Trinity at Eighty
“Trinity at Eighty”
July 16th marks the 80th year since America detonated the bomb- "Trinity" -at Alamogordo, N.M. From that day forward humanity would have to confront the uncomfortable truths about nuclear weapons, from their humanitarian consequences to the fragility of deterrence itself. Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev understood this and detente with the then Soviet Union and the ensuing arms reductions were remarkable.
The current administration has allocated billions of dollars for a proposed “golden dome” of missile defense. The first nuclear arms control treaty-SALT-in 1972 was coupled with a treaty limiting defense-ABM. It was understood that you can’t have one without the other and that futile attempts at missile defense would only result in a more dangerous arms race. The western democracies must lead the way in dispelling the deeply ingrained perception of missile defense providing security. Let’s have arms reductions please, none in space.
Bert Crain
