No longer is it the end of the ’70s, but since the establishment of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1979, and the shocking words of Pope John Paul II, one thing has not changed…that is the ‘unnecessary inheritance” of the faults of the previous generations. While the arms race of the Cold War era may have died down, the worlds arms race has never come to a end, it has only changed faces, or brought the distant contender out of the shadows. The world's current worn torn status only highlights the never ending arms race, as the quest for nuclear power remains a quest and a fear.
The Cold War arms race came to an end with the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. However a new arms race followed the 1991 war with Iraq, and then picked up speed after 9/11. Thus while the arms race has never truly ended, only changing shape and bringing new and old faces alike out of the shadows, it has changed face in many was as now it is no longer one of a mere nuclear race, but also an arms race of chemical and biological proportions.
Will we ever see an end to the arms race? The sad reality is no, for as long as humans quest power the race will go on. While the powers may shift and the race may slow down, as long as there are arms, there will be a race to be the world's leader. The children of tomorrow are only left to face a new kind of fear, as they truly have inherited the arms race, and the only question that remains is what kind of arms race their children will inherit.