Hiroshima and Nagasaki Exposes the Simmering Inequities in the UN System

IOL News

4 days ago

A young boy watches as his paper lantern floats out on the Motoyasu River past the Atomic Bomb Dome (back R) to mark the 80th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack, in the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 2025.
Image: AFP
Abbey Makoe
The first week of every August in history exposes, in my view, the depths of the failures and deep-seated false pretences of international diplomacy as a vehicle for civil resolution of differences and a consensus-building mechanism.
It was on August 6 and 9, respectively, 80 years ago, when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki within three days apart, killing and maiming tens of thousands of innocent people in an unprecedented and unexpected jiffy.
Many around the world often place tremendous importance on the total fatalities from the nuclear bombardment of the two Japanese cities in 1945. However, what I think of greater significance is the world's response in the aftermath all these years later. It is in the lackadaisical global response that I take umbrage.
The disingenuity and deceitful nature and form of diplomatic engagements that have followed the dreadful events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have steadfastly exposed what social scientists refer to as the disordered faults of progress in the post-WWII international world architecture built on the cooperative nature of the UN Charter.
Every year on August 6 and 9, Japan holds 'Peace Ceremonies' in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is a painful period of annual reflection for the entire Japanese nation. It is a time when historical wounds are reopened. History revisited with tears and heartbreak. Over and above, it is a time to mitigate the pains of lingering yet unanswered questions: Why did the US bomb the cities and secondly, perhaps more importantly, why has the US not apologised throughout 80 years?
For the uninitiated, let me recap: From Hiroshima alone, then a city of 350,000 people, America's atomic explosion killed a total of 140,000 innocent civilians.
In Nagasaki, 74,000 people perished shortly after the US pilots had dropped the atomic bombs on the city.
This year, Russia, a leading global nuclear power, expressed its exasperation with the seeming double standards in international relations that have permeated every sphere of society, including the highest office at the UN.
In a Global North-dominated world order, led by the US through its hegemony dating back to immediately after the end of World War II in 1945, the narrative around Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been dominated by the West, which has refrained from blaming the US for the atomic bombings.
Responding to Washington's failure to apologise for the unprecedented atomic bombardment in Japan, and the world's failure to demand accountability, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova was vividly livid.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
She said Western politicians deliberately echo one another, consciously avoiding mentioning that it was the US that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Instead, added Zakharova, they push a line that says 'both the US and Russia had failed to learn lessons from those mistakes'.
She called it an unbelievable fake narrative. 'And yet the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres,' she charged, followed suit, stating on the occasion of this tragedy that fully omitted any mention of the United States.' She added that the narrative was intended to erase the Hiroshima and Nagasaki guilt from the US, and in doing so, they apportion blame to Russia. It is the West's nuclear hypocrisy, she said.
Zakharova further asked: 'What does lack of condemnation mean for the US? It creates a comfort zone for them. It doesn't push them out of it. It keeps them in it so they don't have to wonder over questions like: Do you regret it? Would you do it again?'
Emmanuel Pastreich, President of the Asia Institute, said the 80th commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings should mark a time for truth and accountability.
He said the 1945 bombings 'weren't militarily necessary – they were a demonstration – a test of power, a message to the world and a geopolitical gambit targeting the USSR'.
He added: 'Eighty years later, the US still refuses to apologise, clinging to nuclear dominance as a rickety crutch. Instead of disarmament, they have modernised those weapons, spending trillions while science and ethics decay.'
The Western narrative over Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues to be domineering to such an extent that, now a close ally of the US and a member of the US-led G7, it finds itself egg-dancing around the authentic history of bombings.
At this week's ceremony at the atomic memorial site of the tragedy, the Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba could only express mourning for '100,000 precious lives' but never named the US, the nation that everybody knows had dropped the bombs.
Such is an example of the manifestation of bogus diplomacy that dominates the US-led unipolar world order.
This blatant attempt to misrepresent history cannot succeed. It has been correctly documented by upright historians, and instead of tweaking the naked facts, the US and the West would do well to own up and do good by the people of Japan, who still hurt to this day.
In an ideal international world order based on the UN Charter of equality and mutual regard for one another, the spectre of unilateralism would never have succeeded to the point where the G7 has all but replaced the UN governance system.