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At the international level, the situation is horrendous. The expenditure on arms and armaments has increased manifold because of hatred and intolerance of other countries and their ideologies. The most shuddering situation is in the form of unabated development and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. Two small rudimentary atom bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed and maimed several lacs of people. Much bigger and more sophisticated fission and fusion weapons and multi-headed inter-continental ballistic missiles are now capable of destroying the entire life on this planet several times over. Use of one such bomb or device, either by design or by accident, would result in immediate retaliation and escalate into a total nuclear war and complete holocaust.
Such bombs or devices would directly and instantaneously kill millions of people, most of whom would just be vaporised. Others would die because of the effects of radiation. Such bombs or devices would also raise thick dust clouds, which by wind action would fully enshroud this planet. This would lead to total stoppage of sunlight and the consequent prolonged, black icy night, in which the food chain would be destroyed and all remaining human beings would also die because of starvation and radiation. Such a ghastly spectre, spoken about by scientists, is being deliberately played down by politico-military groups dominating the national scenes. These merchants of war are scared of peace. Besides, it is believed that war, or cold war sustains economics. More and more people all over the world are realising that the answer to present problem of violence is to be found in a morality which replaces ravenous greed with contentment, hate with tolerance, and killing with reverence for life. There are many enlightened -And eminent scien
AHIMSA: THE SCIENCE OF PEACE ✪ XVIII For Private & Personal Use Only
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