Is that a nuclear warhead, or are you just happy to see me?
January 12, 2002 11:13 PM Subscribe
Is that a nuclear warhead, or are you just happy to see me? What, exactly, does Pakistan have in the way of nuclear weapons? A brief peek at the (ever-cheery) Nuclear Notebook of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will give you a concise rundown. Perhaps soon they will do a matching entry on India. While you're there, why not synchronize your watches with a history of the Doomsday Clock?
Nice bigoted remarks there, Aikido.
posted by donkeyschlong at 1:54 AM on January 13, 2002
posted by donkeyschlong at 1:54 AM on January 13, 2002
And why isn't Pakistan in the stone age? Please, explain good sir how the fuck Pakistan worked their way up to the atomic bomb?
Face it, they're a fuedal society. That's not bigotted, it's fact.
posted by Aikido at 1:58 AM on January 13, 2002
Face it, they're a fuedal society. That's not bigotted, it's fact.
posted by Aikido at 1:58 AM on January 13, 2002
"Fuedal" is a correct assessment, "stone age" wasn't. Swearing is also not correct, but I'll just assume you're a jerk.
posted by donkeyschlong at 2:36 AM on January 13, 2002
posted by donkeyschlong at 2:36 AM on January 13, 2002
Aikido, you ARE a jerk. Pakistan was part of India until independence. English is spoken everywhere. They have a professionally trained military and an industrial base, and millions of educated people. If it weren't for their big problems -- exploding population, millions of Afghan refugees, and religious extremists streaming in from all over -- they wouldn't be in dire straits.
Pakistan's late PM Zulfikar Bhutto declared ca. 1965 that "Pakistan will have the [atomic] bomb if our people have to eat grass" [cite] and there's no question they were not in 1973 a country that could do that. But in 1940 the US was not a country that could make a bomb, either.
How do you do it? You send your students to study physics and ordnance in universities around the world. You buy a nuclear reactor from China to gain expertise. You throw a lot of money at the problem. It really isn't relevant what kind of society you have if you're willing and able to make that kind of effort.
posted by dhartung at 5:05 AM on January 13, 2002
Pakistan's late PM Zulfikar Bhutto declared ca. 1965 that "Pakistan will have the [atomic] bomb if our people have to eat grass" [cite] and there's no question they were not in 1973 a country that could do that. But in 1940 the US was not a country that could make a bomb, either.
How do you do it? You send your students to study physics and ordnance in universities around the world. You buy a nuclear reactor from China to gain expertise. You throw a lot of money at the problem. It really isn't relevant what kind of society you have if you're willing and able to make that kind of effort.
posted by dhartung at 5:05 AM on January 13, 2002
"Feudal", even spelled right, is misapplied in Pakistan too. If Aikido means "insufficiently democratic" or "insufficiently modern," well, that may be true. It's a judgment call. But "feudal" actually has a specific meaning--landholding in exchange for military service, a mutual set of obligations between lords and vassals--and Pakistan ain't that.
posted by rodii at 8:52 AM on January 13, 2002
posted by rodii at 8:52 AM on January 13, 2002
As for supplying chimps with nukes, that's just silly. What currency would they pay us in, bananas?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:01 AM on January 13, 2002
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:01 AM on January 13, 2002
If anyone's still reading this...the 1998 India versus Pakistan assessment is kind of interesting.
posted by gimonca at 10:14 AM on January 13, 2002
posted by gimonca at 10:14 AM on January 13, 2002
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I think to improve its strategic position, the US should start supplying chimps nuclear warheads. Damn... I'm drunk
posted by Aikido at 1:28 AM on January 13, 2002