nuclear-news

Could Malta lead the way to nuclear disarmament?

One Step At a Time – Nuclear disarmament: Could Malta lead the way? The Malta Independent 19 August 2012 Prof. Martin Hellman,  Stanford University with the support of ICT Gozo Malta Project’s Ron Kelson (Synaptic Labs), Dave Pace, and Benjamin Gittins (Synaptic Labs)

At first, it might seem inconceivable that tiny Malta could lead the world in solving an issue as momentous as nuclear disarmament. To see
that possibility requires recognising that nuclear disarmament is a
process involving a number of steps. Malta cannot take some of the
later steps in the process, but is ideal for making the first move.

The approach is similar to a business strategy known as market
segmentation. If a small company develops a product that the whole
world needs, initially it would fail if it marketed the product
globally. Its resources would be too small for that task. The company
first needs to focus on a smaller market that is commensurate with its
resources. Only after achieving success there can it branch out, using
the new resources created by its initial success to sell into
ever-larger markets. The initial market should be chosen based on its
size and its openness to the new product…..
In the same way that Apple conquered the world by market segmentation,
proponents of nuclear disarmament need to work one step at a time and
look beyond the limited success that is possible today. For the world
to treat this issue as the existential threat that it is, first one
nation needs to do so, and Malta is ideal for that role. Its small
population is almost a hundred times easier to reach than that of the
United States, and the Maltese people do not fear loss of national
prestige or economic dislocations from nuclear disarmament….
If enough Maltese recognised that nuclear disarmament was necessary
for their survival, Malta would become an island of reality within a
sea of denial. Once that occurs, Malta can take the process to the
next step by encouraging other nations to join its effort. The key
first step is for some nation to assume the leadership role by acting
consistently with the realities of the nuclear age. If you would like
Malta to be that nation, please contact Dave Pace
(dave.pace@ictgozomalta.eu) to start a dialogue on how to do that.
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=149262

August 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, weapons and war