Telegram blog post by Nikolai Rybakov, 5.07.2024

Photo from social media.

In 2023, nine countries increased their spending on nuclear weapons by 13%. This is a record high growth.

According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), nuclear club countries have spent a record USD 91.4 billion on modernisation and the number of operationally deployed nuclear weapons.

USA – USD 51.5 billion

China – USD 11.9 billion

Russia — USD 8.3 billion

UK – USD 8.1 billion

France – USD 6.1 billion

India – USD 2.7 billion

Israel – USD 1.1 billion

Pakistan – USD 1 billion

North Korea – USD 0.9 billion.

And this is not the end. Looking at the trend, spending on weapons of mass destruction will exceed USD 100 billion in 2024.

According to ICAN, spending on nuclear weapons has increased by 34% over the past five years.

Experts at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) note that since the Cold War, nuclear weapons have never played such a prominent role as they do now.

Studying the results of the polls, it is amazing to see how many Russians are ready to support the use of nuclear weapons. So far the majority is arithmetically against (52%), but the numbers of supporters are terrible. Moreover, over the past year, the share of supporters of a nuclear strike increased by 5% and became record high for the period of the special military operation.

At the same time, over a third of Russians are confident that a nuclear strike could be “justified”. That is, more than a third of those surveyed are actually ready to end the life of mankind by suicide. It should be noted that it is pensioners who most support a nuclear strike. The fewest supporters are among young people. They want to live.

And now to the main thing – what can push us back from the “doomsday”?

Diplomacy. Negotiations. Dialogue. Consolidation of politicians around a single topic – so that people are not killed any more.

The arrival of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow is also one of the steps that may give hope for a future ceasefire agreement. Certainly, it may not be decisive, but it could become part of the foundation for a further ceasefire agreement, which Yabloko has been talking about since February 2022.

After the open part of the meeting with Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban published a photo from Moscow with the caption that “we must act” for the sake of peace. And so it is.

Taking the position of solely an observer in the face of a real threat of nuclear war is a great risk not only, as some believe, for Ukraine, but also for all humanity.

Source