Islamic fundamentalist believe that their faith instructs them to seek out and destroy Americans. They also believe that if they are suicide bombers they will be rewarded in heaven ten fold. As America continues to fight against the human rights violations that Persian Gulf nations continue to support, the fundamentalists believe it is their calling and duty to act against American interests. They want American interests out of their area and they will do what it takes to get it done including acts of terrorism.

As the world watched in wonder the Soviet Union collapsed. It dismantled its government, it started over and it began to rebuild as a democracy after many years of being in a cold war with the United States.

For some the dismantling of the Soviet Union represented freedom but for many it meant uncertainty and fear about what was to come. Fear, uncertainty and confusion are all elements that can contribute to terrorism. When the Soviet Union, thought to be one of the three strongest bodies on earth collapsed it created a groundwork for terrorist groups to not only eye the Soviet Union as a place to attack but also to realize that with the strife and stress the Soviet Union was experiencing it would not be difficult to extract nuclear materials for the purpose of terrorism elsewhere in the world (nuclear terrorism (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/nuclear_terrorism/).

If one wants to measure the threat that this poses one only has to realize that if "a terrorist group exploded just one nuclear weapon, hundreds of thousands of people could die. Because there is no effective protection against a nuclear blast, the only real solution is to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear bomb materials or weapons in the first place (nuclear terrorism (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/nuclear_terrorism/)."

In addition, thousands of so-called tactical nuclear weapons -- many of which are quite small and do not have electronic locks to prevent their unauthorized use -- are stored in Russia, some in poorly secured locations. In addition, the United States maintains some 150 tactical nuclear weapons in Europe as part of NATO forces, and stores roughly 1,000 such weapons within its own borders (nuclear terrorism (http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/nuclear_terrorism/)."
The global threat with regard to terrorist activities since the collapse of the Soviet Union cannot be understated as the world moves forward to disarm terrorists.

Terrorist groups can steal the supplies or they can approach desperate Soviet Union politicians or people who have access to the supplies and make purchases that will later be used to commit acts of terrorism. The collapse of the Soviet Union has created a hot bed of possibilities for terrorists around the world.

References

Farrar, L.L., Jr.(2003) Aggression vs. apathy: the limits of nationalism during the Balkan wars, 1912-1913. East European Quarterly

Hoagland, Jim (2001) Mysteries in the Persian Gulf. The Washington Post

Novotny, Patrick (1999) the Post-Cold War Era, the Persian Gulf War, and the Peace and Justice Movement in the 1990s. Social Justice nuclear terrorism (Accessed 5-17-07)

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_security/nuclear_terrorism