Enmity between Russia and the U.S. has grown unabated since the Second World War. Except for a short spell of detente in the 1970’s the cold war between the two countries has become more and more chilly. Between them, they have amassed a stockpile of nuclear weapons amounting to about 15,000 megatons. In a matter of minutes, missiles positioned to strike key targets in the adversary’s land, can reach their targets. A slight misunderstanding, then, between the two super powers, could land them in a conflict which would raze their cities to the ground before anyone knew what had happened.

So, while America and Russia increase their stockpile of nuclear weapons at a rate of the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb (12.5 kilotons) every 30 seconds, at the same time a hot line has operated between the two countries for the last twenty years. This hotline is used in emergencies, to convey important information that could prevent any possibility of an accidental nuclear war between the two super powers.

Now, with the addition of medium range Cruise and Pershing missiles by the Americans in Europe, and SS-20’s on the Soviet side, able to carry warheads to their targets in as little as 5 minutes, a need has been felt to modernize the hot line. In July 1984 a Soviet delegation visited Washington to negotiate a settlement on this modernization. The present system consists of telex machines with a speed of over 60 words a minute; it is now proposed to introduce the latest high speed equipment, which will be able to send, according to a U.S. state department source, “pictures, graphics and a whole page of prepared text in just one second.”

Distrust between the U.S. and Russia has reached almost paranoic levels, with each side unwilling to even slow their obsessive accumulation of weapons, already present in sufficient quantities to destroy the world several times over. Yet, at the same time, the two countries go to meticulous levels to avoid the outbreak of war. For they know that war would mean the destruction of all the prosperity they have worked for, all the progress they have achieved. This is sign of maturity in a people—to go to the utmost ends to avoid hostilities, even with their enemies. It is nations who have not learned this secret of life fight on the slightest pretext, and then find no way out of the conflict in which they have embroiled themselves. □