As the number of survivors from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings declines, it has become a challenge to remind future generations of the horrors of nuclear war. Professor Kazuko Hikawa from Nagasaki University argues that one way this can be done is by urging countries to refrain from the blame game.
Rethinking Nuclear Weapons
The state of the UK and European debates on nuclear weapons
On Thursday October 15th, BASIC and the Federation of American Scientists will hosted a joint discussion on the state of the UK and European nuclear weapons debates, and the importance of this in a global context.
“Hiroshima, Nagasaki weren’t cause of Japan’s surrender”: historian Ward Wilson
BASIC Senior Fellow Ward Wilson was interviewed on Russia Today to discuss the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. While the conventional narrative claims that the gruesome event led to the capitulation of Japan and the end of WWII, new evidence suggests that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not decisive. What implications does this have for the strategy of nuclear deterrence and the value of nuclear weapons in modern geopolitics?
American Exceptionalism and the Folly of Hiroshima
“Seventy years ago, the world fell under the shadow of a nuclear Armageddon, under which it has been living ever since. On August 6 1945, a US B-29 bomber, the “Enola Gay,” dropped the world’s first atomic bomb, innocently named “Little Boy,” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima….” writes Ward Wilson for Sputnik News.
Read the full article on Sputnik News' website here.
What If Hiroshima Did Not Force the Japanese to Surrender?
You may hear a lot this week that the bombing of Hiroshima was a turning point for humanity – the most important historic event of the 20th century, ushering in the nuclear age. From that moment on, 70 years ago, humans had to come to terms with the fact that we could cause our own devastation along with the majority of large species inhabiting this planet.
The Age of Frustration
The period before World War I was marked by inequality, terrorism, and discontent with democracy. Sound familiar?
Why Nuclear Weapons Work
This article in The Diplomat describes the arguements made by Ward Wilson (Senior fellow at BASIC) in an article he previously wrote titled 'Did Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki Save Lives?'
Knowledge, Accessibility and Awareness of Nuclear Weapons
In the early 1980s, a number of educators and organizations sought to bring a highly controversial issue back into American classrooms: nuclear weapons. Unlike their parents’ generation, students would not be learning how to “duck and cover” in the event of a nuclear attack but would discuss the choices involved in averting nuclear warfare.