Nobel Peace Prize and the End of War

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: John Horgan <jhorgan () stevens edu>
> Date: October 6, 2017 at 11:28:42 AM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <farber () gmail com>
> Cc: John Horgan <jhorgan () stevens edu>
> Subject: Nobel Peace Prize and the End of War
>
> Dave, thought your list might find this post on today's Nobel Peace Prize announcement interesting. John Horgan
>
> Nobel Prize for Efforts to Ban Nukes Should Inspire Efforts to End all War
>
>  
>
> Eradicating nuclear weapons once and for all will require ending the threat of conventional war, too.
>
>  
>
> I hope that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize adds oomph to efforts to eliminate the threat of nuclear war—and war in 
> general. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced today that it is giving the 2017 Peace Prize to the International 
> Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The committee lauded ICAN for “its work to draw attention to the 
> catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a 
> treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”...
>
>  
>
> My colleague Alex Wellerstein, an historian and authority on nuclear weapons, whom I recently interviewed, doubts the 
> feasibility of a ban. He notes that “the nuclear weapons states still feel that nuclear weapons are necessary for 
> their security. Should they? That’s a really hard question to answer; there are many sides to it. But suffice to say: 
> until the states with nuclear weapons feel that they live in a world where the lack of nuclear weapons will not 
> affect their security or their prestige, they will hold onto them tightly. And that will have rippling effects.”
>
>  
>
> The logic of the nuclear states seems topsy-turvy to me. To my mind, none of us should feel secure as long as nuclear 
> weapons still exist. Implementing a ban that can be verified and will not destabilize relations between nations won’t 
> be easy. As long as nations feel threatened by each other, some will be tempted to rely on nuclear weapons as a 
> defense. The solution to this dilemma is clear: We need to eliminate the threat of conventional international war, 
> too.... 
>
> More at 
> https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/nobel-prize-for-efforts-to-ban-nukes-should-inspire-efforts-to-end-all-war/​



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