A Nuclear War Agreement

Sometimes we get so enmeshed in the news of the moment, that important news passes us by. Five of the countries  who signed the  Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968,  the US, China, Russia, the UK and France came to an agreement.  They understand that there is no way to win a nuclear war, and further  their pledge includes that a nuclear war must never be fought. Indeed it is agreeing to the obvious. Yet because what may be obvious to the general public and what’s seen by government as in their best interest does not always coincides, it took several months to work out the agreement, often amidst difficult discussions.  And yet, regardless of whether it was agreeing to the obvious, it’s still remarkable that it was agreed upon and issued.

Given the current tensions between the US with both China and Russia, agreeing on anything is certainly noteworthy.  It’s not a panacea and  it’s not going to keep China from invading Taiwan when it wants to or Russia from going further into Ukraine, but perhaps such an agreement could be a factor to at least create a pause for everyone to think through the consequences of aggression, of how far they are willing to provoke. Of course so many nations are after nuclear weapons, and India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea to name but 4 already have them.  That’s a fact that cannot be glossed over. The danger still exists, and the agreement no matter how important it may be does not solve the problem of nuclear arms and nuclear proliferation.

 The agreement is nonetheless an accomplishment, How often in ordinary parlance do we use the phrase ”if we don’t blow ourselves up first.” But for some of us, despite the existence of weapons and of several countries having them, it would seem that when 5 major powers openly declare that nuclear war is not winnable,  we are that much safer.

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