To Get Rid of Nuclear Weapons is a Remote Possibility!

We are living in the era of information technology. With the invention of the atomic bomb, the meaning of warfare has been completely transformed. No doubt, the term warfare transformed over time, but politics still is the core of the war. War is a unique concern, which enables us to understand world politics and how it works. As Carl Von Clausewitz wrote, “War doesn’t belong in the realm of arts and science; rather it is a part of man’s social existence” (Clausewitz, 1976, p. 240).

Harari, in “21 Lessons for 21st Century” states that, “the invention of the atomic bomb has changed success in world war into collective suicide.” Since the incident of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, superpowers never fought with each other directly. He further states that Cyber warfare makes things even more complicated. Nowadays, if one tries to attack another country, it will also suffer dire consequences of it. He argued that in the past war was a low-damage and high-profit affair. But now with the advent of nuclear weapons and cyber warfare, “War is a high-damage and low-profit affair.” These tools can be used to destroy entire countries (Harari, 2018, p. 178-179).

It is not easy to get rid of these nuclear weapons as assumed by the realists, therefore, I argue that it is not possible to achieve nuclear disarmament, due to the following reasons;

Firstly, states are constantly striving to enhance their proliferation capacities. No doubt, the global community carries the stance to lessen the potential hazards linked with the expansion of nuclear arsenals, however, few countries boosted instead of diminishing their actions, concerning nuclear expansion (Lee and Nacht, 2020, p. 108). The names of North Korea, Iran, India, and Pakistan are worth mentioning in this case. In International Relations, power is the ultimate tool to secure one’s survival, therefore these states are striving hard to enhance their nuclear capabilities.

Secondly, we have witnessed a resurgence of nationalism all around the globe. This wave of nationalism once again heightened the realist perception of the state as a sovereign entity, whose ultimate aim was to ensure its survival. We have witnessed several examples in the past few years that confirm this assumption. For instance, in America, Donald Trump announced the construction of a wall along the Mexican Border and he even banned Muslim immigrants. Similarly, the United Kingdom left European Union and the same instances have been observed all around the globe. We also witnessed a rise of nationalist leaders and their popularity such as Reccap Tayyip Erdogan, Vladamir Putin, and Narendra Modi. Such nationalist trends would surely enhance the expansion of nuclear arsenals and might consider the non-proliferation treaty as biased (Hyman, 2006, p. 46).

Thirdly, another obstacle in the path of nuclear disarmament is the power game among superpowers: China, America, and Russia. America is trying hard to achieve the status of sole super-power through her constant involvement in a “trade war” with China and confrontations over the South China Sea. The American administration even issued a national defense strategy (2018) that referred to China and Russia as the prominent threats to the United States. After that, the America declared its exit from the “Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty”.

Lastly, nuclear disarmament is not possible due to evolving polarization among non-proliferation member countries. Dunn (2017) is of the view that “the polarization among NPT parties is greater today than it ever has been.” (408) The polarization is the consequence of non-nuclear weapon states’ frustration with the insufficiency of advancement in the path of disarmament. This sentiment is strengthened by a few Nuclear Weapon States updating their nuclear capabilities. Another reason for enhancing polarization lies in the multi-polarity of the existing world order. Emerging powers like South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina, retain refined nuclear arsenals and are vigorously involved in the administration of the nonproliferation regime (Dalton, 2016). Among the hurdles, in the way of nuclear disarmament, the issue of polarization is a serious threat to the NPT as it contradicts the treaty’s inducement framework as well as the “existing nuclear order” (Ritchie, 2013).

So, here I’m with my first book review of 2023, and what a remarkable read it has been. Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor is a detailed interpretation of the despotism foisted by the British Empire on the Indian Subcontinent, exclusively based on facts and figures. The author penned the role of East India Company in the unending looting of the subcontinent and the policy of the British Empire “Divide Et Impera” (divide and rule) that lead to the establishment of India and Pakistan. Tharoor investigates the cultural, social, political, and economic crevasse that the British Empire imposed on the Crown Jewel of the World.

