We all want to live in a safe, secure world – but can Trident nuclear weapons help achieve this? Or could peace-building, cooperation and justice provide a better solution?
An article posted earlier this month on The Conversation blog, identified what the author sees as the ‘Five biggest security threats facing the world in 2016’:
- Civil Conflict
- Terrorism
- Organised Crime
- Small Arms
- Environmental Issues
What do you think – does this list reflect the key challenges facing the world today? We might add in economic inequality, cyber-security, but it’s a pretty good reflection of people’s current concerns.
Now let’s try a simple thought experiment: would dropping a nuclear missile (with 40 times the power of those dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki) help resolve any of these challenges? Has the ‘deterrent’ posed by Trident helped to stop them becoming problems over recent decades?
These are complex issues that require long-term efforts to overcome: joining together to resolve conflicts with justice, and build peaceful communities that tackle the root causes of violence.
The indiscriminate killing power of nuclear weapons is no help in these situations, and Trident’s enormous price tag (more than £100 billion across 40 years) is sucking up resources that could otherwise be spent on these peace-building efforts. And when the UK government tries to carry out diplomacy or support peace-building efforts, this is undermined by holding on to their own weapons of mass-destruction.
We can all get involved in building a more just & peaceful world – from connecting with others in our community, to taking action to shift resources from destructive weapons to peace-making. Pop into Peace Hub to have your say, find out more and take action.