The danger of weapons of mass destruction

There are three kinds of weapon of mass destruction: atomic, biological, and chemical. The physical danger of these weapons is well documented. The question is the actuality of the danger of these weapons, when in the hands of different powers of the world. On this subject one can have lengthy discussions, about regimes, democracy, etcetera. One can also take the more practical approach: the powers that have actually used them are the most dangerous.

So let’s first look at atomic weapons, and the powers that have used them. There is one: the United States, on two occasions, for the destruction of two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Next are the biological weapons. These have been never been used on any significant scale. The obvious reason is that a biological weapon against humans cannot be made specific to certain groups of people, everyone is vulnerable to them, including the ones that would use them.

Lastly the chemical weapons. Their first use on a significant scale was in World War I, in gas attacks during the trench warfare. They could not be used frequently, because any wind makes it ineffective, and when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, it even also attacks the own troops. So chemical attacks are only effective in places where one has large areas to work with. Their most wide spread use has been during the war in Vietnam, when the United States used large amount of so-called “Agent Orange” in attempts to destroy the jungle, which provided cover to the opposing troops. While officially targeted against vegetation, it also effects human being as most of these poisons do. Most of the victims were of course civilians, whose number is difficult to determine because of the wide variety of effects. But up to the present day there are many cases of birth defects directly relatable to Agent Orange, so the number of victims will probably be in the hundreds of thousands.

In conclusion one can say that if the use of weapons of mass destruction is taken to determine is which hands they are the most dangerous, there is little doubt that they are the most dangerous in the hands of the United States.
 

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