Regarding Ramesh Thakur's Dec. 16 article, "Reducing the global threat posed by nuclear weapons": Uh, good luck with that! The United States and the Soviet Union came very close to nuclear conflict a number of times during the dark days of the Cold War, either because of a misunderstanding in communications or because of a simple glitch in the early warning defense system of one country or the other.
Human error could trigger nuclear war very easily, especially when you factor in panic or overwhelming fear. Then there is the age-old problem of hubris. Humanity's worst flaw is its ugly pride — not backing down when threatened.
Does it matter which "ism" triggers nuclear Armageddon? Man is far too smart for his own good. If only we'd been gifted with a "peace" DNA, but then how would the human race have survived 50,000 years ago if it had been a "hippy" tribe? The very nature of our survival and inherent genius for making war might prove to be our undoing, leading to extinction.
Religion will certainly play a role. When Col. Paul Tibbets dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in August 1945, millions of Americans thanked their Protestant God, or Catholic God, that Japan was on its way to defeat. During the Cold War, many Western leaders were convinced that God was on their side against the "godless" Russians and Chinese. Was it God's will that Christians destroy an atheistic enemy using the most powerful weapon ever devised?
It was madness — all that Cold War talk of annihilation and the capitalist nations believing so fervently in their moral superiority. After the horrors inflicted on Hiroshima, both Russia and Communist China had good reason to fear the Western powers. In the event of a global nuclear holocaust, it won't really matter which "ism" was right, will it?
The thinking behind all the nuclear weapons technology isn't that much different from the skilled crafting of an arrowhead or a sword during the Bronze Age. The tribe with the best metallurgical skills would prevail in combat. Greater destructive technology hasn't made us any less fond of war.
I suspect that Japan will build some sort of nuclear weapon for "defense purposes only" by 2030.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.