The 2nd Helsinki Accords

Author's Note: This is based on a true story where during the falling days of the Soviet Union, USSR leader Gorbachev refused to push the nuclear red button. Even for practice. On the other side of the world, Reagan also struggled with the morality of pushing the nuclear red button. Neither side knew that the other side did not want to retaliate in case of a nuclear first strike.

The year is 2093. Blaine Reed of the Jacksonist Party was being given the tour around the White House, being briefed by the Secret Service as well as the other intelligence agencies of the United States.

"This is the nuclear bunker. Should the United States find itself under attack, you may be required to take shelter here until it's safe to return back to the surface.

Reed carefully lowered himself into the bunker, him gaining a great sense of unease, just being here.

"In the case of a nuclear strike, you use your nuclear launch codes to activate TRINITY. And you would authorize a nuclear counterattack with this panel. This panel will allow you to launch America's nuclear triad at any potential threats we are facing."

Reed simply stared at the panel, his unease growing. An ocean of emotions washed around inside his brain. "How many nukes do we still have?"

"The United States, as of right now, has somewhere around 3,000 actively deployed warheads, with another 10,000 in reserve. The United States under previous administrations has not quite filled up America's storage capacity ever since the Day of Nuclear Hail. We should practice initiating a retaliatory nuclear strike."

"I will not." Reed snapped. "I refuse to touch that button, even as practice. I... Say a nuclear war starts. Say our cold war with the European Ascendancy, it finally escalates. I would be condemning hundreds of millions of lives for no crime of their own, except for being born in a country they cannot leave. I cannot do it."

Reed closed his eyes and remembered his childhood. He had lived through the horrors of a nuclear war, gathered around a radio as cities were wiped off the map. The panicked phone calls to loved ones you feared were now dead. The hours upon hours upon uncertainty, as civilization broke down around you, and you had no idea if huge swathes of people you knew were alive or dead. And then the slow trickle of news in the coming weeks; alive, dead, alive, alive, dead. Reed had grown up through the horrors of the Day of Nuclear Hail. They were known as Children of the Atom, borne in the wake of its radioactive ashes.

He opened his eyes. "TRINITY will protect us. My administration will use every measure possible to retaliate against such a heinous act. But this world cannot afford another Long Winter, another Day of Nuclear Hail. We cannot have another Great Bleeding. The last nuclear war, the only nuclear war we've ever fought, mind you, killed 3 billion people. I refuse to subject the people of another country through what we went through. Never again."

...

All over the world, this sentiment was common, as the children who lived through the 4th World War, the Rubble Generation, came to power. Becoming politicians, presidents, and every other position of power. Nearly everyone had known someone who had died in the conflict. Even some of the AIs had trauma from the horrors of the 4th World War. The older generations talked about "the old world", the world that was before the nuclear holocaust that brought an end to it all. They showed the younger generations the photos of the skylines of cities as they used to be. Old New York, Old Beijing, Old Moscow, and then drive there and see that everything was now different. The old world was gone, and the new world had been constructed on its ruins. They would never get to see the old Big Ben, or the old Trade Center, or the old Statue of Liberty, landmarks and structures that had captured the imaginations of the old generations, but were now alien to the newer generations. JIN DUN himself would mourn over the loss of Old China. Sure, many of these structures would be reconstructed, made as close as possible to the originals out of a sense of nostalgia. But the continuity to history was broken. There was a clear rift of where the old world was, and where the new world began.

...

"... Your fathers died so they could fix the world your great-grandfathers had broken." said a diplomat. He was a bit older than the political leaders which surrounded him. But he was one of the first to have noticed that now the generation who had grown up in the 4th World War was now the one in power. Sensing an opportunity for something truly historic, he had seized the chance for lasting peace. "No one should ever have to live through another Long Winter. Another Day of Nuclear Hail. We should take this burden upon ourselves and say that we will be the last generation that will ever have to carry such a burden. Let us put this terror back to where it belongs; the history books."

SIGNATORIES OF THE 2ND HELSINKI ACCORDS: VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD'S NATIONS. ALL NUCLEAR ARMED NATIONS EXCEPT FOR THE EUROPEAN ASCENDANCY. (FATES)

ARTICLES:

1. NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT (REDUCTION TO LESS THAN 1000 WARHEADS PER COUNTRY BY 2150)
2. NO FIRST STRIKE POLICY (NO NATION WILL LAUNCH NUCLEAR MISSILES UNTIL THEY ARE STRUCK FIRST)
3. GLOBAL COOPERATION FOR RESEARCH INTO BETTER ANTI-NUCLEAR DEFENSES
4. A BLESSING OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY TO ALL

LET US BE THE LAST.