Ivana Hughes

that entered into force in 2021 and that currently has 73 state parties and another 25 signatories.

So in an international agreement, there's sort of two levels.

One is a signatory, a head of state or someone like a foreign minister signs, and that signals to the country that,

is sort of ready to, you know, commit to these things in principle.

And then the ratification follows often through national legislative bodies, whatever the rules of a particular country are.

And after ratification, the country is actually committed to everything outlined in the agreement.

So the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW, basically arose now almost 10 years ago and has been active since entering into force in 2021.

And the goals of this treaty are quite simply to prohibit any and all activities having to do with nuclear weapons.

And the idea here is that the countries that are part of it, so clearly none of the nuclear armed states are part of it, and I would say not yet.

But the idea here is that because of things like nuclear winter, because of things like radiation that spreads all around the planet, these countries are saying that, you know, your nuclear arsenals are not just a threat

to your enemies or to your own populations, they're actually a threat to all of us as well.

And we want a say in the fact that you currently hold the ability to destroy the world as we know it.

So...

I think the idea that, I think to me, it is nuclear deterrence that is the problem in and of itself.

Because if we're going to continue to claim that we have nuclear weapons because they keep us safe, then absolutely everything you just said follows from that, right?

Then every country...

The can should acquire nuclear weapons for itself to keep itself safe.

That is, of course, preposterous.

I have at times described it as a license to be bad.

Well, of course.