July 14, 2020 10:38 AM EDT
Yes. Both sides are preparing for that war. Both sides also have nuclear weapons. China declared it will never use them first under any circumstances, but US policy allows for the first use of nuclear weapons if victory cannot be assured by other means. China has promised to retaliate if struck first. So, a nuclear war over Taiwan, while unlikely, is possible.
June 1, 2020 9:25 AM EDT
A drawing depicts a final parting between Miyoko Matsubara, the artist, and her friend Michiko, after both were badly burned during the 1945 bombing of Japan. Matsubara Miyoko, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
On June 6, 1964 the American civil-rights activist Yuri Kochiyama hosted a group of Japanese hibakusha in her Harlem apartment. The survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were on a 150-city World Peace Study Mission to share their experience of the bomb. Miyoko Matsubara was among them. She was 12 when “Little Boy” exploded over Hiroshima. She described what happened when she regained consciousness after the blast.
May 1, 2020 11:31 AM EDT
Japan does not have its own nuclear weapons. The Japanese government considered developing them in the past, but decided this would make Japan less secure. Japanese opinion polls consistently express strong public opposition to nuclear weapons. So do their elected representatives.
There is, however, a small group of non-elected Japanese bureaucrats with close ties to the U.S. defense establishment who insist U.S. nuclear weapons should be “the core of Japan’s security arrangements.” Wonks refer to this supposed core as “extended nuclear deterrence.” Journalists and politicians, especially in Japan, call it a “nuclear umbrella.”
April 8, 2020 10:13 AM EDT
One of the enduring lessons from the COVID-19 crisis may be that simple acts from enough ordinary people can make an enormous difference. We can apply it to other large and seemingly intractable problems. Sixty years ago concerned citizens got together to protect their health by demanding an end to nuclear testing. Read More
