The Japanese government is calling to prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce nuclear arsenals while maintaining its current nuclear deterrence, while civil society and the Nagasaki municipal government are advocating the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in Northeast Asia on the grounds that eliminating nuclear weapons is the only way forward. Those represent two conflicting attitudes toward the nuclear issue in Japan today.

The North Korean nuclear issue can’t be resolved without US cooperation with Beijing — but Pompeo’s rhetoric makes that appear near impossible.

In the space of just over four months, the Ukraine war has turned into an exhausting global conflict that has already left the West feeling increasingly fatigued.

It’s hard to shake the impression that the US has become a kind of “outsourcing hegemon” that relies on its friends and allies to handle big jobs in the international community because its own power is more limited than it once was.

The Cold War was a time when humankind trembled at the fearful prospect of nuclear war. But it was also a time when strategic stability coalesced from the strategy of nuclear deterrence and a range of negotiations about nuclear disarmament. That’s known as the paradox of the Cold War.

People may take various positions on what happened in Ukraine, but when it comes down to it, the most important – and tragic – fact is that all this destruction could have been avoided.