The book makes an argument: it doesn’t tell a story at all. It is intended to examine the legacy of Raj, to critically study the claims made for its alleged benefits, and to present the evidence and the arguments against it. The core argument of the book is centered on the theme that it’s a high time we stop crediting British rule on India as a remarkable or democratic one. Unlike the Mughals or other rulers of the Indian subcontinent, the British never tried to assimilate the different cultures and languages that it has to offer. Rather, they imposed an alien language as well as culture upon Indians, which is not appropriate for them. Not only that, the British Empire manipulated, plundered, looted, and stripped India of its innate essence. They imposed an altogether different form of government, that still haunts the region.

Colonialism, a cultural project of control was imposed over the Indian subcontinent. The existence of hostile creeds among Indian people was essential for the political position of the British in India. Therefore, they applied the policy of divide and rule. Before the Britishers, to a large extent, the region was religiously tolerant. Different races, ethnicities, and religions are coexisting peacefully for centuries. Through Victorian values, the British laid the seeds of economic exploitation, poverty, corruption, and inequality in India.

Ultimately, in 1947 the world witnessed the horrors of the bloodiest partition in the world’s history. The partition of the Indian subcontinent was a direct consequence of the deliberate British policy of communal division that fomented religious antagonists to facilitate continued imperial rule. In the words of Tharoor,

As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our day-to-day experience, if something has never happened before we generally assume that it is not going to happen in the future. But, the exception can kill us, and undoubtedly, climate change is one of those exceptions. Global Warming, an undeniable fact signifies the rise in the earth’s surface temperature. The controversy over global warming is one of the most decisive in the world today. To a body of opinion, which counts among its adherents (mostly the scientific community) global warming is a concrete reality.

Global warming is an undeniable fact. the Earth’s average surface temperature has increased by about 1°C since 1990, with over half of the increase occurring since the mid-1970s. A wide range of other observations (for instance, reduced arctic sea ice extent and increased ocean content) and indications from natural world (poleward shifts of temperature sensitive species of fish, mammals, insects etc.) together provide an incontrovertible evidence of planetary-scale warming.

Climate change is often cast as a prediction made by complicated computer models. But, the scientific basis for global warming is much broader, and models are in fact are only a part of it. For more than a century, scientists have apprehended the basis physics behind why certain greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide cause warming. These gases make up just a small fraction of the atmosphere but exert outsized control on Earth’s climate by trapping some of the planet’s heat before it escapes into space. This green house effect is important : it’s why a planet so far from the sun has liquid water and life.

The crude idea in the common popular presentation of the green house effect is that the atmosphere is transparent to sunlight, which heats the earth’s surface. The surface offsets that heating by radiating the infrared rays. The infrared radiations increases with the the increasing surface temperature, and the temperature adjusts until a balance is achieved. If the atmosphere was also transparent to infrared radiation, then an average surface temperature of -18°C would balance the incoming solar radiations. Consequently, the earth heat up somewhat more to deliver the same flux of infrared radiation to space. That is what known as Green House Effect.

At different points in our lives, every one of us needs medical attention. It doesn’t matter whether we reside in a technically advanced city, or some isolated rural area, we all have to encounter medical care and facilities. Medical knowledge is not a new thing, rather the history of medical knowledge is as old as the history of human civilization.

The origin of medical knowledge dates back to 2600 BC. During that period, Imhotep was a well-known doctor and he is considered the “first physician mentioned in recorded history”. With the birth of Hippocrates (460 BC), a formal era of medical knowledge began. In other words, with the advent of Hippocrates, the Greek period led to the foundation of medical knowledge. Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine initiated the scientific study of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath remains a core element before joining the medical profession.

In the Greek period, after Hippocrates the name of Aristotle and Galen got prominence. Aristotle identified four bodily liquids, namely, phlegm, blood, black, and yellow bile. He associated these bodily fluids with the disorders. In 130 AD, Galen was born. He was a Greek physician to gladiators and Roman emperors. His work become influential over the coming centuries.

