[ggiifdfalls]

For peaceful purposes no doubt.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htc.../20110720.aspx

July 20, 2011: The U.S. believes that Pakistan is building three more nuclear reactors, to be used to produce plutonium for new nuclear weapons. It is believed that Pakistan has over a hundred nuclear weapons. Two years ago, the U.S. thought that Pakistan had 60 nuclear weapons, and was producing nuclear material for at least 5-6 more bombs a year. That turned out to be an underestimate. Pakistan appears to be increasing its annual production of nuclear weapons. This has created growing fear that one of those weapons could end up in the wrong hands.

Pakistan built its nuclear weapons in order to provide some protection from Indian invasion and conquest. But India has no interest in conquering Pakistan. That would nearly double the number of Moslems in India, as well as adding an area that has a lot more poverty and corruption. Then there are the Pakistani tribal territories, with over 20 million tribal people who have, for thousands of years, raided into, and occasionally invaded, India. A growing number of Pakistanis are coming to accept this Indian attitude as true, and for the last seven years, the two countries have been negotiating to settle the territorial and political differences that have caused decades of violence (and four wars) between the two nations. Most people, on both sides of the border, agree that a nuclear war would be a tragic disaster for both nations, insuring that neither could claim "victory" with a straight face. But so far there is no peace deal, and Pakistan keeps building more nukes.

A prime potential customer for Pakistani nukes is Saudi Arabia, which fears increased Iranian aggression once Iran acquires nukes. The Saudis have already bought ballistic missiles from China (which is suspected of supplying Pakistan with some nuclear weapons technology.) Saudi Arabia has the cash to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan (along with the technology to build a ballistic missile warhead for them). Saudi Arabia would need several dozen nuclear weapons to provide them with an adequate counter to Iranian nukes. This would benefit Pakistan in that Iranian control of Arab oil in the Persian Gulf would put Pakistan at a disadvantage against their Iranian neighbor.