Apocalypse never: forging the path to a nuclear weapon-free world

Abstract

Apocalypse Never illuminates why we must abolish nuclear weapons, how we can, and what world will look like after we do. The twenty-first century has ushered in a world at atomic edge. The pop culture days of Dr. Strangelove have been replaced by all-too-real single day of 24. Tad Daley has written a book for general reader about this most crucial of contemporary challenges. Apocalypse Never maintains that abolition of nuclear weapons is both essential and achievable, and reveals in fine detail what we need to do - both governments and movements - to make it a reality. Daley insists that while global climate change poses single greatest long-term peril to human race, nuclear challenge in its many incarnations - nuclear terror, nuclear accident, a nuclear crisis spinning out of control - poses single most immediate peril. Daley launches a wholesale assault on nuclear double standard - notion that United States permits itself thousands of these weapons but forbids others from aspiring to even one - insisting that it is militarily unnecessary, morally indefensible, and politically unsustainable. He conclusively repudiates most frequent objection to nuclear disarmament, the breakout scenario - possibility that after abolition someone might whip back curtain, reveal a dozen nuclear warheads, and proceed to rule On wings of a brand new era in American history, Apocalypse Never makes case that a comprehensive nuclear policy agenda from President Obama, one that fully integrates non-proliferation with disarmament, can both eliminate immediate nuclear dangers and set us irreversibly on road to abolition. In jargon-free language, Daley explores possible verification measures, enforcement mechanisms, and governance structures of a nuclear weapon-free world. Most importantly, he decisively argues that universal nuclear disarmament is something we can transform from a utopian fantasy into a concrete political goal.