On Hiroshima Day: The World Moving Closer to Nuclear War

1. Russia and NATO member countries have over 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. A nuclear war between the two sides can destroy the world. Hence, despite the trillions spent on nuclear weapons and related systems by them, there has been an understanding in the past of avoiding direct confrontation, going back to similar self-restraint during the Cold War between the NATO/USA and the Warsaw Pact/Soviet Union for avoiding a direct confrontation. However, in more recent times this understanding has been eroding steadily, and during the last year this loss of understanding has proceeded at a very fast pace. One redline after another has been breached regarding the kind of assistance in the form of weapons or intelligence NATO member countries can provide to Ukraine, with the result that the Russia-Ukraine war starts looking closer and closer to becoming a Russia-NATO war. This of course increases the chances of an open, more direct confrontation and also of a nuclear war. The consequences can be catastrophically tragic. A computer simulation by nuclear weapons experts of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security revealed that a nuclear weapons exchange between Russia and NATO is most likely to escalate rapidly, leading to about 100 million persons dying or getting injured in the first few hours. It is incredibly irresponsible that despite the availability of several such projections of extremely highly likely mortality some senior leaders of the West chose first to start a proxy warProxy WarA war instigated by a major power that does not itself become directly involved in the fighting. between Russia and Ukraine and then have steadily crossed the red lines regarding direct confrontation—a tendency that has peaked more recently—leading to increased possibilities of a nuclear war and a third world war.
2. The now off, now on Middle East wars of 2026 have already affected about 17 countries of the region in the form of small or big attacks. Thousands have died, millions displaced. The new student studying the region’s wars would find it difficult to keep track of who is fighting whom, much less understand why, particularly as those fighting and killing often do not themselves understand why they are doing so. In the process of all this fighting, deep suspicions and enmities are being created all the time. Thus there are many ways in which the situation can escalate towards a wider war and contribute to the drift towards a world war and a nuclear war.
3. The situation would no doubt worsen and get further entangled if the above two wars get linked up in some ways. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already fired the first salvo with an entirely avoidable attack on an Iranian ship, thinking in his customary way that a widening of the war helps him get out of the narrow space into which he has driven himself and his country—a situation which again was avoidable, as much safer paths were available. (Benjamin Netanyahu is another leader who thinks along similar lines of a wider war to help his own wars). The linking up of the two wars further increases the risks for the entire world from the two wars.
4. In Africa, while several existing conflicts such as in Sudan, South Sudan and DR Congo have been extremely costly in human terms, new and wider ones may erupt involving Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Somalia, Somaliland, Libya and the Sahel countries. These in turn can link up at several points as bloc divisions are already emerging, with the added danger that some bigger foreign powers are now on one side and others on the other side, thereby making available more weapons and resources to fuel the conflicts, which in turn are also linked to gold smuggling, blood diamondsBlood DiamondsDiamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army’s efforts, or a warlord’s activity. and the wider quest for controlling rare earths and valuable minerals.
5. In a world of several wars, disrupted trade and arbitrary tariffs, unjust sanctions and restrictions, increasingly risky maritime routes, suddenly increasing energy and food insecurity for which many countries are not prepared at all, there are many reasons for discontent and conflicts based on these to increase, a situation worsened in some countries with regime change operations conducted from outside. All this can add up to a formidable cocktail of turmoil, disturbances, violence and conflict.
6. The quality of leadership has declined to an alarming extent in some of the more powerful countries, led by the USA, where President Trump has been conducting international affairs in unprecedented ways leading to almost complete loss of trust.
7. Militarization and increasing military budgets are rising in most countries, including those that had opted for more peace-based paths in the past. Programs for weapons of mass destruction are also advancing, despite the obvious pressing need for disarmament in general and getting rid of WMDsWeapons of Mass DestructionWeapons designed to cause widespread death and destruction, such as nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. in particular. New technologies like AI are adding further to the already very high dangers of WMDs, which have the capacity to destroy almost all life on the planet. Chances of more countries trying to acquire nuclear weapons are increasing. Efforts to prevent a country from acquiring nuclear weapons can themselves lead to actual use of nuclear weapons.

Above we have not even mentioned the highly disturbing developments in many other countries including Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, etc., or flashpoints in some other regions including densely populated, heavily armed regions like South Asia. Above all, there lurks the shadow of potentially the biggest and the most feared conflict, China-USA confrontation, some signs of which keep emerging in smaller conflicts of the South China Sea or elsewhere. There is an increasing trend of the world getting divided into blocs, with NATO and a few other allies on one side and Russia, China, Iran and North Korea on the other. What is more, all this is happening in the middle of several serious environmental problems, not just climate change, crossing planetary boundaries, or being on the verge of doing so. or being on the verge of doing so. What should have been the time for increasing international cooperation for protecting the environment has been turned into a time of perpetual conflict and war. We should not just hope and pray for remedial actions to be taken before it is too late, we should also become part of wider movements that are able to integrate important concerns of justice, peace and protection of the environment.