BEIJING -- "Weapons of mass destruction," or WMD, refer to biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. During a recent three-day conference in Beijing, organized jointly by the United Nations Department of Disarmament Affairs and the Chinese government, it became clear that we have to choose from a menu of four options with regard to WMD: universalization of these weapons through laissez-faire proliferation; the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty's solution of haves and have-nots; differentiated proliferation; and universal abolition.
The story goes that a tourist in Ireland stops his car and asks a local villager for directions. "How do I get to 'X' from here," he asks. "If I wanted to get to X, I wouldn't start from here," he is told.
Similarly, with respect to WMD, we can envision the future that we like, and work to bring it about; or we can start from the "real" world here and today, and accept whatever destination it delivers us to in a few years or decades. The strength of conviction underpinning the abolitionists' campaign is the vision of a world free of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.