Apocalypse Never

by Daley, Tad

• ISBN13: 9780813546612
• ISBN10: 0813546613
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-15
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

The United States. North Korea. Iran. India. Pakistan. Israel. Nuclear weapons abolition. Nuclear catastrophe or nuclear disarmament? The twenty-first century has ushered in a world at the atomic edge. The pop culture days ofDr. Strangelovehave been replaced by the all-too-real single day of24. Tad Daley has written a book for the general reader about this most crucial of contemporary challenges.Apocalypse Nevermaintains that the abolition of nuclear weapons is both essential and achievable, and reveals in fine detail what we need to do—both governments and movements—to make it a reality. Daley insists that while global climate change poses the single greatest long-term peril to the human race, the nuclear challenge in its many incarnations—nuclear terror, nuclear accident, a nuclear crisis spinning out of control—poses the single most immediate peril.Daley launches a wholesale assault on the nuclear double standard—the notion that the United States permits itself thousands of these weapons but forbids others from aspiring to even one—insisting that it is militarily unnecessary, morally indefensible, and politically unsustainable. He conclusively repudiates the most frequent objection to nuclear disarmament, the breakout scenario”—the possibility that after abolition someone might whip back the curtain, reveal a dozen nuclear warheads, and proceed to rule the world.”On the wings of a brand new era in American history,Apocalypse Nevermakes the case that a comprehensive nuclear policy agenda from President Obama, one that fully integrates nonproliferation with disarmament, can both eliminate immediate nuclear dangers and set us irreversibly on the road to abolition. In jargon-free language, Daley explores the possible verification measures, enforcement mechanisms, and governance structures of a nuclear weapon–free world. Most importantly, he decisively argues that universal nuclear disarmament is something we can transform from a utopian fantasy into a concrete political goal.

Table of Contents

Apocalypse Soon?	p. 1
The Essence of the Problem: America's Nuclear Hypocrisy	p. 17
The Nightmare of Nuclear Terror	p. 38
Accidental Atomic Apocalypse	p. 66
Nuclear Crisis Mismanagement: "There Would Be No Learning Curve"	p. 85
Intentional Use: The Nuclear Legacy of George W. Bush	p. 96
The Grand Bargain of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Rules of the Nuclear Game Today	p. 111
Nuclear Weapons are Militarily Unnecessary and Militarily Useless. For Us.	p. 125
The Architecture of a Nuclear Weapon-Free World	p. 155
Breakout: Could Someone Cheat and Rule the World?	p. 189
How It Might Happen: Transforming Abolition from a Utopian Fantasy into a Concrete Political Goal	p. 203
Apocalypse Never	p. 228
Acknowledgments	p. 243
Notes	p. 251
Glossary of Acronyms	p. 269
Organizations Working to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Forever	p. 273
Index	p. 277
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