MichaelK: I don't believe we are any safer with more nuclear weapons in the world (the U.S has 10,000). Retalliation (or the threat of it) to a nuclear attack, especially from one nuclear state to another, guarantees mutual annihalation; it does not address the reasons behind a nuclear attack. We see examples of such people who have no fear of death or retalliation in campus shootings or suicide bombers when a person becomes so unreasonable or desperate that they cannot be deterred by the threat of death.

One solution offered to the problem, is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A major critique to the Treaty is the fact that permament UN council members are not bound to the same obligations to disarm as non-council members. This lack of disarmament by nuclear states is constantly raised by states to justify their own interest in having a nuclear arsenal.

I think the majority of people in the world want to disarm, but the decisions are being made by a powerful few. This isn't democratic. The majority of people are left out of the decision-making process. But I doubt most people are aware of that, or even want a say in how their tax dollars are being spent. How many people would care if they knew we are going to spend more than 35 billion this year on nuclear weapons? How many people have an understanding of the social and environmental programs we could fund with 35 billion?

A major part of the solution then, is simply and obviously education... to raise awareness of our continued complicity in nuclear build-up, to remind ourselves of the horrors of a nuclear war that will kill many and make our planet possibly inhospitable... to discourage participation in building such weapons of mass destruction, educate those who already are supporting nuclear arms, and to maintain a system of checks and balances over our own production and funding of further nuclear weapons research. So many of us, do not yet have the basic facts.