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PLAYING WITH FIRE

Oct 12, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

During the East-West conflict between the former Soviet Union and the United States, nuclear scientists had warned that there are enough nuclear weapons in existence to destroy the world and make it uninhabitable for all living creatures for millions of years. Current United States President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un should take heed that there is no such thing as winning a nuclear war.
There can be no partial or regional nuclear war, because it is impossible to contain the radiation of a nuclear bomb within countries and regions. Radiation will poison the atmosphere and the nuclear cloud will block out light from the sun, and as a result, plunge the large sections of the earth into extreme darkness, thus setting in motion Ice Age-like conditions as temperatures fall.
Albert Einstein was quite correct when he famously stated: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Simply put, a nuclear war will bring an end to human civilization as we know it. It would be foolish for President Trump or any other leader to start one.
As human beings, we are not perfect. We are prone to mistakes, therefore we should not believe that the leaders of the world are too smart to annihilate themselves and the peoples of the world. Having nuclear weapons is like playing with fire because in spite of all the safety systems and strategic command procedures in place, accidents can happen. Recently, a computer glitch shut off electricity on the East Coast of the United States, and computer failure grounded all of British Airways flights across the world. There were similar occurrences with several airlines in the United States.
Although there were no accidents that have led to a nuclear war so far, there were three close calls. The first was in October 1962, when the U.S. and U.S.S.R. came to the brink of a nuclear disaster during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was followed by the 1979 North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) computer glitch and the 1983 computer failure of the Soviet Union satellite detection systems.
However, there were accidents in nuclear plants such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. While other nuclear power plant accidents were not reported, the three mentioned were just too big not to make the news headlines. The fear exists of accidents, as there are hundreds of nuclear missiles and bombs being transported around the world on submarines and even on planes.
A nuclear war could happen if some lunatic or a terrorist is able to acquire nuclear weapons. Indeed, there is widespread fear that a nuclear war could be triggered by a leader of a government like Kim Jong-un, who seems to always be in a fit of uncontrollable rage, or when there is escalating tension that provokes the leaders of two or more countries with nuclear weapons to strike first.
The escalating and dangerous exchanges of threats between President Trump and President Kim Jong-un has degenerated into personal insults, and as the rest of world leaders watch helplessly, they are hoping for a diplomatic solution and not a nuclear war to bring an end to the crisis.
It must be understood that Kim Jong-un and many North Koreans are convinced that the US will eventually attack them and they remember that the US did drop nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan, their Asian neighbour. But Americans see Kim Jong-un as a mad man who is not rational and should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.
The role of the United Nations as a calming mediator is needed now more than ever.

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