The United States had two big reasons in 1945 to have feelings of great relief.
One was that our nation was able to use its nuclear bombs to defeat aggressive Imperial Japan, suddenly ending World War II with U.S. victory. That saved countless American — and Japanese — lives.
The other comforting fact was that the United States then was the only possessor of nuclear weapons, which Japan had been attempting to develop. Consider what might have happened if Japan — and not the United States — had become the only possessor of nuclear bombs!
Unfortunately, the U.S. nuclear arms monopoly did not last long.
The aggressive Soviet Union soon developed nuclear weapons, and began to threaten the world, initiating the long, bitter, dangerous “Cold War.”
Britain, France, Communist China, India, Pakistan, Communist North Korea and Israel eventually also became possessors of nuclear weapons.
Though some of those countries fortunately were not threatening, others — the Soviet Union, Communist China and now Communist North Korea — unfortunately became very dangerous.
Who knows what India and Pakistan might do if their enmities burst into war?
And Israel surely would not be restrained from using its nuclear weapons if Israelis believed that was necessary to assure Israel’s survival against aggressive enemies.
Perhaps the greatest nuclear threat now is that some renegade nation or faction — we think immediately of Iran and various terrorist groups — might somehow come to possess nuclear bombs and decide to use them against hated enemies.
But now the United States and Russia have signed a nuclear arms limitation — not elimination — pact.
If the legislative bodies of both countries ratify the agreement, each would be pledged to reduce its nuclear warheads from their currently reported ceiling of 2,200 each to 1,550 nuclear warheads each, over a period of seven years.
“Only” 1,550 each?
That’s still a lot of potential destructive nuclear war power.
We cannot realistically expect nukes ever will be eliminated. We do hope that international conditions will be such that no nuclear weapon will ever be used again in war.
We live in a dangerous world. Will the U.S.-Russia agreement make us safer? The United States and Russia currently are smiling and not threatening, and will check up on each other. We hope that continues, effectively.