Not going nuclear on coups

KUALA LUMPUR: If there is any lesson to be drawn from the daily grind of international affairs, it is that there is no easy, one-size-fits-all solution to most of the global issues and domestic concerns, ranging from nuclear proliferation to, yes, coups d’état.

Let’s first take up nuclear proliferation or, more precisely, the desire or call for nuclear nonproliferation. It may broadly be said that for about half a century after the Second World War — the penultimate conclusion of which was brought about by the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the possession of nuclear weapons, though not necessarily the more “inclusive” weapons of mass destruction (which also comprise biological and chemical weapons), was largely confined to an exclusive club of five nations, which are also the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.