Nuclear News?

The front page news the past couple of days has been about the negotiations on the nuclear treaty with Iran. On Sunday government officials came to a temporary agreement, meaning Iran is going to stop developing nuclear technology for only six months. The reason Iran had to stop "researching" in their nuclear facilities is because they were having a hard time proving that they were not trying to develop weapons. They also were not allowing the UN to monitor what was going on in their facilities.

Just in case you don't know a whole lot about the history of nuclear technology, here's a quick overview!
Nuclear technology was developed in two areas of the world, the Manhattan project and the German nuclear energy project. The German nuclear energy project started at the beginning of World War II, in April of 1939. This is because nuclear fission (the splitting up of atoms), was discovered in January of 1939. As the world war continued, the Allies spied on what the Germans were attempting to do with the new information, and then started their own little research project. The German project lost steam as the war drew to a close, the Manhattan project on the other hand was able to continue and eventually develop two different kinds of "atomic bombs".
Once this technology was developed, it needed to be regulated. Drafted in 1968, the Non-Proliferation Treaty would allow countries to gain nuclear technology for energy purposes. It was not until May of 1995 that the treaty was completed. (If you need a time frame, this is when Bill Clinton was president). This treaty makes it clear that only five countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China. Conveniently, these five countries are the only permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Only four other countries are believed to have nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. (North Korea had signed the treaty back in 1985 but then withdrew in 2003).

Fast forward to today, the issue with Iran. Iran isn't on the list of countries that are allowed to have nuclear weapons, but they are allowed to have nuclear technology for energy purposes. So the big issue was that they were trying to be like the big kids on the playground, and have some nuclear weapons on their side too.
Do you want to know what we are giving Iran in exchange for their nuclear research to stop temporarily? Six to seven BILLION dollars in "relief". Which Congress did not have to approve, because the President and his cabinet are in charge of humanitarian aid.

Nuclear technology is awesome, and scary. I personally don't think it's fair that only 5 countries in the world are "allowed" to have those kinds of weapons. Not only that but the United States has nuclear weapon stations all over the world, and has the most nuclear weapons. What do we need all those weapons for? Are we not trying to make the world a more peaceful and happy place to live? It makes me feel like the United States are just big bullies. We go around telling everyone that they can't have what we have, but they need to let us take care of them. I just don't understand it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/world/middleeast/talks-with-iran-on-nuclear-deal-hang-in-balance.html?pagewanted=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Nonproliferation_Treaty