No offense shall ever be taken (at least not to heart), but I somehow felt that
the following comment was at least slightly insulting (if not entirely):
>@hws.edu at precisely 7:50 AM-0700 on 5/28/98, grouped some
>electrons into this:
>
>WOW Rohit, if this isn't a VOX post I've never seen one ... ;-)
PLUS, I had been waiting for the opportunity to throw your own words back in
your face and this seemed like as good of time as any.
>Are we clear on the difference?
Hell, YES!!!
Okay, now to answer Ernie's question on who's who in the nuclear world. Paul
Crumlish, the director of the HWS Library where I work, has written a book on
this topic called "The Nuclear Predicament" and he is extremely knowledgable
about what's happening. So, I took the lazy way out and did not do actual
research but instead asked him for a list. There is a whole vocabulary for
listing countries -- ie. declared, suspected, potential, etc..
Here is his response:
Previously Declared (pre-1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty):
U.S. , the former USSR, UK, France, China
Newly Declared:
India, Pakistan (formerly on the suspected list)
Suspected:
Israel (note: until a country detonates, they can only be listed as suspected
even if everyone knows that they have it)
Potential (have an ambitious and active nuclear program):
Iraq, Iran, N. Korea
Possible (ie: have the technology and infrastructure):
Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, S. Korea, Germany, Norway, S. Africa
Ambitious in the Past (but not likely at the present):
Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia
Status Unsure:
Ukraine, Khazhakistan, Belorussia
Finally, Tim, I think you commented before that "we" gave Israel the
capability to be a nuclear power... who did you mean by we? According to Paul
Crumlish, Israel's nuclear capabilities should be attributed to France and not
the USA.
Janie