So I was driving home after work today, listening on the local news channel. I am a child of the 70'ies, so you can imagine my reaction when I heard these words:
"The UN security council has unanimously called for the dismantlig of all nuclear arsenals". Link
Unanimously. That includes China. Russia. UK. France. All the major players. I was this close to driving off the road and into a particularly nasty ditch.
The U.N. Security Council, at a summit chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama, unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday calling on nuclear weapons states to scrap their arsenals.
BBC has more
The resolution commits member nations to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, and endorses a broad framework of actions to reduce global nuclear risks.
It also urges states to:
join and comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
refrain from testing nuclear weapons and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Mr Obama is trying to build up momentum ahead of a crucial review of the non-proliferation treaty next May.
Mr Obama stressed that the US would play its part, seeking a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia and moving ahead with ratification of the test ban treaty.
Now, I know that this is not the same as saying that nuclear arsenals WILL be dismantled. I'm not quite that blue-eyed. However, it is a huge step in the right direction. Maybe, just maybe, it will become reality. With nukes in the large military powers gone, no state can claim the moral right to develop these horrible weapons.
I have to think about a song I heard a lot in the seventies, by the Dutch-born Swede Cornelis Vreesvijk. He had a song called "I natt jeg drömde" (Tonight I dreamed), about a world without weapons.
I NATT JAG DRÖMDE
Cornelis Vreeswijk
I natt jag drömde något som
jag aldrig drömt förut.
Jag drömde det var fred på jord
och alla krig var slut
Jag drömde om en jättesal
där statsmän satt i rad.
Så skrev dom på ett konvolut
och reste sig och sa:
Det finns inga soldater mer,
det finns inga gevär,
och ingen känner längre till
det ordet militär.
På gatorna drog folk omkring,
och drog från krog till krog,
och alla drack varandra till
och dansade och log.
I natt jag drömde något som
jag aldrig drömt förut.
Jag drömde det var fred på jord
och alla krig var slut
The bit in bold roughly translates to:
I dreamed of a huge room
where statesmen sat in rows
they wrote upon a paper
and rose and made vows
There are no soldiers anymore
There are no guns either
And no longer shall people know
The word "Military"