For the past 64 years the name "Hiroshima" has conjured a nightmare vision for all humanity: the unthinkable specter of instantaneous atomic annihilation. Only by personally visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two cities that have experienced atomic bombing, can one begin to grasp the threat posed by the world's present arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Just one bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," devastated Hiroshima in a split second.
I never much
liked the idea of arms control. During the Cold War, we managed our nuclear
arsenals rather than reduced them. We treated our nukes like huge, dangerous
animals. We restricted their movements but gave them ample care and feeding.
Until recently, getting rid of the animals altogether wasn't part of the
political agenda. After all, our leaders believed that these beasts were
useful. They scared away the covetous neighbors.
Since President Obama was named this year's Nobel Peace Laureate,
there's been a fruitful debate about the degree to which the award was
deserved or strategically useful. It's worth noting that the
president's strong support for the cause of nuclear disarmament was a
key reason he got the nod from Oslo. This support has not only come in
speeches, but also in a very interesting U.N. Security Council
resolution that he cared enough about to deliver to the council
personally and even chair the session in which it was adopted, an
unprecedented move for a world leader.
UNITED NATIONS - World powers Thursday adopted a landmark resolution seeking to rid the planet of nuclear arms at an unprecedented Security Council summit hosted by US President Barack Obama.
"Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches," Obama told the 15-member body.
"Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city, be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris, could kill hundreds of thousands of people."
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president ever to take the gavel at the United Nations Security Council
next week, but those lobbying to eliminate the world's nuclear-weapon
stockpiles are hoping the session will be historic for its
circumstance, not just its pomp.
What's the Story?
VIENNA - Backers of a global pact banning nuclear tests said on Tuesday they would seize on U.S. President Barack Obama's disarmament initiatives to further their agenda at the United Nations this month.
Obama has voiced his support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which has yet to take force because his nation is among nine with significant nuclear activities that have not ratified it.
Today many will remember the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago, the world's first and only actual use of nuclear weapons. A reverent few will gather at Greenlake and other areas around Seattle to memorialize those killed, and tomorrow we will resume our lives, ignoring the lethal threat that lurks all around us.
The United States president visits
Russia on 6-8 July 2009 at a time of some tension but also promise in
the relationship between the two former superpower rivals. The areas of
tension that Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev face are familiar:
missile-defence, the war in Georgia and the post-election crisis in
Iran among them.
The
leaders of the nuclear weapon states, led by President Barack Obama,
are promising to abolish nuclear weapons. It is a good sign. But we
have been here before. This time the world needs more than promises. To
demonstrate that they are serious, nuclear weapon states should
announce clear policies to move irreversibly and quickly toward nuclear
weapons elimination.
In his now famous Prague speech in April, President Obama said:
We've been at the task earnestly
for the last six years. Each Hiroshima Day, Pax Christi New Mexico and
friends gather at Los Alamos, birthplace of the bomb and every succeeding
generation of nuclear weapons, to pray, vigil and repent as best we
can for the mortal sin of war and nuclear weapons.
In recent years, we have adopted
the method of the people of Nineveh and donned the accoutrements of
sorrow and regret: sackcloth and ashes. And like the Ninevites, we beg
God for the gift of peace, for nuclear disarmament. Save us, O God,
from ourselves!
