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The chief task was to stop the arms race before it brought utter disaster. However, after the collapse of communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, any rationale for having nuclear weapons disappeared.

Joseph Rotblat

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Joseph Rotblat
Age: 96 †
Born: 1908
Born: November 4
Died: 2005
Died: August 31
Physicist
Warszawa
Sir Joseph Rotblat
Arms
Task
Disappeared
Stop
Unions
Utter
Race
Disaster
Collapse
Tasks
Chief
Nuclear
Chiefs
Brought
Communism
Weapons
Soviet
Rationale
However
Union
Disintegration

More quotes by Joseph Rotblat

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The cold war is over, but cold war thinking survives.
Joseph Rotblat
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My worry is that other advances in science may result in other means of mass destruction, maybe more readily available even than nuclear weapons. Genetic engineering is quite a possible area, because of these dreadful developments that are taking place there.
Joseph Rotblat
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If the militarily most powerful and least threatened states need nuclear weapons for their security, how can one deny such security to countries that are truly insecure? The present nuclear policy is a recipe for proliferation. It is a policy for disaster.
Joseph Rotblat
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I did not imagine that the second half of my life would be spent on efforts to avert a mortal danger to humanity created by science.
Joseph Rotblat
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The most terrifying moment in my life was October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I did not know all the facts - we have learned only recently how close we were to war - but I knew enough to make me tremble.
Joseph Rotblat
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Indeed, the very first resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations - adopted unanimously - called for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Joseph Rotblat
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This is the reality of nuclear weapons: they may trigger a world war a war which, unlike previous ones, destroys all of civilization.
Joseph Rotblat
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At a time when science plays such a powerful role in the life of society, when the destiny of the whole of mankind may hinge on the results of scientific research, it is incumbent on all scientists to be fully conscious of that role, and conduct themselves accordingly.
Joseph Rotblat
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We are told that the possession of nuclear weapons - in some cases even the testing of these weapons - is essential for national security. But this argument can be made by other countries as well.
Joseph Rotblat
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My third appeal is to my fellow citizens in all countries: Help us to establish lasting peace in the world.
Joseph Rotblat
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Above all remember your humanity.
Joseph Rotblat
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All nuclear weapon states should now recognize that this is so, and declare - in Treaty form - that they will never be the first to use nuclear weapons. This would open the way to the gradual, mutual reduction of nuclear arsenals, down to zero.
Joseph Rotblat
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Indeed, the whole human species is endangered, by nuclear weapons or by other means of wholesale destruction which further advances in science are likely to produce.
Joseph Rotblat
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The decision to use the atom bomb on Japanese cities, and the consequent buildup of enormous nuclear arsenals, was made by governments, on the basis of political and military perceptions.
Joseph Rotblat