Dear reader,
Thanks for your great and timely question. Antonio Guterres recently called for “sending to the past” nuclear weapons and has said that the “world must abandon them forever”.
You’ll notice such statements are without actionable steps but that’s besides the point…
For the majority of this year, the world has sat in a sort of gripped tension as the threat of “going nuclear” has escalated. Indeed the threat of nuclear weapons is synonymous with the end of the world.
Nuclear weapons have become a bogeyman insofar as the threat of them turning the whole world to dust at the push of a button is overestimating the power of the weapons themselves.
Remember that wars have used nuclear weapons in the not so distant past and humanity was not wiped out in one swoop.
So, does this mean that we don’t need to overcome the nuclear threat, just sit and pray that it doesn’t land on our doorstep?
Of course not.
We must cease dangling our weapons in front of others’ noses to keep eachother in line.
Much like most people do not need the threat of hell to encourage them to live morally, countries do not need the threat of nuclear weapons to live harmoniously.
Some countries have voluntarily given up their nuclear weapons and UN-aligned works towards a future where the remaining countries unanimously give up their nuclear weapons.