SPOKESMAN BOOKS
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
|
|
Catalogue
|
How to Lose a War
The Spokesman, 90
‘Strive for Concerted Nuclear Disarmament’
Pope
Benedict XVI exposed the fallacy of seeking security through nuclear weapons
in his New Year Message, from which these excerpts are taken.
‘…
It must not be forgotten that, tragically, violent fratricidal conflicts and
devastating wars still continue to sow tears and death in vast parts of the
world. Situations exist where conflict, hidden like flame beneath ashes, can
flare up anew and cause immense destruction. Those authorities who, rather
than making every effort to promote peace, incite their citizens to hostility
towards other nations, bear a heavy burden of responsibility: in regions
particularly at risk, they jeopardize the delicate balance achieved at the
cost of patient negotiations and thus help make the future of humanity more
uncertain and ominous. What can be said, too, about those governments which
count on nuclear arms as a means of ensuring the security of their countries?
Along with countless persons of good will, one can state that this point of
view is not only baneful but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war
there would be no victors, only victims. The truth of peace requires that all
– whether those governments which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms,
or those planning to acquire them – agree to change their course by clear
and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted
nuclear disarmament. The resources which would be saved could then be employed
in projects of development capable of benefiting all their people, especially
the poor.
In
this regard, one can only note with dismay the evidence of a continuing growth
in military expenditure and the flourishing arms trade, while the political
and juridical process established by the international community for promoting
disarmament is bogged down in general indifference. How can there ever be a
future of peace when investments are still made in the production of arms and
in research aimed at developing new ones? It can only be hoped that the
international community will find the wisdom and courage to take up once more,
jointly and with renewed conviction, the process of disarmament, and thus
concretely ensure the right to peace enjoyed by every individual and every
people. By their commitment to safeguarding the good of peace, the various
agencies of the international community will regain the authority needed to
make their initiatives credible and effective.
The
first to benefit from a decisive choice for disarmament will be the poor
countries, which rightly demand, after having heard so many promises, the
concrete implementation of their right to development ...’
