Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters (Boston Review Books) [Hardcover]

Hans Blix (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262026449 | ISBN-13: 978-0262026444 | Publication Date: April 4, 2008 | Edition: First Edition

From the former UN head weapons inspector in Iraq, a plea for a renewed global disarmament movement.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In 2002 Dr. Hans Blix, then chief United Nations weapons inspector, led his team on a search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Before the United States went to war with Iraq the next March, he maintained there were no WMD in Iraq. History proved him right. For more than forty years Dr. Blix has worked on global disarmament, and with this new book he renews the call for nuclear nonproliferation. His interests, though, go beyond stemming the threat of nuclear attack from rogue states and terrorists. It is not, he argues, a recipe for success for nuclear states to tell the rest of the world that it must stay away from the very weapons that nuclear states claim are indispensable. We will never be able to convince rogue states to halt the pursuit of nuclear weapons programs unless we take the lead in a new nonproliferation and disarmament movement. Looking back at the UN post-World War II efforts against the use of nuclear weapons, Blix documents the retreat from early commitments by nuclear powers, most alarmingly from pledges against first use and toward programs to develop new types of nuclear weapons. He urges us to revive these efforts, and that the world's powers also look at issues of global disarmament and security as pieces of the same puzzle. Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters includes specific suggestions--how the UN can set the stage for a credible multilateral disarmament and nonproliferation process; what kind of treaties would be most helpful--and recommendations for regional policy, including providing the Middle East with enriched uranium for civilian nuclear power production but not allowing uranium enrichment there.From March 2000 to June 2003 Hans Blix was Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). Dr. Blix, author of Disarming Iraq, is Chair of the Swedish government's Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; First Edition edition (April 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262026449
• ISBN-13: 978-0262026444
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Vindication of Hans Blix, October 18, 2010

By 

Fred Zuber - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Nuclear Disarmament Matters (Boston Review Books) (Hardcover)

Hans Blix provides an interesting perspective for nuclear disarmament. That perspective should have been taken into account by the Bush administration, not only for nuclear weapons, but for the mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction. It's such a simple concept that it could've been realized without the writing of this book, but it wasn't. The United States fell down on the job of being a world leader because of the "entitlement" attitude of the political right, which is, entitlement to push around any country that disagrees with U.S. policy. Blix makes a strong case for changing that policy and gaining the respect from the rest of the world by encouraging cooperation rather than using strong arm tactics. Possibly because he's been around the world a few times and has chosen to learn from it, unlike the Bush administration that didn't learn anything but went out into the world anyway, and still didn't learn anything. It's the different between having street savvy and being a bully to get something accomplished. It seems that the U.S. may never have really had the insight into the rest of the world. This was demonstrated with the price that was paid for the war in Iraq to rid the country of the mythical Weapons of Mass Destruction. A good supplemental read to Hans Blix's book is "The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris" by Peter Beinart. Beinart's book gives another point of understanding and supporting Blix's approach.