Are we living through the most dangerous nuclear moment since the dawn of the atomic age? The evidence suggests we are, and yet nuclear weapons have all but disappeared from public discourse in the West.
I am joined by Professor Ivana Nikolić Hughes, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and senior lecturer in chemistry at Columbia University, to explore why the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has failed, who is really driving nuclear escalation, and why the history of capitalism and imperialism cannot be separated from the history of nuclear weapons. The primary responsibility for the escalating danger of nuclear war lies not in Moscow or Beijing, but in Washington, London, and Paris.
Great talk.
If we somehow managed to eliminate nuclear weapons, we could tolerate greater international tensions with less risk to humanity. Conversely, if we found a way to significantly reduce or eliminate those tensions, we could live with our current nuclear arsenals at much lower risk.
Today, I think it is unrealistic to imagine the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. That does not mean, of course, that we should avoid discussing the effects of using them—we absolutely should. What it does mean is that if our goal is to reduce nuclear risk to humanity, the more practical path lies in reducing international tensions. This is not an easy task, but it has a higher probability of success than zero.
There are many ways to reduce international tensions, but Radhica pointed to one crucial factor: our primary economic system—neoclassical capitalism, rooted in a Hobbesian worldview. That is the linchpin of this entire discussion. And, as suggested toward the end of the talks, that economy operates within a world shaped by "Global White Privileges".