An End to Nuclear Weapons
Yesterday in Moscow, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, President of the USA, made political history by agreeing to reduce their nuclear arsenals by 30% and leading the course towards a nuclear-free world. Together The US and Russia have 95% of the world's nuclear weapons so this is a huge step towards nuclear disarmament which is crucial for the survival of the Our Future Planet.
We must not forget the horrors of the nuclear bomb dropped by USA on Hiroshima in the early morning hours of August 6, 1945 with no consideration of human rights. Those closest to the explosion died instantly, their bodies turned to black char. Within minutes 9 out of 10 people half a mile or less from ground zero were dead.
People farther from the point of detonation experienced first the flash and heat, followed seconds later by a deafening boom and the blast wave. The numerous small fires that erupted simultaneously all around the city soon merged into one large firestorm, creating extremely strong winds that blew towards the center of the fire. The firestorm eventually engulfed 4.4 square miles of the city, killing anyone who had not escaped in the first minutes after the attack.
No one will ever know for certain how many died as a result of the attack on Hiroshima. Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of the initial blast, heat, and radiation effects. By the end of 1945, because of the lingering effects of radioactive fallout and other after effects, the Hiroshima death toll was probably over 100,000. The five-year death total may have reached or even exceeded 200,000, as cancer and other long-term effects took hold.
Citizens across the world played a key role in curbing the nuclear arms race during the Cold War helping prevent a nuclear war. The Cold War between the super powers the Soviet Union and the United States began in the late 1940s and continued into 1989. Both sides of the conflict wanted to avoid direct military action because of the threat of mutual nuclear destruction. The Cold War cost the U.S. eight trillion dollars and over 100,000 lives in Korea and Vietnam. Although the exact figures for the Soviet Union are unknown, they may have spent as much as 60% of their gross national product on the war.
In December 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President George Bush officially ended the Cold War at a summit in Malta. The end of the Cold War saw the fall of the Soviet Union, which had united the countries of eastern and central Europe and much of northern Asia under communist rule. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 epitomizes the end of communism and the opening up of borders between East and West Germany. The break-up of the Soviet Union changed the face of Europe.
Before President Obama's first presidential trip to Moscow yesterday Russia said there could be no agreement on nuclear arms reduction unless the US was prepared to take into account Russia’s concerns on US missile defence in central Europe.Obama acknowledged "Russian sensitivities" over the shield, but said it was essential to protect the US and Europe from a nuclear-armed Iranian missile. He made clear he would not accept Moscow's linkage between arms control and missile defence, a statement that suggested that there was little prospect of a rapid breakthrough.
According to Sergey Rogov, Director of the US and Canadian Institute in Moscow, "It requires a miracle to resolve these differences."
A miracle happened and after a day of talks in the Kremlin President Medvedev and President Obama came to an agreement and both signed a “joint understanding” to reduce the number of warheads that they hold to between 1,500 and 1,675 each. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists the US has 2,200 warheads and Russia 2,790 so this reduction is significant.
Mr Obama said that the final treaty to confirm the cuts would be signed by the end of the year, when the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) expires. The two sides also pledged to reduce long-range missiles to between 500 and 1,100. The new limits would be achieved within seven years of the start of the treaty.
“The President and I agreed that the relationship between Russia and the United States has suffered from a sense of drift,” Mr Obama said. “President Medvedev and I are committed to leaving behind the suspicion and rivalry of the past.” “We resolved to reset US-Russian relations today after less than six months of collaboration.”
Mr Medvedev said their discussions were “very useful and very open”, adding that the deal on nuclear weapons was “a reasonable compromise”. He said: “I view it as a first but very important step in improving full-scale co-operation between our two countries, which would be to the benefit of both states.”
Presidents Medvedev and Obama still remained divided over US plans to site a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic), which Russia regards as a threat to its security. Mr Obama insisted that it was directed against potential threats from Iran and North Korea and could not affect “a mighty Russian arsenal”.
Whilst Russia and USA are reducing their nuclear weapons North Korea is increasingly developing and testing nuclear weapons. On May 25th 2009 North Korea tested a nuclear weapon 'as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb' in an underground atomic explosion causing an earthquake. The force of the blast made the ground tremble in the Chinese border city of Yanji, 130 miles away.
President Barack Obama called the test a matter of grave concern to all countries. "North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," he said in a statement. "North Korea's behaviour increases tensions and undermines stability in north-east Asia." He added that North Korea's behaviour would serve only to deepen the country's isolation.
Mr. Medvedev expressed willingness to help fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons in places like Iran and North Korea. “It’s our common, joint responsibility, and we should do our utmost to prevent any negative trends there, and we are ready to do that,” he said.
The nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima reminds us that it is critical for the survival of the planet that the super powers politicians work together to prevent this horrific incident from ever happening again. This nuclear disarmament agreement between Russia and USA is one step in this direction.
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At the same time the U.S. Vice President appears to have said that the U.S. would not stop Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear weapons efforts. Here we appear to see a case where there are imbalances. Aggressiveness causes planetary dangers, for years the U.S. have assisted Israel acquire a stockpile of nuclear weapons and assisted Israel in the defacto denial of their existence. Now when Iran wants to have a bomb (Which Iran denies) Israel and its U.S. ally are trying to prevent Iran from having the possibility of even one. What if Israel destroys Iran’s activities and there upon another Islamic nation Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons comes to Iran’s support in responding to Israel’s actions? What nightmares follow that?
Given the fact that more people have been killed in small non-nuclear wars since World War Two, perhaps the only thing that has saved our planet from the use of nuclear weapons are their sheer destructiveness and not planetary friendliness or cooperation. I feel wisdom lies in planetary education starting with the young, which fosters cooperation rather than the competitive activities initiated in our planets educational teacher centred classrooms.
