Barack Obama has just told told a rapturous Prague crowd that he wants to see a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not sure it's an ambition I share. It's certainly not an ambition supported by Margaret Thatcher. She called it "infantile" in 2000.
By massively increasing the horror of war the possession of nuclear weapons by rational states has made war much less likely. Nuclear weapons are probably the most dreadful things man has ever invented but they cannot be disinvented.
I certainly oppose nuclear proliferation but do not see any reason why expansionist, aggressive states like Iran and North Korea will abandon their nuclear ambitions if America and other free nations adopt the moral high ground and disarm. There are strong reasons to think that they will have an added incentive to get a nuclear capacity.
Yes, let's reduce the amount of nuclear weapons in the world but I hope President Obama will tread very carefully on this one.
