In Taoism and Confucianism, harmony and balance is main goal, which is the reason for the old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times”. We certainly do: “The Risk that Nuclear Weapons Will Be Used Is Growing,” from Spiegel, February 10:
Richard Burt is an American diplomat who served as the US Ambassador to Germany between 1985 and 1989. In 1991, he served as the chief US negotiator during the START nuclear-disarmament talks with the Soviet Union. Among other things, he currently serves as the US chair of Global Zero, an initiative advocating an end to all nuclear weapons. Before joining the US State Department, he worked at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies and as a national security correspondent for the New York Times….
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Isn’t Iran another good example?
Burt: The problem with Iran is not that there is necessarily going to be an Israeli-Iranian nuclear conflict. In fact, I think the Israelis would probably deter the Iranians from using nuclear weapons. But the danger is that once Iran acquires these weapons, there’s the potential for a cascade of other countries to do the same. Turkey, for example, would be very likely to acquire its own nuclear weapons if Iran went that way; Egypt and Saudi Arabia, too. What we could see is a dangerous Sunni-Shite nuclear arms race — and that is very worrisome.