Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorate the 70th year. A hope of Hibakushas (A-bomb survivors) ? elimination of nuclear weapons - has not yet come true. The wheels of history have turned adversely this year: President Putin of Russia declared to prepare for using nuclear weapons in committing in the annexed Crimea. The 2015 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) held in New York was broken off.


LET’S CREATE MANKIND HISTORY, REJECTING CO-EXISTENCE WITH NUCELAR WEAPONS!


Three Minutes before Midnight


It is 23:57 now on the Doomsday Clock, an internationally recognized design to convey how close the world is to be destroyed with dangers like nuclear catastrophe, which sets the end of humanity at 24:00. We live in a dangerous moment when only three minutes is left until midnight.


The Doomsday Clock appeared as a cover picture of a US science magazine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which was published two years after the bombings over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today dangers include climate-changing technologies, bio-technologies and cyber-technology. This year it is three minutes away from apocalypse due to the climate change and nuclear arms race.


In 1953 the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, conducted the first test of a hydrogen bomb, when it was two minutes before midnight. In 1990 when the Cold War collapsed it was 23:43, and the world had 17-minutes of moratorium. Immediately after the bombings over Japan the US and the USSR began competing for nuclear programs. In the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 the two powers nearly escaped a nuclear war and concluded the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. In 1982 they started negotiating for a treaty to reduce strategic weapons and with the end of Cold War nuclear disarmament processes were accelerated.


The total number of nuclear warheads possessed by the two powers counted over 60,000 at the highest, which has been reduced to 15,000 including those of not-deployed and those to be dismantled. However, a nuclear strategy is still valid in the ideological implications of Cold War. This fact explains about today’s 3-minute duration before midnight.


Russia declared in the announcement by President Putin that it had been ready to exert to nuclear weapons in case of a conflict with NATO nations when Crimea was unilaterally seized. This constitutes the Cold War idea to characterize the current nuclear situation.


In late May the NPT Review Conference was broken off after a month-long debate as the US opposed to finalizing the document which calls for establishing a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. The agreement implied Israel, a de facto nuclear power.


As for the Japanese government, it totally failed as an A-bombed nation in taking initiative to abandon nuclear arsenal. It should have worked actively between the nuclear states and those who do not have. The Abe government prefers staying under the nuclear umbrella of the United States, taking a regressive stance. That must be condemned.


Hibakushas are over 80 Years Old


The average age of the Hibakushas, who have a Health Certificate, is over 80 years old as of March this year. Time is not left for them to talk about their experiences and appeal to the public elimination of nuclear arms. Campaigns have been made to convey to younger generations, but time is short.


The theme of the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs 2015 is ‘For Nuclear Weapon and War-Free, Peaceful 21st Century! Do not Repeat Nuclear Accidents due to Earthquakes! Let’s Create Society without Nuclear Power Plants!


President of the Gensuikin (Japan Congress against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs) Moritaki Ichiro told: Nuclear Energy and Mankind cannot live together. Let’s keep the words in mind and go forward to eradicate nuclear arsenal, overcoming difficulties.


August 4, 2015