If humans are to survive, war is not an option in age of nuclear

IN COMMEMORATION of the International Day for The Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, humanity must urgently strive to halt the escalating nuclear arms race.

North Korea's testing of a submarine-launched missile and her recent launch of a hypersonic missile and associated hi-tech systems will trigger a nuclear arms race in Asia.

As deadly global events unfold, many aspiring nuclear nations will go the nuclear route.

Pakistan will probably increase her nuclear might, which could enable her to have the third largest nuclear arsenal.

The volatile situation in the Middle East could prompt nations in the area to acquire nuclear weapons.

World War II ended with the historic understanding that recourse to war between states could no longer be treated as a matter of national discretion but must be regulated through rules administered by international institutions.

The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat.

The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trial and errors, its success and setbacks, can never be relaxed nor abandoned.

Humanity is at the far stage of maturity needed for the realisations of its aspirations, for the construction, that it is of a harmonious and peaceful society and the elimination of wars.

Men are not yet ready to shape their own destinies, to control and direct world events, of which, instead, they become the victims.

The first step in the direction of a world rule of law is the recognition that peace no longer is an unattainable ideal but a necessary condition of continued human existence.

A challenge we face is that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed.

Anyone who feels that there are a lot of people who feel that war can solve problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution.

Our civilisation will, through wars, be plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat could be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not have imagined.

We must refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation

must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation.

If the ultimate goal of national security is to ensure the survival of any nation, then the pursuit of the goal through nuclear deterrence should be viewed as a failure.

Because deterrence set no limits on the size and composition of military forces, tens of thousands of nuclear weapons were created.

Thus the consequences of a single failure of deterrence could be the end of human history.

Leaders who choose to “defend” their nation with nuclear weapons must face the fact that nuclear war is suicidal and not an option if their citizens are to survive.

Suicide is not a defence.

Should we choose to accept the assertion that “there is no realistic path to a world free of nuclear weapons”, then we sentence the children of the world to a dark future.

We must reject the 21st century mindset, which is driving us towards the abyss, through an understanding that nuclear weapons pose a threat to the human species.

Those who see utility and legitimacy in the perpetual maintenance of nuclear weaponry often tend to regard nuclear abolition as a “destabilising” goal, and apparently assume that deterrence will forever prevent a nuclear war.

Their long-term optimism, however, is supported neither by logic nor history.