MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) Washington should work toward nuclear disarmament across the globe, since it remains the only country in the world to have ever used atomic weapons in warfare, Madelyn Hoffman, a longtime environmental and social justice activist, who is the Green Party candidate for the US Senate, told Sputnik ahead of Hiroshima Day.
On August 6, 1945, the US Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing up to 120,000 people, and three days later detonated another one over Nagasaki, killing up to 80,000 people. The use of the atomic bombs effectively concluded World War II and the attacks on the two Japanese cities have been the only instances of the use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
"I believe the U.S. has a tremendous moral responsibility to work toward global nuclear disarmament because it is the only country in the world to have ever dropped atomic bombs," Hoffman said, adding that the US and other countries that possess nuclear weapons also have the responsibility of moving toward total nuclear disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was signed back in 1970.
She believes that the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made a "360-degree turn" that sparked a nuclear arms race.
"[This move made] the world less safe and creating years of a Cold War that threatened to become 'hot' on more than one occasion. I believe this was a tactical error that placed the world on a possible collision course with a nuclear confrontation -- instead of building on the U.S.-Soviet Union alliance and eliminating the threat of a nuclear war 75 years ago," she said.
According to Hoffman, the US-led nuclear race took trillions of Dollars away from important community programs both in the US and around the world, and created a risky situation on a global scale.
She recalled that in 2016, then-US President Barack Obama, who became the first sitting US leader to visit the memorial of the American atomic bombings of Japan in Hiroshima, offered no apology for the attacks.
"The lack of accountability for that action gives the U.S. a false sense of superiority and continued commitment to spending trillions of dollars on a new nuclear arsenal � instead of a sense of responsibility for moving the world away from the production and use of nuclear weapons," she said.
Hoffman also said in one way or another, the US is engaged in many conflicts across the globe, including those in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. And in each of them, Washington "risks a confrontation with another nuclear power, be it Pakistan/ India, Russia, China, or North Korea," she said.
In addition, after walking away from the Iranian nuclear deal, the US has tense relations with Iran, the activist noted, recalling that Washington had abandoned or ignored many other nuclear disarmament treaties, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. Also, dozens of countries are currently living under US sanctions, she added.
"The list of aggressive and provocative actions by the U.S. is a very long one and coupled with the presence of approximately 800 U.S. foreign military bases strategically built around the world, increases the risk of a nuclear war," she concluded.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the only remaining legally binding agreement between Russia and the US on nuclear arms control, is also at risk of becoming defunct if no alternative is found by the time it expires in February.
