knew the Soviet Union would disastrously retaliate on behalf of North Vietnam and that both international and American public opinion would never accept the idea of using the atomic bomb. Since both the United States and the Soviet Union were aware that any full-scale first nuclear strike would result in the complete annihilation of both countries, the temptation to use nuclear weapons during a conflict was greatly diminished. As public and political opinion against the use or even the threatened use of nuclear weapons grew louder and more influential, the limits of atomic diplomacy became obvious. So while it is rarely practiced today, atomic diplomacy probably prevented the MAD scenario several times since World War II.   2019: US Withdraws from Cold War Arms Control Treaty On August 2, 2019, the United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia. Originally ratified on 1 June 1988, the INF limited the development of ground-based missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,417 miles) but did not apply to air- or sea-launched missiles. Their uncertain range and their ability to reach their targets within 10 minutes made the mistaken use of the missiles a constant source of fears during the Cold War era. Ratification of the INF launched a lengthy subsequent process during which both the United States and Russia reduced their nuclear arsenals. In exiting the INF Treaty, the Donald Trump administration cited reports that Russia had been violating the treaty by developing of a new land-based, nuclear-capable cruise missile. After long denying the existence of such missiles, Russia recently claimed the missile’s range is less than 500 kilometers (310 miles) and thus not in violation of the INF Treaty. In announcing the US’ formal withdrawal from the INF treaty, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo placed sole responsibility for the demise of the nuclear treaty on Russia. â€Å"Russia failed to return to full and verified compliance through the destruction of its noncompliant missile system,† he said.

The Impact of Alcohol Abuse on Finance and Economy

Introduction Alcohol abuse and its associated problems cost society many billions of dollars every year. Economics have attempted to calculate the monetary damage that has resulted from the alcohol abuse. These damages include expenditures on alcohol-related problems and opportunities that are lost because of alcohol. Two problems are particularly directly related to the case of alcohol abuse. First, researchers attempt to identify costs that are directly related to alcohol abuse. Second, many costs resulting from alcohol abuse cannot be measured directly. Researchers use mathematical and statistical methods to guess such costs, yet recognize that it is difficult to calculate them exactly. Moreover, costs of pain and suffering of both people who abuse alcohol and people suffered by them cannot be estimated in any authentic way, and are therefore not considered in most case studies. Elements of economics ways of thinking In this paragraph, we would present a model for analyzing and addressing the problem of alcohol abuse by taking the assumptions of ceteris paribus (other factors remains unchanged) We would take the assumption that if we increase the price of alcohol, the purchasing of alcohol would decrease, ceteris paribus (means other factors do not change like income of the consumers, or price of other substitute products). People would respond to the price hike of alcohol and would like to shift to other substitute products. If the people have to choose betweenShow MoreRelatedDrug Use And Its Effects On The Community1474 Words   |  6 Pages2002. Drug abusers experience several severe health effects ranging from ill-health, general sickness to death. Different drugs used by an individual has different health effects such as cocaine, methamphetamines and even alcohol. 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London Docklands Essay Example For Students

