For the Dutch government, nuclear weapons are no longer taboo. That is a chilling break with the trend, the consequences of which are impossible to foresee.
In the coalition agreement, the Jetten cabinet shows itself to be in favor of strengthening European nuclear deterrence. That is why cooperation is currently being sought with France, which is the only EU country to possess nuclear weapons. Moreover, Minister of Foreign Affairs Berendsen recently announced that the partly Dutch company Urenco will assist the British nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, American nuclear weapons remain on Dutch soil. And recent reports that Finland and Lithuania want to allow nuclear weapons on their own soil, and that the US wants to place nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe, are met with no criticism whatsoever. These weapons are being normalized at a rapid pace.
What is striking is that not a word is said about the disastrous consequences of actual deployment. That is problematic, because atomic bombs possess the unique capacity to wipe out all of humanity. The taboo exists for a reason.
On August 6, 1945, 81 years ago, the nuclear weapon was deployed for the first time. The US bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima at that time. Over 70,000 people were killed instantly by the unprecedented explosion and firestorm that followed. In the days, weeks, and months that followed, a similar number of people died, including from radiation sickness. On August 9, the second nuclear bomb exploded over Nagasaki, killing another 74,000 people. Over 90 percent of the victims were civilians.
Since then, even more destructive bombs have been developed. Specifically, hydrogen bombs, which can be a thousand times more powerful. One such bomb can completely wipe a major city off the map.
In 1945, two atomic bombs exploded. A nuclear war is of a completely different order. Studies have been conducted into the consequences of this. For instance, a ‘limited’ nuclear war between India and Pakistan—two countries that regularly attack each other—would immediately lead to tens of millions of deaths. That would be the result of one hundred to five hundred nuclear weapons—just a few percent of the global total. A nuclear war between the US and Russia, in which thousands of bombs explode, could result in many hundreds of millions of deaths.
This is not even the worst part. A nuclear winter might follow the conflict. Scientists have calculated that during a nuclear war, so much soot and dust would be thrown high into the atmosphere that the Earth could cool down by several degrees for years. This solar eclipse would cause crop failures, leading to famine and chaos, resulting in potentially billions of deaths. Not to mention the question of whether humanity would survive at all.
The positive passage regarding nuclear weapons in the cabinet’s coalition agreement is a break with tradition, which apparently came about without any discussion between the VVD, D66, and CDA. But discussion about nuclear weapons is necessary, especially now. Because an arms race is raging in a world where tensions between great powers have already escalated alarmingly high and diplomacy seems to have been forgotten. The current threat was underscored once again earlier this year by the scientists of the Doomsday Clock, who measure how close humanity stands to the (self-created) abyss. Currently, a meager 85 seconds.
Discussion is also necessary for self-interest. Due to American nuclear weapons at Volkel Air Base, the Netherlands is a target, as also described in the chilling book “Nuclear War, the Scenario” by Annie Jacobsen. Moreover, small countries are particularly vulnerable to a nuclear attack, because the entire economic and administrative center would be wiped out immediately. Nuclear disarmament and arms control should be a priority, especially for a country like the Netherlands.
Nuclear weapons are increasingly spoken of as if they were normal weapons. The horrific consequences of actual use are skillfully concealed in the process, while organizations like the Red Cross have no scenario whatsoever should it come to that. After all, aid would be impossible then. The normalization of nuclear weapons is dangerous and must stop. It is high time for an honest conversation about this weapon of mass destruction.
