Nuclear bombs and missiles. They are, without a shadow of a doubt, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. They are the pinnacle of weapons technology and a good deterrent to war.
Recently, though, a Nobel Peace Prize was given to Anti-Nuclear Weapons activists and campaigners in Oslo, Norway on Sunday. ICAN, which is an abbreviation for International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons, received the prize after the United Nations put a ban on nuclear weapons last July.
Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN stated that; “The treaty provides the pathway forward at a moment of great global crisis. It is a light in a dark time.” She and Setsuko Thurlow both accepted the award. Setsuko Thurlow, now 85 years old, witnessed the bombing of her small town of Hiroshima at the age of 13 and saw the devastation in left in its wake.
She has spoken out at the U.N. about nuclear weapons and urging other nations to consider banning nuclear weapons. She has been heard saying; “These (nuclear) weapons are not a necessary evil, they are the ultimate evil. We hibakusha had been waiting for the ban for 72 years. Let this be the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons.”
The treaty to ban nuclear weapons was supported by all nations except the five “big rigs” of nuclear weapons. They are: China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States.
There are a total, combined 15,000 nuclear weapons, which is enough to destroy Mother Earth 2 or 3 times over. Sadly, North Korea is not part of the treaty and is instead building more nuclear weapons. With this, North Korea could potentially hold several nation-states, including South Korea and Japan, hostage for whatever reason they see fit.
Until war is erased from Earth, I don’t think a Nobel Peace Prize will stop other nations from building their own. After all, it’s just a piece of paper.
Reference: Nuclear weapons ban campaigners accept Nobel Peace Prize at time of atomic strife
