“World Is One Miscalculation Away From Nuclear Annihilation,” UN Secretary-General Warns

The treaty was signed in 1968, five years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, an event often described as the world’s closest approach to nuclear war.

The NPT was designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to more countries and move towards the ultimate goal of complete nuclear disarmament.

Almost every country on the planet has signed the treaty, including the five major nuclear powers.

But of the non-signatory states, four are known or suspected to possess nuclear weapons: North Korea, India, Israel and Pakistan.

The UN Secretary-General felt that the world’s “luck” so far to avoid a nuclear holocaust would not last, and urged the international community to join a new push to eliminate all of these weapons.

“Luck is not a strategy. It is not a shield against geopolitical tensions that could lead to nuclear conflict,” he said.

He warned that these international tensions were “reaching new heights”, with references to the invasion of Ukraine, tensions on the Korean Peninsula and conflict in the Middle East.

Days after invading Ukraine in February, its president, Vladimir Putin, accused Russia of escalating tensions. Put on high alert For his country’s powerful nuclear forces.

He threatened anyone who stood in Russia’s way with consequences “unseen in its history.”

Russia’s nuclear strategy contemplates the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a threat to the state’s existence.

Putin delivered a statement at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference on Monday in which he said “there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be provoked.”

Nevertheless, Russia was criticized at the NPT conference.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken condemned Russia’s belligerence and recalled it. Ukraine surrendered its nuclear weapons in 1994 Soviet era after receiving future security guarantees from Russia and other countries.

“What message does this send to any country in the world that thinks it must possess nuclear weapons to protect, defend, and prevent an attack on their sovereignty and freedom?” he asked.

And he replied: “Very bad news.”

An estimated 13,000 nuclear weapons are in service today in the arsenals of nine states with nuclear weapons capabilities, up from about 60,000 in stockpile in the mid-1980s.

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