World Is One ‘Tantrum Away’ From Nuclear War, ICAN Warns

The head of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons offered a stark warning of a “nuclear crisis” on Sunday while accepting the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization. Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the organization, said the world is just one “impulsive tantrum away” from the “deaths of millions” from nuclear weapons. In comments apparently referencing ongoing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, Fihn said a “moment of panic” or a “bruised ego” could mean the end of the human race. Several survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings attended Sunday’s ceremony in Oslo, and one of them, Setsuko Thurlow, jointly accepted the prize with Fihn. Thurlow, a leading campaigner for ICAN, recounted her own experience of surviving the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. “I repeat those words that I heard called to me in the ruins of Hiroshima: ‘Don’t give up. Keep pushing. See the light? Crawl toward it,” she said. ICAN, which unites hundreds of NGOs working to ban nuclear weapons, was named as the winner of the prize in October.