Foreign Policy Blogs

Nuclear Tipping Point (2010)

This documentary tackles an issue most dare not consider: what if nuclear material got into the hands of terrorists?
Writer and director Ben Goddard does an excellent job of mixing new interviews with archive clips of everyone from John F. Kennedy to John McCain. Their common message? Eliminate nuclear weapons.
The film revolves around the thoughts of four cold warriors: former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Senator Sam Nunn, former Secretary of State George Schultz, and former Defense Secretary William Perry.
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They wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal in 2007 entitled “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons.”
It is refreshing to see a nonpartisan effort to save mankind from itself.
The authors claim that the cold war idea of deterrence and mutually assured destruction no longer applies to today’s security system. There is no deterrent for suicide bombers.
Here is a piece of that op-ed:
“The Non-Proliferation Treaty envisioned the end of all nuclear weapons. It provides (a) that states that did not possess nuclear weapons as of 1967 agree not to obtain them, and (b) that states that do possess them agree to divest themselves of these weapons over time. Every president of both parties since Richard Nixon has reaffirmed these treaty obligations, but non-nuclear weapon states have grown increasingly skeptical of the sincerity of the nuclear powers.”

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More on the Nuclear Security Project, the group that produced the film, can be found here.
Copies of Nuclear Tipping Point can be found here.
Murphy can be reached at: [email protected]

 

Author

Sean Patrick Murphy

Sean Patrick Murphy is a graduate of Bennington College, where he majored in politics and Latin American literature. He has worked for Current History magazine, Physicians for Human Rights, and Citizens for Global Solutions (formerly the World Federalist Association). He lives outside Philadelphia.

Areas of Focus:
Cinematography; Independent Films; Documentary;

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