"Extinction and internationalism have been linked in a fateful embrace ever since the moment when the threat of extinction became an all too realistic concern, August 6th, 1945. It's a day that will never be forgotten by those who were alive then and had their eyes open — a day I personally remember very well. On that day, we learned that human intelligence had devised the means to bring the human experiment of 200,000 years to an end.

"It was never seriously in doubt from the first moment that the capacity to destroy would escalate and it would diffuse to other hands — increasing the threat of self-annihilation. In the years that followed, the record of near misses is appalling, sometimes from accident and error, a few shocking cases from recklessness, and the threat is growing ominously. A review of the record reveals clearly that escape from catastrophe for 70 years has been a near miracle and such miracles cannot be trusted to perpetuate themselves."