IPPNW – International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
IPPNW is still urgently needed. Those who had hoped at the founding of the IPPNW in 1982 that the danger of nuclear war could be eliminated in their own lifetime or at least within one generation, find themselves bitterly disappointed at the latest by the Urkraine War. Putin’s very specific threat to use nuclear weapons in a hot war is even more dangerous than Trump’s nuclear fire death threat against North Korea in 2016. With his threat, Putin has de facto reversed the renunciation of the first use of nuclear weapons that the Soviet Union had declared after the end of the Cold War – in contrast to the USA and NATO. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reinforces NATO’s and Germany’s adherence to the policy of nuclear deterrence and “nuclear sharing,” as well as the supposedly indispensable “modernization” and new procurement of bombs, warheads, and combat aircraft for this purpose. In addition, there is a danger that Russia will now back out of its previously common stance with the four other official nuclear powers (U.S., U.K., France, and China) in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. This would increase the risk of a regional arms race with nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The commitment of IPPNW and all its members to the outlawing and worldwide abolition of all nuclear weapons of mass destruction is therefore still urgently needed – hopefully not for another 40 years.
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