Nuclear Weapons

Question 1

What was the conventional reasoning behind why states build nukes?

Answer 1

Neutralize security threats; there as a last resort if all other means of defense should fail

Question 2

The idea of nukes being used to neutralize security threats is consistent with what kind of realism?

Answer 2

neo-realism (states are concerned with safety)

Question 3

What are some other reasons states have nukes?

Answer 3

Domestic factors

• businesses want to make a profit
• countries want prestige

Question 4

What are the internal factors that could lead to nukes?

Answer 4

• pressures from within the government and military bureaucracy
• reasons of prestige/domestic popularity

Question 5

What is an example of prestige/domestic popularity with nukes?

Answer 5

In the late 90s, India and Pakistan both tested nuclear weapons. The populations were very excited, celebrated, handed out candy in streets

Question 6

Nuclear pork

Answer 6

building more nuclear weapons creates jobs and builds factories and infrastructure (example of pork-barrel spending)

Question 7

what is the scientific-industrial-military complex?

Answer 7

laboratories make nuclear weapons innovations

• they seek more funding and prestige; create coalitions with sponsors within the professional military
• seek support from politicians to allocate state spending

Question 8

What is the military-industrial complex?

Answer 8

• coined by US pres. Eisenhower in outgoing address (Jun 1961)
• US arms industry was gaining undue influence in politics
• -US arms industry could shape government decision making

Question 9

What does Sagan argue?

Answer 9

• nuclear weapons are not a solution to a security problem

- security threats are an excuse to develop nuclear weapons programs where there are already domestic pressures

Question 10

What is the NPT?

Answer 10

• launched in 1970
• prevent countries from developing nukes
• 190 member states

Question 11

What are some faults of the NPT?

Answer 11

• does not pressure existing nuclear powers to eliminate existing weapons
• non-members haven’t faced and consquences
• states aren’t provided with incentives to join and adhere to NPT

Question 12

Who are some notable non-members of NPT?

Answer 12

North Korea, Israel, India, and Pakistan (all nuclear powers)

Question 13

Edelman and company argue that the US “red lines” _______ deter Iran

Answer 13

would not

Question 14

What do Edelman, etc. believe could happen if Iran becomes a nuclear power?

Answer 14

• embolden Iran and damage Middle East status quo
• diminish US power and influence in the region
• destabilize region because it would become a multipolar nuclear region
• arms race (ex. Saudi Arabia)

Question 15

What do Edelman, etc. suggest US do?

Answer 15

increase US military presence to boost leverage, deterrence, “back-up” threats

Question 16

What does Waltz argue will/could happen if Iran becomes a nuclear power?

Answer 16

• stabilize region because “power begs to be balanced” (Israel is currently only nuclear power in Middle East)
• Iranian leaders have a history of being rational, they seek security, don’t want to initiate nuclear war
• historically, countries become more cautious after developing nuclear weapons (ex. China)

Question 17

Name some events that lead to the US-Iranian Rivalry

Answer 17

1951: democratically-elected Iranian Pres. Mossadegh nationalized oil reserves
1953: Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the US CIA and British MI6–West installed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
1979: Pahlavi overthrown in 1979 Islamic Revolution
1979: Iranians seized 52 US embassy staff, held them hostage for 444 days (released in 1980)
1983: Iran helped found and support Lebanese rebel group Hezbollah, which bombed US marines barracks in Lebanon, killing 242
2003: Iran began sponsoring Shi’a militants in Iraq (continues to sponsor) that have killed US troops

Question 18

What are some general Iranian sentiments about US?

Answer 18

• felt US was surrounding them after Afghanistan and Iraq invasions
• refers to US as “Great Satan”

Question 19

US keeps Iran on list of countries that ________

Answer 19

sponsor terrorism

Question 20

Describe the history of the negative relationship between Iran and Israel

Answer 20

• Iran refers to Israel as “Little Satan”
• Israel has fought Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon since 1982 (Hezbollah’s main use is against Israel)
• Iran is widely suspected of bombing Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Jewish Center in 1994 in Buenos Aires
• Israel regards Iranian nuclear program as existential threat
  - Israel has killed Iranian nuclear scientists, detonated a bomb at an Iranian missile base (2011) and launched computer viruses to disrupt Iranian uranium enrichment

Question 21

What are some examples of Israel striking first?

Answer 21

June 7 1981: Israeli jets destroyed Iraqi nuclear reactor, ending Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions
September 2007: Israelis jets destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria
-Israeli jets have repeatedly destroyed weapons stock in Syria destined for Hezbollah

Question 22

What did Israeli PM Netanyahu talk about in his speech to US congress in March 2015?

Answer 22

• claimed Iran was greatest threat to world peace
• warned that Iranian bomb would have catastrophic consequences
• speech was widely regarded as a direct appeal to US and Israeli public opinion

Question 23

What was the US-Iranian nuclear deal?

Answer 23

US and EU would lift crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran slowing the enrichment of uranium and opening its nuclear facilities to inspection
-2015

Question 24

What did Israel think of the US-Iranian deal?

Answer 24

Some debate about topic

• PM Netanyahu warned that it would be a “historic mistake”
• two former chiefs of Mossad Spy service spoke in favour of the deal
• Retired Mossad chief Meir Dagan said bombing Iranian nulcear installations before diplomacy had been exhausted was “the stupidest idea” called Iranian leaders “very rational”

Question 25

Describe the debate about the Iranian deal

Answer 25

• despite it passing, most US republicans and many democrats opposed the deal in House and Senate
• many hardline Iranians were opposed to the deal
• –Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamene’i warned that US was “Great Satan”, announced there would be no further deals

Question 26

Describe Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran Deal and the “aftermath”

Answer 26

• called it “horrible, one-sided”
• European partners, Russia, and China all remain in deal, express hope it can endure
• Iran has reaffirmed its adherence to deal’s terms, not withdrawn from deal yet
• Israel attacked Iranian build-up in Syria after Trump’s withdrawal