At a solemn ceremony today, the mayor of Nagasaki, Shiro Suzuki, strongly condemned the sophistical arguments that nuclear weapons increase security. He called for all nuclear states to immediately face the dangerous reality that the mere possession of these weapons dramatically increases the risk of global war.
Speaking at a solemn ceremony, commemorating the 70,000 civilians who died from the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki on this day in 1945, he firmly rejected both the line that nuclear arsenals help deter potential attackers, and the tendency for nations’ leaders to rely on any version of such weapons. Rather, he said, it has created an incredibly fragile security environment. According to AP News, he urged that this dangerous reality be addressed immediately. AP quoted him to say:
“The theory of nuclear deterrence is extremely dangerous and fragile. Nuclear weapons are not a ‘necessary evil’ but an ‘absolute evil,’ and can never coexist with humanity. To all leaders of the nuclear states and nations relying on nuclear deterrence, you must face the reality that the more you rely on nuclear deterrence, the more you increase the risk of a nuclear war.”
With Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in attendance, Suzuki called out Japan’s leaders who are undermining Japan’s constitutional ban on aggressive war. Takaichi, however, did not depart from her slippery remarks, painting a need to consider ‘pragmatic’ changes to ensure national security. The drift by her and other officials toward an embrace of nuclear weaponry has deeply offended and frustrated the remaining survivors of that horrible day. They have strongly criticized Takaichi’s unprincipled stance.
Over 90 countries were represented at today’s ceremony, with an emotionally stunning period of silence from the crowd at the exact time of day when the plutonium bomb detonated.
