We stand at a nuclear crossroads, in a sharply divided world. Last July the majority of the world's countries voted to adopt a historic treaty to prohibit the possession, development, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. While the Ban Treaty represents the total repudiation of nuclear weapons by most of the states that don't possess them. The U.S. and the eight other nuclear-armed stated boycotted the negotiations. These residual nations remain locked in a state of both hypervulnerability and dominance. As they maneuver the tense nuclear terrain of modern society. In January 2018 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to the end of humanity. It is now set at two minutes to midnight, as close as it's ever been since 1947. We must keep both realities - the promise of the Ban Treaty and growing dangers of nuclear war - fully in mind as we work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Jacqueline Cabasso: Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation (since 1984), North American Coordinator for Mayors for Peace (Since 2007), and Executive Advisor to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Jackie has been involved in nuclear disarmament, peace, environmental and social justice advocacy for more than 35 years. She is a leading voice for nuclear abolition and the recipient of the International Peace Bureau's 2008 Sean MacBride Peace Award, and the Agape Foundation's 2009 Enduring Visionary Prize.