{"id":220342,"date":"2022-10-03T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=220342"},"modified":"2022-09-27T04:18:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T03:18:34","slug":"of-the-mexican-joke-and-the-nuclear-top-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/10\/of-the-mexican-joke-and-the-nuclear-top-guns\/","title":{"rendered":"Of the Mexican Joke and the Nuclear Top Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

26 Sep 2022 – <\/em>A Mexican joke goes: \u201cI kill people for money. But you are my best friend, so I will kill you for nothing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Nuclear Test. Credit: United Nations<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This seems to be the dominating thinking of the five permanent members of the so-called UN Security Council, which, according to their own definition, hold the \u201cprimary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression,\u201d they say, while calling upon parties to a dispute to settle it \u201cby peaceful means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, they self-attribute the strange right to launch wars. \u201cIn some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

These five Security Council power monopolists \u2013United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China\u2013 are the world\u2019s major possessors of all kinds of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), be them nuclear, biological, or chemical, among others, some of them would be still unknown.<\/p>\n

Their power seems unlimited. In fact, no matter if the other 190 plus countries adopt democratic decisions within the UN General Assembly \u2014 any one of the world\u2019s five biggest WMD holders can override them through their self-proclaimed \u201cveto\u201d right.<\/p>\n

The war cheerleaders<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Now that the Western politicians and mainstream media are tirelessly spreading panic about the \u2013real or not\u2013 threat that a nuclear war is already looming, the UN General Assembly continues to mark on 26 September each year the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said, is there any real chance to achieve such an ambitious goal?<\/p>\n

The facts<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

The following are just some of the key findings:<\/p>\n