Lest We Remember

11 August 2003


Hiroshima's Mayor Forgets His History

Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima, Japan, predictably let an opportunity to stay quiet pass him by on the anniversary of his city's atomic incineration last week. He complained that the Non-Proliferation Treaty was "on the verge of collapse" and that the west was to blame. "As the U.S.-U.K. led war on Iraq made clear, the assertion that war is peace is now being trumpeted as truth," MSNBC translated his remarks. What is being trumpeted as truth is the non-sense spoken by the Mayor of Hiroshima.

Peace is not what the US government or its people are particularly interest in at the moment. That option was taken away with the vicious murders of September 11, 2001. America and Americans are interested in security, even at the expense of liberty (shame on them). And if that means a nuclear first-strike (American policy since 1945, by the way), or researching mini-nukes, most in the US will go along.

There is a naive belief that if the big countries in the world were simply nicer, the troubles would go away. The problem is that there a lot of small countries run by people who are not nice, and who would love to cause their neighbors trouble. One such person is President Kim of North Korea, who is trying to develop a nuclear capacity so he can deal with his neighbors, like Japan.

Mayor Akiba is undoubtedly a fine man, and his heart is in the right place. Much the same could be said of Neville Chamberlain, another appeaser. The Non-Proliferation Treaty was never worth the paper it was printed on; what has prevented the spread of the Bomb has been the unwillingness of those who have it to let others acquire the power that it bestows.

Three days after Mayor Akiba's city was bombed by the Enola Gay, Nagasaki was hit with another atomic weapon. Since then, no nation has used fission in anger because those countries with the Bomb had too much to lose. What the Mayor of Hiroshima, and others of his persuasion, do not understand is that major war happens when the equilibrium of international politics is upset. The current situation is stable only so long as nations like North Korea are contained. The weapons are not the problem; it is the will to use them.

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