The Comprehensive Nuclear Ban Treaty, Fact or Fiction?

The CNBT against nuclear testing has been signed by 152 nations but ratified by only 41. But suppose all 152 nations ratified the treaty as well as the rest of the nation-states closing out at 200? Would the world community be any more secure? Not on your life! Every single nation-state would still assume the legal "right" to wage war itself against any and all "enemies." After all, that's what nations do best.

But there is a problem. When the weapons are nuclear, who precisely is the enemy? Both the General Assembly of the UN and the International Court of Justice have named it: humanity.

When the US Congress failed to ratify the CNBT, although President Clinton had signed it two years before, a report by nuclear arms experts commissioned by Japan warned that "...it is urgent that the United States, along with Russia, China, India, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan ratify the pact against nuclear testing...to prevent arms control from unraveling further." Note the final word.

India's rationale for testing while millions go underfed -at the same time seeking a permanent UN Security Council seat-considers "possession of nuclear weapons an attribute to great-power status." So much for India's ancient tradition of wisdom teaching and practice.

There is an worldwide public denial in this irrational and perhaps ultimate human drama. Because humanity has not yet been destroyed, no one can accept that it can be. Thus the argument goes, "Well, it hasn't happened yet, therefore, it can't happen."

This fallacious reasoning is an indication of a species going mad.

The analogy of the frog in the water pot over ever-increasing heat until finally it boils to death is depressingly relevant.