Contributors

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Other than terrorism, what is the greatest threat to global peace and security?

I think the greatest threat depends on the country.  In my opinion, a threat is a danger to the security of an individual nation.  World security and peace can only be achieved if individual nations are secure.

I think disease is the biggest threat to global security and peace.  If people in one country are diseased, that can affect other nations itself.  It also means they can't join an army, or if they're in an army they will not fight effectively.  The disease can also affect people in other nations as it spreads.  Look at the plague, HIV/ AIDS, cancer, and other infectious diseases society at large has dealt with.  The diseases become an epidemic, and soon a pandemic, as they continue to spread uncontrollably.

While disease can be a huge threat to national and international security, it can also help international peace and communication.  If everyone is forced to pool scientific knowledge to fight disease, it may be beneficial for others by way of getting along for something.

1 comment:

  1. I am curious about your last point. What if a country left unravaged by disease for one reason or another chooses to strike when the world is weak? What if one nation were to develop a cure, and then hold its dissemination over the rest of the world as a irresistible carrot to acquiesce power? Or, taking the converse, what if a disease was spread/used as a cudgel by a country? Wouldn't that shatter world peace, not aid it? It seems a bit optimistic to me to believe that countries would bind together for any longer or deeper than necessary than to fend off pandemic, or to believe that all countries would do even that.

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