According to today's Age, "Australia and Japan are at loggerheads over the use of nuclear weapons in war, with Japan - the only country to suffer an atomic attack - determined they should remain a broad-based deterrent". Great, but since when have we needed to worry about nuclear warfare? I why is it all of a sudden front page news. Never to dissapoint, I investigated further into the matter for you my trusty readers.
According to various sources (yes I did just look it up in wikipedia but I promise you I read some other stuff too), the NFU or "no first-use" policy refers to the position that countries like India, China and North Korea have adopted in relation to their attitude about nuclear weapons. An NFU is "a pledge or a policy by a list of states with nuclear weapons" to not use nuclear weapons as a mean of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons" This means China, India and North Korea will not use nuclear weapons unless somebody else does it first. The US, England, Israel and Pakistan do not have such a policy as each individual country has specific justifications as to why they would be allowed to call the shots in deciding who gets to fire the first nuclear missile.
So, you're probably thinking right now, what has this got to do with Japan? Well, for those of you who weren't born in the 80s (sorry Calvin), this whole nuclear paranoia crap started in 1945 when a nuclear bomb cutely dubbed "Little Boy" was kindly dropped on the Japanese town of Hiroshima, instantly killing 80,000 people, the largest mass killing by a single military weapon in history. After effects of the attack resulted in nearly 120,000 deaths from the radiation exposure and 69% of the infrastructure of the city was destroyed. According to reports by the Truman government, the bomb was dropped after the Japanese government rejected the Potsdam Ultimatum, the Allies last proposal to Japan to surrender. After the rejection, the American's let "Little Boy" fly on Hiroshima which many believe on August 6th, was the end of the second world war.
Well thats your little history lesson for today folks but I can sense you're all a little bit confused. Mainly, why is Japan refusing to follow Australia's lead in asking Britain, the US and other anti-NFU countries to disarm their nuclear forces so as to reduce the risk of another Hiroshima-type attack. Japan, however, has apparently piped up and said that it does not want this to happen because it would mean the US would lose its powers to employ a first-strike against countries who may or may not have employed nuclear weapons against home territory or an ally.
To make all of this a little bit more logical, this is the way I believe it all works.
The 9 countries involved can be seen like the cliques you get in highschool. America, Britain, Israel and Pakistan are the cools kids who believe they are superior to everyone else just because they have a massive hedgefund. North Korea, Russia and China are those creepy kids who have proved in the past that they can cause some damage but have since been severely ripped by the popular kids and as a result, spend their lunchtimes plotting their revenge. Japan and Australia are the new kids on the block who have never really had an opinion when it comes to "playground politics" but only know they just want to fit in. Together, they vowed to assist the "popular" crew with particular international problems etc and most of the time you'll find Japan and Australia are on America's side. However, because Japan used to fight with the US all the time when they were toddlers (their mums had to separate them from eachother during playgroup), they feel that America will kick their ass again if they make any waves so they basically do whatever America tells them to do. Australia, on the otherhand, is the little Indie kid who likes to believe they are setting the trends. What they don't realise half the time though, is that no one is really listening to them.
Hence we arrive at the predicament we are in now. When originally Japan and Australia arrived on the scene at the same time, Japan has now grown bigger balls and isn't too interested in keeping face with Australia as they've got big old America behind them to back them up. As a result, Australia is the last kid on the bench during sport trials and when it comes to lunchtime, you'll usually find it in the toilet blocks eating a sandwich by itself.
I thought you may have all liked a little variety to spice up your usual optimism but have no fear, as I always do, here's the good stuff:
Basically, we can rest easily in knowing that Australia is not about to just roll over and play dead for America just because it's lost its new best friend Japan. No, its seems our gang leader, K-Rudd, has more pride than that and he doesn't look like he's going to give up that quickly. Also, the possibility of the world being destroyed by another "Little Boy" is quite rare as the world has more pressing matters at hand such as (cue sarcasm) the global financial crisis (Tragedy!), decreasing oil supplies (What horror!), and international trading treaties (Its an outrage!).
So, instead of freaking out about the possibility that America may just decide to end the world with the push of a button overnight, be grateful in knowing that we have a prime minister who is not a pushover and that the possibility of an attack in the near future is quite improbable.
There you go folks, you thought it was all a bit touch and go there for a while but as I always do, I provided you with the goods. So rest easy tonight and remember, don't worry. Be happy!
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