Expert Gives Insight on ‘Global Nuclear Futures’

On Monday night former University of Tampa professor Maria Rost Rublee returned to the university with her presentation, “The U.S. Presidential Elections: Israel, Iran & Global Nuclear Futures.” The presentation was a part of the Honors Symposia series.

The George Washington University Ph.D. graduate and current Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University has spoken in front of audiences like the French Defense Ministry and is the author of “Nonproliferation Norms: Why States Choose Nuclear Restraint (Studies in Security and International Affairs).” Rublee specializes in international security, international relations theory and international organizations, with regional emphases on East Asia and the Middle East.

Rublee spoke to the audience in Sykes 134 about how the upcoming election may determine vital nuclear policy. She spoke about the differences between the candidates’ foreign nuclear policy and how that may lead to potential worldwide dangers. Perhaps best summed up by her comment, “There are 19,000 total nuclear weapons in the world; firing 500 of them will destroy human life as we know it.”

Rublee brought the point even closer to home when describing what would happen if a nuclear weapon were to hit nearby MacDill Air Force Base, the home of SentCom, and a realistic target in projections. “Within one second everyone within two miles would be incinerated. Within 40 seconds 20 percent of the people within five miles would be dead because of the debris. Not to mention the mushroom cloud of radiation and the health problems that stay for years along with it (cancer, and various other ailments).”

She also educated students about broken arrows, which are lost or mistakenly dropped nuclear weapons, some of the cases which happened in the United States. When asked about how this was possible, Rublee remarked, “Human beings are imperfect. Sometimes people mishandle them or in some cases there was mechanical error.”

Many students came to understand the differences between the candidates in the upcoming election. Rublee broke down the candidates’ viewpoints based on past history and statements. The history was readily available in her summary of President Obama’s policy. Rublee, a supporter of disarmament, was commending of the president’s pushing for sanctions against Iran and North Korea who broke the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). According to the treaty,  instead of countries constantly building nuclear weapons, members of the treaty would move to a disarmament (gradual decommissioning of weapons) policy in exchange for help with their civilian nuclear programs.

Rublee was more critical of Romney’s foreign nuclear policy. She cited that he hired top Bush Era advisors who were famous for their lack of enthusiasm for the disarmament process. However she did acknowledge that it’s difficult to predict what the former governor would do in specific situations since he had no experience with foreign nuclear policy.

Rublee went on to state that the debate between proliferation (building more nuclear weapons) and disarmament was not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. She spoke of how Senator John McCain, Obama’s 2008 GOP challenger, was a major supporter of disarmament and Ronald Reagan, who once favored proliferation, became one of the biggest disarmament supporters.

When asked how she would deal with the Iran situation, Rublee did not waver. She said, “Diplomacy has proven to be the most effective weapon when dealing with countries seeking nuclear weaponization. If we bomb Iran, that will just make them want to create a nuclear bomb faster.”

Pranav Lokin can be reached at pranavlokin@yahoo.com