A word about Global Zero

Global Zero - for those of you interested in signing a petition related to nuclear disarmament

I was glad to learn that Presidents Obama and Medvedev have signed an agreement to reduce their nuclear arsenals. I am hoping that next week's meeting, involving many world leaders, will have a favourable outcome.

I seldom write of political matters, though I have strong convictions - all, naturally, based on my religious beliefs. It may seem odd that I therefore don't address such issues more often. Yet I am cautious, because idealists such as myself sometimes find it difficult to present such commentary in a manner which would be readily understood, especially by those with other viewpoints (who also are strong in religious commitment or humanist principles.)

I am fundamentally pacifist, in case that was not obvious. I know little of military strategy, and am not qualified to address those details. But this much is certain in my mind - there is no theory of just war that can include atomic bombs as a moral option. The devastation is utterly out of proportion to the justification of a military target. This was true in 1945, when the effects of the blast were known - and all the more later, since today we know the horrors of the radiation.

Moving into my usual loose association mode - aside from Shakespeare and the Bible, I believe that no author (in the English language) is more widely quoted than Dickens, nor are his lines more recognisable. (In fact, perhaps he wins for that last - because, half the time, those quoting Shakespeare or scripture don't know the source.) Just about everyone would immediately recognise, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Indeed, that is a brilliant line, because it applies to every place in every era.

I am delighted with many technological advances, many of which one could never have dreamt even within my own lifetime. I love being able to conduct research and contact friends all over the globe from the computer - and one will hear no complaints that I can have music at hand wherever I am. :) Many fatal diseases, in particular those which caused many to die before their fifth birthdays (years or even days...), can be prevented or cured. This is beginning to sound trite already, so I'll refrain from further examples, but the technology today is quite enriching and marvellous.

Sadly, the other side of this is that, in the last world war and since, there was the technology to eliminate thousands of lives in an hour. I am very glad to see that Russia and the United States, who achieved enormous military power at the end of that last war, and who were sworn enemies throughout the 'cold war' years, are taking an initiative together.