Suchergebnisse

The sigh of relief was audible throughout Europe. In Brussels and other European capitals, the victory of the opposition bloc in the Polish elections sparked hope that the imminent change in government would end the illiberal course of the past. While years of democratic backsliding have left lasting marks on Poland's political and legal landscape, the newly elected government is clearly committed to leading Poland back onto the path of democracy and the rule of law. However, one pertinent institutional issue remains to be resolved: the still pending procedure against Poland under Art 7 TEU.

That man could destroy his civilization has been known, theoretically, for many years; now there is actual proof that he can. Atomic bombs have been unleashed in international society, the results of which have no comparison in history.

It is not commonly known in the USA that tens of thousands of Korean nationals were killed and injured in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the atomic bombings of 1945. Many Korean atomic bomb victims survive today, scattered in rural villages in South Korea or in the slums of urban Japan. The author narrates the story of the Korean atomic bomb victims and how the situation of some of them has begun to improve since 1990. (DÜI-Sen)

A summary of the proceedings of the International Symposium on Damage & After Effects of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (ISDA), obtainable in English from Pergammon Press, Oxford, England, & in Japanse from Sahi Evening News, Tokyo. ISDA conducted research in Japan in 1977, with help & advice from WHO, UNESCO, IAEA, UNSCEAR, SIPRI, & Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) of Japan. Gaps were revealed in existing research & knowledge, & an inexcusable lack of urgency in some medical circles. The bombs were unnecessary to defeat Japan, & whether they shortened the war or not, they increased the loss of life & augmented the suffering, which still continues thirty-three years afterwards. The bombs were used because they existed, & as experiments on human beings, to prevent the USSR from contributing to the defeat of Japan. The numbers of deaths & survivors have been underestimated. Hiroshima & Nagasaki are probably the greatest single disasters, natural or man-made, in human history. Nagasaki's plutonium bomb was mistimed & misaimed due to several factors, & regarded as a prototype of future nuclear accidents. The described effects on the survivors are gruesome. Many are discriminated against in marriage & employment, & are always anxious about trivial ailments that could be the onset of terminal illnesses resulting in deaths best described as "the death of things" rather than "the death of persons." Advised to convalesce at length, many have to work excessively in inferior jobs to buy treatment, & fall into a poverty trap. State support increases due to public pressure, but is still inadequate. The criterion for registration is nearness to the explosion, difficult to prove. Linkage between radiation-based disease & the bombs is not scientifically established. This link could be established & other gaps filled, wtih a massive injection of finance & modern technology into research programs. There is no evidence of life-shortening among Hibakusha from effects other than maglignancies, probably because exposure to the whole gamut of fire, blast, & radiation produced a naturally selected group. Among the significant findings are social & psychological effects, without which knowledge of the A-Bomb experience would be incomplete. A culture of quality -- art, music, poetry -- has grown around the Bomb, & some Japanese schools have made surprising advances in peace education. Because of the Japanese language, little is known of this elsewhere. The destruction of cities in WWII allowed for human courage to show itself in attempts to save one's city, possessions, friends, or relatives. Even this display of human feeling was denied to Hiroshima & Nagasaki, where everything happened in a flash, & Hibakusha are consumed with guilt at their inability to act in a truly human way, although they realize the circumstances were beyond their control. They believe that nuclear weapons are at the root of the growing violence in the world, & that until this is squarely faced, no major improvement in public morality is possible. The bombs could have been dropped anywhere, & in this sense, we are all survivors. Modified AA.