By Jason Sibert
It’s been 75 years since the world entered the era of nuclear weapons with the use of atomic bombs by the United States against Japan in World War II on Aug. 6, 1945.
Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui has played a role in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons. He’s currently serving as president of Mayors for Peace, a grouping of thousands of cities worldwide devoted to protecting cities from war and mass destruction.
Although activism sheds much light on the need for the abolition of nuclear weapons, the political winds have been moving against nuclear disarmament. Nuclear war always presented a dark cloud in Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States and Soviet Russia possessed 68,000 of these deadly weapons in the Cold War. However, arms control treaties helped reduce the number of weapons and helped secure the populations of both countries. Post-Soviet Russia remained in the treaties established in the Cold War. To this day, both countries possess 91 percent of the world’s nuclear arsenal. However, the Donald Trump Administration has worked to undermine arms control as a method of security. The administration left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Open Skies Treaty and also continued a nuclear modernization program started by President Barack Obama. The Trump Administration has stated that it might not renew the New Start Treaty when it expires in 2021 and that it might also conduct the first nuclear test since 1992.
Former Secretary of State George Schultz (Reagan Administration), former Defense Secretary William Perry (Clinton Administration), and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) have all endorsed the abolition of nuclear weapons. All have stated that the bipolar world of the Cold War no longer exists that there are an increasing number of states with nuclear weapons could make a nuclear war more likely.
Writer Carol Giacomo charted a future for arms control in her story “Getting Back on Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons.” She argued that first step in this journey is removing Donald Trump from the White House in November. A new president must commit to a partnership with Russia to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and renew the New Start Treaty. Second, the new president should ensure no one person has control of the nuclear button in requiring such a decision be made with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Congress. He should also work to avoid a new European missile race by working toward a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear forces in Europe and halting a return to a destabilizing class of weapons that had been eliminated from the continent in the 1980’s. Giacomo said a new president should also rethink the nuclear modernization plan, as the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged our definition of security. More money could be used to fight the pandemic. A new president could build on New Start. When renewing the treaty, both the United States and Russia could agree to further reductions. Also, a new president could engage in separate talks with China to draw down nuclear weapons. In addition, a new president could restock the government with diplomats and arms control experts who are dedicated to the cause of arms control. Many of these experts left the government in the Trump Administration.
Recent developments in international politics don’t look good for arms control. However, political effort should be expended to keep arms control on the agenda for a more secure future!
Jason Sibert is the executive director of the Peace Economy Project in St. Louis.
