This weekend is the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it's a good time to give a few thoughts to nuclear weapons. Most people don't think about them much, and the majority of countries have fully rejected them. In fact, there are only a small handful of countries that like nuclear weapons- the 9 that have them (China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States) and another couple dozen that either have bilateral agreements with the US (Australia, Japan, South Korea) for American nuclear bombs to be dropped on their behalf, or the countries that are part of NATO. Almost everyone else thinks they are catastrophic, inhumane weapons and should be illegal for everyone. Now, a series of UN meetings this year is showing that the majority of the world agrees a new treaty is needed to make nuclear weapons illegal. The minority that kept the world thinking nuclear weapons are still needed is just that- a minority- and their story is falling apart.
For decades, countries without nuclear weapons have called on countries with nuclear weapons to do things- from reducing numbers to sharing information. These nuclear free countries have done things themselves- to verify that they are not trying to build nuclear weapons. There are only a very few exceptions- Iran, Syria, North Korea- but otherwise this non-proliferation regime has held up. Excuses have been made for why disarmament isn't happening (or is happening really slowly), but never before has the very legitimacy of the weapons themselves been challenged as it is now.
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