Our World Inches Closer than Ever
to the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe
Win Without Wars
(August 9, 2025) — 80 years ago, days after dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the US dropped a second, bigger atomic bomb – this time on the city of Nagasaki.
In an instant, 40,000 people were killed, many of them children. Entire neighborhoods were vaporized. Survivors staggered through fire and ash. Tens of thousands more died from radiation poisoning in the days and years that followed.
So many swore: Never again. But the terrifying reality is that today, we’re dangerously close to the brink of nuclear catastrophe.
As Trump issues orders that put the world on edge, Congress is about to stoke the flames by authorizing BILLIONS more dollars for unnecessary, dangerous nuclear weapons. But avoiding the threat of nuclear war has been a huge part of Win Without War’s work since our founding, and we’re not slowing down.
That’s why our team is ramping up our organizing and advocacy to bring us back from the brink, reduce the threat of nuclear war, and stop Congress from rubber-stamping massive new investments in weapons capable of global ‘annihilation.’
Today, global nuclear tensions are only rising: ALL nine nuclear powers — Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea — grew their arsenals last year [1]
We’re Facing a Fve-alarm FIre
Leading scientists have already declared our entire planet close to nuclear Armageddon.
Closer than at the start of the nuclear arms race in 1953.
Closer than during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Closer than the height of the Cold War in the 1980s.
And that was before two nuclear-armed countries narrowly avoided a prolonged conflict earlier this year [2] Before US and Israeli government strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities put an entire region on the precipice of all-out war [3] Before the recent round of nuclear saber-rattling between Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev and Trump [4] The same Trump who once asked, “if we have nukes, why can’t we use them?” and who is currently requesting $5.5 BILLION to increase nuclear weapons spending [5,6]
As multiple countries ramp up nuclear weapons development, the risk of technological error and human miscalculation skyrockets, along with the likelihood of mutual destruction.
We can demand something different, but it’ll take a wildly ambitious, multi-pronged, and crucially important campaign to avoid doomsday. It will look like derailing any attempts to expand the nuclear arsenal during National Defense Authorization Act negotiations, urging all DC decision-makers to block bad ideas like resuming nuclear testing, and fighting to stop any effort to pad the Pentagon budget with money for more dangerous, unnecessary, and unaffordable weapons.
It’ll require mobilizing activists, movement partners, civil servants, legislative aides, and lawmakers to join in — and a 24/7/365 effort like this will take incredible resources. Are you with us?
As the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in conflict, the US government has a unique responsibility to lead the international community toward a safer and more secure future — and it’s activists like us who will push decision-makers to be the leaders we need.
This week, as we remember the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and honor the work of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombings, we’re recommitting to our work to secure a future that is truly free from the threat of nuclear war.
It took years of policy, politics, and people agreeing to build weapons that could devastate humanity — and it’ll take policy, politics, and people to build the more peaceful world we all want and deserve. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to never again allow a nuclear nightmare to unfold.
Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team
Footnotes
- Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, “Nuclear risks grow as new arms race looms”
2. The Washington Post, “India-Pakistan clashes renew fears over nuclear risk“
3. MSNBC News, “Iran could still make a nuclear weapon — even if the US strikes”
4. The Hill, “Trump escalates nuclear tensions as Russia deadline nears”
5. CNBC, “Trump asks why US can’t use nukes”
6. The New York Times, “Sharp Hike in Nuclear Arms Budget Sought as Science Funding Is Slashed” (giftlink)
