eli5: Why can’t countries that want to build Nukes build Nukes? Especially since several countries built them, some 75+ years ago
In: Engineering
They can and do (see Israel, India, Pakistan, NK, South Africa, etc.), except for signatories to the non-proliferation treaty (if they feel compelled to take the treaty obligations seriously). Of course it’s expensive and difficult to do so, but the technology is not beyond the reach of most nations. For most though, it’s not in their economic interest to build nukes, but it does make sense for them to seem to want to. Diplomacy involves carrots and sticks. Shelving a nuclear program might yield some diplomatic and economic carrots, or provide latitude in other unseemly areas. Throw in sabotage by other countries (see [stuxnet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet) for example) and it’s a tough climb to get to nuclear capabilities even with adequate know how, funding and political will.
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