Jewish World Review Oct. 29, 1999 /19 Mar-Cheshvan, 5760
Julia Gorin
Bomb all bans
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
FORGET THE TEST BAN TREATY, and just ban treaties.
After all, this doesn’t exactly seem to be the decade of leaders who know
how to write them. To wit, this month the press and its captive readership
went through the motions of vilifying those consistently evil Republicans,
who voted down the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
As if on cue, "compassionate" Americans and the world community used their
standard we-care-about-world-peace-and-security oversimplifications to
champion a dud of a document and demonize the U.S. and Republicans for not
doing the same. How could the Republicans subvert such a breakthrough
measure? What other explanation except that they’re just very bad people?
Here, an outline of the treaty's goal might serve: While not putting us at a
disadvantage, such a treaty must prevent other countries from increasing
their nuclear capabilities. But a disadvantage surfaces when the only option
the treaty allows the U.S. is computer weapons-testing, which won’t be up to
speed for years and is not a true substitute for real underground testing.
Nor does it keep other countries from testing their weapons, since not all
underground tests are detectable and enforcement relies on complete,
veto-free approval by the UN Security Council.
Last year we witnessed a similar episode with a treaty attempting to
establish a permanent international war crimes court. The vast majority of
U.N. member nations signed it gleefully in the face of an abstaining U.S.,
even while showing reluctance to use current venues for bringing war
criminals to
justice. Besides, since it’s easier to prosecute the good guys of the world
than uncooperative bad guys, such measures have the effect of making the
good guys more vulnerable. Let’s face it: if you’re already not the type of
country to respect international laws, chances are you’re not going to let
yourself be held
accountable when you ignore them. It’s the ones who screw up once in a while
and not on purpose, like in the process of keeping peace or diminishing
human suffering--who will be judged, as usual.
But never mind all that. The important thing, as my friends have emphasized
to me, is that a test-ban treaty would set a precedent.
Oh joy! A precedent for the world to follow our good example! So that we,
the benevolent democracy, can behave our bad selves while dictatorships go
on quietly testing their weapons.
To illustrate the logic at work here, I shall use my good and just
intentions to propose some treatises of my own.
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I think Hollywood’s size-zero standard for actresses is wrong and
oppressive. I want the leading ladies to rebel and start eating again. To
set an example, I, who currently wear a size 12/14, will make it a point to
go to the diner at midnight every day, and grab a four-course midnight
snack, including French fries and a milkshake.
I think I might also turn myself in for that pack of gum I stole from the
drug store when I was seven. I still feel guilty over this one shoplifting
episode. However, to set an example for harder criminals everywhere, I’ll
settle for nothing less than death row.
Also, I think I’ll surrender my lawfully acquired 9mm in the hopes that the
thief ransacking my apartment eventually decides to do the same with his
AK-47.
Concern over the reportedly increasing gap between the rich and poor in New
York has compelled me to reconsider my views on the redistribution of
wealth. I’ve therefore decided to donate my weekly four-hundred-dollar temp
check to homeless charities so that the millionaires in my neighborhood
might follow suit.
Finally, in the spirit of the treaty that has inspired all this good will in
me, I propose that we as a country abolish our military all together to
sincerely show our peaceful intentions. Maybe then, all
nations--particularly those enjoying their recently-acquired nuclear
capability, will do the same.
Of course, I only get these kinds of impulses when I’m feeling guilty that I’m not living on the street, or that I’m not a hardened criminal, or that I
abide by gun laws, or that I live in a wealthy and powerful nation. But
every time I get such guilt complexes, I remind myself that the road to hell
on earth is also paved with good
intentions.
JWR contributor Julia Gorin is a journalist and stand-up comic residing in Manhattan. Send your comments to her by clicking here.
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©1999, Julia Gorin
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