FIFTH COLOUMN 

The United States of America has taken the world by surprise by showing its interest in adopting the No-First-Use policy with regard to nuclear weapons. In simple terms, NFU means that nuclear weapons will be used only to counter a nuclear threat and would not be used in other kind of attacks - conventional, chemical or biological.

The US had adopted a 'first use' policy since the advent of nuclear weapons, and had, thus far, been reluctant to bring changes to its nuclear policy. However, there have been debates in the past that the NFU policy could be an important step in achieving the goal of nuclear disarmament. An NFU approach would basically mean that a nation would not be depending upon its nuclear weapons for dealing with threats, because it would have developed other, non-nuclear means to counter such threats and achieve its overseas objectives. This will ultimately make nuclear weapons obsolete, and possibly render the nuclear disarmament process successful.

There has been an endless debate about whether the US should adopt the NFU approach or not. However, the main question is whether an NFU policy would be sufficient to end the mad race for nuclear weapons. Since the advent of nuclear weapons, the world has been caught in a cycle of nuclear proliferation which is difficult to end. An NFU declaration by the US would mean that the nation would depend more on its advanced conventional weapons to deal with threats.

Mad race

Obviously, the US has vast resources to spend on conventional weapons; its inventory includes technologically complex ballistic missile defence systems, prompt global strike systems and even smart conventional weapons which can almost be considered an equivalent to nuclear weapons in their destructive power, minus radiation. The idea behind the US's policy could be about spending more on weapons it can actually use, rather than investing in nuclear weapons which have become mere showpieces in strategic circles.

On the contrary, other nations do not have the capability or the resources to spend excessively on conventional weapons in order to compete with the US. America's adversaries include big nations like China and Russia, and small ones like Iran and North Korea. These countries have obvious reasons to be wary of the US's superiority when it comes to conventional weapons. Both allies and adversaries of the US have already seen the role played by technologically superior conventional weapons during the first Gulf war. As a result, they will depend on nuclear weapons during any kind of conflict in order to deal with America's conventional superiority. Russia had mentioned that it would resort to its nuclear weapons - including the policy of de-escalation - to counter any conventional weapons threat.

The result of all this would be an inadvertent nuclear arms race, which even the US's NFU policy would not be able to deal with. It is like a vicious cycle of proliferation from which the world cannot escape. Therefore, the declaration of an NFU policy alone will not end nuclear proliferation. In fact, the conventional domination of the US is an impediment to achieving success in nuclear disarmament. The answer to ending this cycle of proliferation is to put a limit on conventional weapons along with an NFU declaration. The issue of conventional weapons has seldom been debated or discussed at international fora. It is high time that such issues were paid attention, so that real disarmament can be achieved on the international front.