When World War II ended, the United States emerged as the preeminent military power of the globe. We recognized the horrible destruction that nuclear weapons cause and we did everything short of going into another war to prevent the Soviets from getting their own nukes but, they did it anyway. Recognizing the dangers of nuclear proliferation, the world's nuclear powers ultimately agreed in 1970 to put a stop to the growing number of nations possessing nukes and to work toward the use of peaceful nuclear energy and the reduction of nuclear weapons. At that time, only the U.S., Soviet Union, France, Russia and the United Kingdom were recognized as nuclear nations.
Some 190 nations have signed on to that agreement. Those not agreeing, or having withdrawn include: North Korea, Pakistan, India, Israel and South Sudan. As of this moment, four additional nations appear to have nukes: North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan. Iran appears to be within weeks of joining "the club."
Since World War II, we have been involved in several wars and essentially lost all of them: Korea; Vietnam; Desert Storm, (Gulf War); Desert Fox, (Iraq); Iraq and Afghanistan. We certainly did not win any of them. In the last five years we have decimated our military readiness and steered away from any possibility of conflict. It can be argued that we have displayed weakness and are no longer perceived as being the world's preeminent military power.
We are now staring at tinderboxes around the globe: North vs. South Korea; Iran & Syria vs. Israel; Russia vs. Ukraine; China vs. Japan & Philippines; Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Middle East in general. It's tough enough to have a balancing act with any one of these situations, let alone all of them at the same time. These are all instances of potential war that could easily escalate to World War III.
These are also all instances that would probably not exist if the world didn't respect our political muscle and our commitment to world peace. As it is, every passing day seems to get us closer to an irreversible confrontation somewhere on the globe which could lead directly to World War III.
That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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