It seems the Mayor of Hiroshima can't keep his mouth shut at a somber memorial ceremony before using it as a pedestal to spout his ignorant filth:
In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States, Russia and other members of the nuclear club are "jeopardizing human survival."
"Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the United Nations, nuclear club members use their veto power to override the global majority and pursue their selfish objectives."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/
wireStory?id=1014484&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
Selfish objectives? It seems Mr. Akiba doesn't realize that these "selfish objectives" are actually legitimate. If we simply try to disarm all our nuclear weapons like so many pie-in-the-sky nuclear disarmament utopians desire, then there are many risks that all these "selfish" nations would have to take.
For one, they will have to perform the impossible task of making sure that all are cooperating, which would be impossible in a realistic world where nuclear powers are at each other's throats. If one nation is fully compliant and assured that their fellow nations are eliminating nuclear weapons and disarms its arsenal, it may later find out that one nation actually has nuclear weapons hidden. Thus, it wouldn't change anything and instead would lead to merely fewer nations with nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, if all nations cooperate in such a plan, even then it would be redundant in terms of preventing nuclear exchanges between nations, as the MAD policy mixed with a desire to stay alive keeps most of the nuclear powered nations (with the possible exception of North Korea) from using such weapons on each other. The real nuclear threat today is in fact from terrorists and their supporting states. They have no fear of death and no country of origin. Also, nuclear weapons today are also able to be BUILT and smuggled. Dismantling conventional nuclear arsenals of non-rogue states will not help in any way, shape, or form with this issue.
It seems to me that Mr. Akiba is using emotionalism to push forth a very ignorant policy idea that is ineffective at best, and suicidal at worst. Unfortunately, what makes him dangerous is how easily people fall for it due to the emotional connection between his location's having been attacked by an atomic weapon and his stance on such similar weaponry. However, that does not make him an expert on how to deal with such issues. He is the mayor of a city, nothing more.
Mr. Akiba, you are better off keeping your mouth shut on such matters during somber ceremonies such as these instead of mouthing off to gain political points with your people. You obviously are a political cretin of the worst kind, preying on people's emotions to advance your political agenda. Be quiet and try to respectfully honor those who died and stick to the issues and the functions of your elected office. Those whose families and friends died on that fateful day deserve no less.
