Critical Mass: The Dangerous Race for Superweapons in a Fragmenting World

Although slightly displaced by developments in Iraq, this book remains of interest and contains a good brief madman portrait of Hussein's atomic bomb attempts, in the context of the greater history of nuclear proliferation since the American opening of Pandora's box, now seen in its consequences a generation later. The brief snapshots of the sordid history are effective, India, Pakistan, China, Israel, the Osirak reactor, to the bit players and their arms merchants and the underworld of financial hoodlums, e.g.BCCI. One is struck by the sheer and immense waste of resources, especially in the case of Hussein, enough money to have turned Iraq into a highly developed nation, instead... Unfortunately the USA had a choice, and made that choice, to use the bomb. Right or wrong? The problem is obvious, noone in the political nuthouse will ever listen again to the dangers of proliferation, in the scramble for national 'safety'.

The book has for the first time brought into notice the part played by developed countries in Nuclear poliferation.The holier then thou argument of the developed world not longer stands ground.The book itself is also very well detailed and has documented certain events in our recent past with amazing details.The book is far from objective it fails to critizie the nuclear powers at any stage, it also gets into to much of drama for example he paints a picture of hindu India versus the Muslim Pakistan, but conveniently forgets to mention that the head of India's Nuclear program is a muslim Dr. Abdul Kalam. In conclusion this book is a must for anyone who is interested in International dipolmacy and or Nuclear politics and black mail

The book examines each and every detail about Nuclear Proliferation and regional politics. Nothing however is more thrillling and hair raising than the narrowly averted confrontations between India and Pakistan. Some facts however look unbelievable, like Pakistan's claim that it's planes could have bombarded Indian nuclear centers hundreds of miles away and with number of anti-aircraft batteries on their way! Otherwise its definitely well researched. The authors speak the facts and the hidden meanings behind each explosion or missile launch. For example, they point out why Pakistan was almost branded a Terrorist state by USA after the Afghan war and why India relentlessly pushed forward its missile program. A must read for anybody interested in the future of the world.