Raging conflicts around the world are “reinforcing the public assumption” that military force and nuclear deterrence are needed to solve global crises — a view Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui rejected Tuesday in a ceremonial speech marking 79 years since the city was devastated by an atomic bomb.
Citing former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s push to end the Cold War, Matsui stressed the importance of not being “resigned to pessimism” amid conflicts such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, adding that the world must take collective action and show that dialogue can overcome conflict.
“Our unity will move leaders now relying on nuclear deterrence to shift their policies,” he said. “We can make that happen.”