Hiroshima suffered from the first wartime use of the atomic bomb. The overriding goal of the Hiroshima Roundtable is to ensure Nagasaki remains the last city to be attacked by the bomb. The sixth annual meeting on Aug. 22 and 23 was held against the backdrop of a uniquely dangerous period in the atomic age.
Geopolitical tensions have spiked across the world. No arms control negotiations are currently underway to reduce global nuclear stockpiles. A hostile security environment, proliferation of nuclear weapons and emergence of new technologies have increased the risk of accidental or deliberate use of nuclear weapons. While efforts to check North Korea's nuclear ambitions by diplomatic negotiations are welcome, several summits have yielded negligible concrete results. The successful Iran nuclear deal was abandoned by U.S. President Donald Trump and unilateral sanctions reimposed, putting the United States in material breach of the U.N.-endorsed agreement.
The binary East-West nuclear divide of the Cold War has morphed into interlinked nuclear chains, for example, between Pakistan, India, China and the U.S.