A Boost for Abolition

Abstract

The plan - called the Report of the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons - is notable not only for what it says, but for who said it. The 119-page report, released in August and formally transmitted to the U.N. General Assembly September 30, says that nuclear weapons have long been recognized by military and political leaders as useless for fighting wars. Further, the report suggests, the value of nuclear weapons as tools of deterrence is largely illusory. The report also says that the world can take little comfort in the fact that nuclear weapons have not been used in war since 1945. {open_quotes}The proposition that large numbers of nuclear weapons can be retained in perpetuity and never used - accidentally or by decision - defies credibility.{close_quotes} Nuclear deterrence, which is often said to enhance global security, is an intolerably risky strategy, the report asserts. If it fails, it would do so with {open_quotes}catastrophic consequences.{close_quotes} Nuclear deterrence also encourages destabilizing nuclear arms races, regional and global. {open_quotes}Present and prospective nuclear weapon states have yet to resolve the inherent contradiction of nuclear deterrence: that forces should be postured to convey a credible capability of use, but they should notmore » at the same time provoke contervailing reactions that lead to expanded arsenals, crisis instability and mounting consequences should deterrence fail{close_quotes}.« less