20 October 2017
October 19th, the Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, renowned for his stance on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency for 16 years, gave a talk at MGIMO University on global security and nonproliferation.
The guest of honor was greeted by MGIMO’s Vice-Rector for Graduate and International Programs Andrey Baykov, who emphasized the importance Russia attaches to global nuclear security. Vladimir Orlov, Special Advisor at the PIR Center spoke about the dual program on «WMD Nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy and Global Security», jointly implemented by MGIMO and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Hans Blix first retraced his past career, and underlined the achievements of his generation: decolonization, economic development... However, he noted that his peers had not managed to eliminate the threat of war, a task which the UN has to take on with the help of new scientists and politicians. Delivering a word of advice to the students in the audience, the guest emphasized the importance of diligent study, all the while remarking that all information is not reliable or worth remembering.
Describing the two largest threats to humanity nowadays, the speaker noted that while global warning is a «slow suicide», nuclear war is a «quick suicide» and that the threat of the second has increased recently. Hans Blix also mulled over the situation in North Korea and Iran, underlining the main threats and opportunities for global stability.
— See the MGIMO web-site for more photos and russian version