Medical knowledge in the Middle Ages was mostly based on the ancient works of Galen and Hippocrates. It was believed that the human body is linked with the four elements of nature (air, water, fire, and earth) and bodily pigments. In the middle ages, it is believed that health can be maintained or rehabilitated by these factors. Health treatment and facilities were available for the upper class only. Church played a huge role in this regard. In this period, the movement of stars and planets was considered of great importance. It was believed that the movement of stars impacts multiple things on earth, ranging from weather patterns to the growth of crops and even the working of the human body. Doctors and physicians most of the time carry a special almanac with them to locate the position of stars before performing surgery or diagnosis. An important way to deduce illness in this period was to examine urine, stool, and blood.

The golden era of medical knowledge began with the advent of Islam in the Arab. Islamic medical knowledge was also based on the legacies of Greek and Roman physicians. Islamic scholars did a remarkable job of translating the work of Romans and Greeks into Arabic. These scholars elaborated on these findings and formulated new conclusions, and perspectives. A scientific view of medical knowledge was put forward. Islamic scholars and thinkers made successful attempts at surgery, built hospitals, and even entered women for the first time in the medical profession. The works of Al-Razi, Ibn-Sina, Ibn Al-Nafis, and Al-Zahrawi got prominent.

Al-Razi also known as the “father of pediatrics”, was the first physician to distinguish measles from smallpox. He also pioneered ophthalmology and first to discuss allergy and immunology. Ibn-Sina also known as Avicenna in the West, had written almost 450 books and articles. His important contribution to medieval medicine was the “Canon of Medicine” which is essential reading at medical schools around the world. Al Zahrawi wrote a great treatise on medical knowledge named “Kitab al-Tasrif” a thirty-volume book on medicine and surgery. He also invented around 200 surgical instruments, many of which are still used today, including forceps, scalpels, surgical needles and retractors, specula, and catgut sutures.

Technology innovation and the advancement of Science transformed medical knowledge and practice. Antiseptic and aseptic modes of treating infection were introduced. The usage of chloroform as anesthesia was also inducted by James Simpson. The first-ever vaccine was discovered by Louis Pasture in 1880. Vaccination revolutionized medical knowledge. It was the period when X-rays were discovered. With the discovery of X-rays, the identification and treatment of diseases becomes much easier and more efficient. In 1928, the discovery of penicillin (wonder drug) by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming lead to the foundation of modern-day medical knowledge.

In the universe, nothing is stagnant. Everyone and everything is constantly changing. The same applies to medical knowledge. Medical knowledge existed in the past, and it would continue to exist in the future as well. One must learn from past endeavors and experiences. The evolution of medical knowledge and practices relate to and has been driven in part by the development of medical technology and the scientific revolution. Medical knowledge is limited, diseases were perplexing, and diagnostic tools were largely absent (Rosenberg and Vogel 1979). Record not only uncovers ingredients of continuity and transition in medical theory and strategy but furthermore, detects the intimate connection between subjective understandings of disease, scientific understanding of bodies and minds, and the broader social aspects that affect our knowledge of fitness and disease.

Brazier, Yvatte. “Medieval Islamic Medicine: Influences, Thinkers, and Anatomy .” Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, November 9, 2018. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323612.

“6 Important Islamic Achievements in Medieval Medicine .” History, March 23, 2018. https://www.historyonthenet.com/6-important-islamic-achievements-in-medieval-medicine.

GreekMedicine.net. “Aristotle.” Accessed April 22, 2022. www.greekmedicine.net/whos_who/Aristotle.html

“History of Medicine.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/science/history-of-medicine.

Hurry, J. B. Imhotep, 2nd ed. New York: AMS Press. 1978.

McCall, Taylor. “Medical Knowledge in the Early Medieval Period.” British Library. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.bl.uk/medieval-english-french-manuscripts/articles/medical-knowledge-in-the-early-medieval-period.