London Docklands Essay London DocklandsEvaluate the success of the economic,social and physical regeneration of The London Docklands.In Medieval times development occurredon the Thames, where Romans had once settled. Growth of shipbuilding industryled to the development of this area. The London Docks were built between1700 and 1921. The reason was to ease congestion on the Thames betweenships, and the lock gates helped to control the water level in the river. Security was also improved within the docks because of the high walls aroundthe dock basins. The Eastend of London developed around the Docks. At thedocks hay day London was at the centre of world trade. However in 1967 the docks started to decline,a number of reasons were to cause the downfall to one of the worlds greatesttrading ports. The docks were not designed for the size of the more modernships, not been wide enough or deep enough to allow the ships in. The newercontainer ships could not be catered for in the docks. This meant thatcompetition was starting to arise form other ports around the British Isles,mainly Tilbury and Antwerp. These newer ports offered a facility to handlecontainers, with the efficiency of a roll on/roll off system. With thecompetition a problem, the London Docks now had to battle through the declineof traditional trade that was associated with Europe and the docks. Addingto the problems, traditional industries in Britain were declining all thetime. The docks in effect were been suffocated from of trade. After yearsof decline, the docks became too expensive to run, with the lack of tradeand inefficiency of loading and unloading. By 1981, all the docks al ongthe Thames were closed, with the exception of the new Tilbury dock. Asthe area gradually started to run down, the local authorities and governmentrealised that some kind of redevelopment had to take place. Regeneration of the area had begun in placessince the end of the war in 1946, due to the extensive bomb damage thearea had suffered. Other projects also went ahead before the docks totallyclosed. The Greater London Development Plan and Inner Urban Area Actwere carried out in the 60s and 70s. However, these projects were neverdeemed a success, as the majority of the docks were still run down. Inaddition, those that were regenerated were not popular because of the misuseof materials and ideas. None of them seemed to cure the problems that theDocklands had. Derelict land in the docks was about 40%, around 6 squarekm. In the last 15 years before 1981, 150,000 jobs had been lost. The localpopulation was living on council estates that were crumbling, and had nobasic amenities. Counter urbanisation was happening to the area, over 20%had moved out. The communication network was poor, no rail links existed,roads were few and narrow, and public transport was little. Local residentswere deprive d of both leisure facilities and basics like schools and hospitals,they were not even given the chance to make a go of the area they livedin. However, a new scheme was to be set up,which was thought to be the answer to all the problems that the Docklandscontained. In 1979, a new Government came into power with different attitudesand views. They set up a non-elected corporation, which had total controlover the area. They could use government grants to prepare land and releaseit to mainly private developers. Using public funds, they were to attractprivate funds. Enter the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC). Wolfgang wazart EssayWith so much money having been spent onthe redevelopment of the Docklands, protection against flooding from theThames was required. This was found in the Thames Barrier, at only 200metres across and costing ?500 million. This barrier can controlthe height of the river, with giant gates that can be raised and lowered. The Docklands was once one of the worstrun down inner city areas in Britain. However, all this has changed asthe derelict land has become regenerated. It has turned out to be the largesturban regeneration scheme in Europe. So can we say that the Docklands redevelopmentscheme has been an all round success?Economically the area has improved, a lotof private investment has been attracted into the area. For the ?3,900million spent on the Docklands with public money, a total of around ?8,700million has become injected into the area from private funds. This is avery good thing, as companies are realising that the Docklands has a goodfuture, and are prepared to invest heavily into the area. Another attractiveis that the infrastructure has been laid by the LDDC, all costs accountedfor. This has meant that the development of the Docklands can continuewithout the investment of public money. More jobs are been created allthe while, and people are moving back. People are realising that the areah as a future. The economic aspect of the regeneration should be brandedas a success. With more pubs, restaurants, and serviceslocating in the area, people can see a future in the Docklands. Betterhouses have been made available, and it is a place that the public wantto live in. Urbanisation is staring to happen, and new housing blocks arequickly been filled. A success for sure, as people are moving back intothe area realising it has more to offer. Before the LDDC took over the area lookedugly and run down, but now has been transformed. The LDDC received a totalof 43 awards for architecture and conservation. Land prices within theDocklands also suggest success, before development land was available ata relatively cheap price. Now a one-hectare plot is worth over ?2million. In all aspects, the Docklands have beena success. From a run down inner city, it is now a city within a city. Docklands is a modern hidden community, which once was only run down land. With careful planning and consideration it has become transformed intowhat it is today. Nevertheless, as with all successes there are a few failures. Contained on London Docks, are the warehouses of the Tobacco Dock. Thiswas redeveloped into a shopping centre, but with poor custom had to close. This was through the lack of planning, but lessons were learnt. With the Docklands having been significantlyregenerated, in 1998 the LDDC finished its work in the Docklands. However,redevelopment continues to carry on the good work that the LDDC did.