1945/2023: different times, same justification

 After the bloody battles in the Pacific, President Truman took a momentous decision to prevent a huge number of American casualties during the assault on the Japanese mainland. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. President Truman took care of American interests. Today, Secretary Blinken says that the Russian Federation will use nuclear weapons to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Well, the Russian Federation will follow the American example do what is best for Russian interests.

After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan recovered and went on to become one of the great nations of the Developed World. The war in Afghanistan lasted twenty years. The longest war of the century until now. The conflict in Ukraine has lasted more than a year and the Russian Federation might decide that enough is enough and do what USA did in 1945.

This a real possibility and all those seeking to prolong the conflict by supporting one of the sides in the conflict must take this into consideration. If nuclear devices are detonated in Ukraine, bordering countries will the first to be affected. The power of modern nuclear devices is vastly superior and therefore the level of destruction will be much greater and, as the world revolves, air and water will be contaminated. Those who remember the effects of Chernobyl should think about what is coming their way.

At this point, all warmongering attitudes and provision of armament should come to a halt. The likes of Warsaw that suffered under the German assault of 1939 with conventional weapons should take into account the destruction caused by an invisible enemy called nuclear radiation. The consequences of destruction caused by conventional weapons can be dealt with in the short term. The consequences of radiation pollution will last for many years to come rendering entire areas totally uninhabitable. Although Japan ultimately recovered, the legacy was thousands of lives affected for many generations to come. Cancer, birth defects and the like.

If Secretary Blinken is really and trully concerned and if he believes that the use of nuclear weapons is a certain possibility, he should advice President Biden that a strategy change is needed. The more fuel is added to the fire the closer we get to a nuclear reality.