50 countries have ratified a UN treaty declaring nuclear weapons illegal. This makes it international law from 22 January 2021.

No nuclear nation that has used the threat of annihilation over other nations signed the treaty although negotiations between Russia and USA continue, while the Trump administration has written to the signatories saying that their stand is a ‘strategic error’. It maybe that from the view of the 5 members of the UN Security Council, permanent power over the course of international relations granted to them as nuclear weapon states, a status that perhaps motivates nuclear proliferation as India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, and Iran have proven: joining the club that could trigger complete devastation is a source of international sway. Weapons that you can not use as it ensures the destruction of your own society: MAD and madness.

The new treaty means that nuclear states will gradually be seen for what they are: pariahs. They prey on fear and threat as the currency of their domination. They take funding away from progress as they lumber about on the international stage, dinosaurs who seal their own fate. Once you have a button you have to keep your finger on it, making you a criminal state.

This moment is a corner to turn toward safety. It will take generations for it to have meaningful effect. Its undoing could take minutes. I think the doomsday clock has been reset by just a few seconds, but every year that now passes may continue that progress. It is a win in a battle for sanity, but may make no difference for hundreds of years.