Fibonacci's Nukes: Is Proliferation Unstoppable?

A Fibonacci Spiral

A pair of rabbits are put in a field and, if rabbits take a month to become mature and then produce a new pair every month after that, how many pairs will there be in twelve months time?

Somewhere around 1200 A.D. an Italian mathematician who went by the pen-name Fibonacci pondered this very problem, a task made a bit easier by his pioneering adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numeric system. The 1,1,2,3,5,8... sequence which resulted is known as the Fibonacci Sequence, and it's connected to both the critical artistic concept of the "golden section" and the "propagating spiral."

Hmmm. Breeding like rabbits, Hindi-Arabic enablement, propagating spirals, game theory. These days, the concepts remind us of nukes, not numbers. Fundamentalist regimes in Iran and North Korea are entering the final phases of their race to atomic weapons, while reports surface of Pakistani exchanges with North Korea and now a weapons program in collusion with Saudi Arabia.

The civilizational death-wish of some on the Left has never been on clearer display than in the demented assertions of the "rights" of governments like these to possess nuclear weapons. As if this was a matter of no import, whose awful and predictable consequences could be wished away by delusional legalisms. As if the mere existence of these tyrannies created "rights" we should respect.

Yet the truth stares us in the face, and will not go away: Fibonacci's sequence lives on today in the nightmare form of nuclear proliferation, and all current indications point to the conclusion that nothing of consequence will be done to halt the relentless addition of its sums. Parapundit drives this point home in a series of 2 excellent articles, covering the work of Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center on the broken non-proliferation process, and UPI Editor in Chief Arnaud de Borchgrave's report on nuclear agreements between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (see also our Aug. 8, 2002 piece). Not to mention the connections to Iran's nuclear efforts, which are breeding further proliferation as other countries in the region notice that nothing is being done to stop them. Both features are typically thorough, with a lot of additional background and links. Their conclusions are depressing. At best.

Taken in aggregate, these developments constitute the most profound indictment to date of our progress in the War on Terror. The prospect of The Bush Doctrine's (key speech | Winds summary & analysis) utter failure within 5 years of its proclamation raises issues that go far beyond the question of Iraq. They speak to the conduct of the war from its very inception, and deserve serious, knowledgeable scrutiny of the highest order. Since the odds of that coming from the Left range from nil to negative, people on the Center and Right need to step back from the immediate fray and begin thinking about our options and limitations very, very seriously. We won't have many chances to change our course and get this one right. If, indeed, we still retain any chance at all.

UPDATE: Armed Liberal offers some further thoughts in Thresholds.

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