Nuclear Weapons: We May Self-Destruct

President John Kennedy’s nightmare of nuclear weapons spreading all over the world has returned to haunt the present. All these years after the end of the Cold War, such weapons are again poised to spread around over the globe, thereby ensuring terrorist possession. And the catastrophe of terrorist use of a such a device in a major city today could be a calamity unparalleled in history.

The World Today
4 minute READ

Nuclear weapons are becoming a threat even to their owners. In May there is another opportunity to put matters right when the Non-Proliferation Treaty comes up for review.

In last year’s united states presidential elections both President George Bush and Senator John Kerry correctly identified nuclear proliferation, combined with nuclear terrorism, as the principal threat facing the world community. But sixty years into the nuclear era, while most people understand that such weapons are dangerous things, there is no awareness of the degree of danger, or demand for effective action.

Gun bomb

Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic bomb sixty years ago this summer. One hundred and forty thousand people were instantly killed. Including the effects of radiation poisoning, the five-year death total was over two hundred thousand, almost two thirds of the city’s population.

Subscribe to read all issues

Articles from the current issue are free to read by all, the archive is exclusive to magazine subscribers and our members. Subscribe or become a member to view articles from the archive.