One of my young friends is going to Japan this fall and asked for advice on what places to visit. I strongly recommended Hiroshima. August 6 marks 80 years since the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.

I've been there myself and it was one of the most powerful — and also most harrowing — experiences of my life. Once you leave the memorial park, you will never again think of an atomic bomb as just a weapon. It's something else entirely. It is hell itself, created by humans.

I feel that, amid all the other major concerns in the world, we tend to pay too little attention to this particular tragedy. And in Estonian, there isn't much literature about it either. It's a shame that Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts's nearly 50-year-old book "Enola Gay" hasn't been translated. It tells the story of the bomber crew as well as the events leading up to and following the bombing. Fortunately, the film Oppenheimer, about the project leader behind the bomb's development, is widely available.

Hiroshima has, of course, been rebuilt. Today it's a modern city with industry and everything else. But there is no historic center — the bomb leveled square kilometers of it.

Another Japanese city, the cultural and historical gem of Kyoto, escaped the list of atomic bomb targets thanks to one man's opposition. U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had visited the city and fought to have it removed from the list of candidates. The lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain among the most important in human history. The atomic bomb can destroy not just buildings, but also a large part of human identity — along with the people themselves.

All the more incomprehensible, then, is how casually today's Russian propagandists and influencers throw around talk of dropping bombs everywhere. Thankfully, so far, only in words. It's all a mix of delusions of grandeur, lust for power and emotional ignorance. At times, it feels like the terrifying rhetoric is also shaped by the age of those in power, as an old [Estonian] rhyme goes:

"Grandpa dropped the bomb and that was that.
Grandpa is old — he doesn't care."

The author of the so-called Karaganov Doctrine, Sergei Karaganov, is an educated man, but he talks about the atomic bomb as if its use were just another tactical option in warfare. This reveals an emotional deficiency, a complete lack of human compassion. Judging by his writing, the only two things he believes deserve love in this world are Vladimir Putin and Russian supremacy. And in the name of that love, it's apparently justifiable to destroy everything else. He is not alone in that obsession.

Don't even get me started on Vladimir Solovyov. He throws around nuclear threats at anyone he dislikes at any given moment. The U.S., the U.K., Germany, Eastern Europe — and of course, us — have all been targets. Others, too, feel compelled to show off their courage before a public blinded by love for Putin and imperialist passion. Often, these are even so-called military experts. They seem to genuinely believe that while they're throwing bombs, the rest of the world will stand at attention and salute them. They believe Europeans are cowards who won't fight back.

Recently, talk of tactical nuclear weapons has quieted down. At the start of the war in Ukraine, this was a common topic, as if such weapons were somehow cleaner or more acceptable. They are not. Nuclear weapons are never tactical — their use is always strategic, with unimaginable consequences.

Russia is the only country in the world where politicians and the media openly talk about using nuclear bombs against other nations. It's hard to imagine what would happen if some random leader from the free world started speculating that maybe it would make sense to drop a bomb somewhere to secure lasting peace or advance their plans. That person would be institutionalized. In Russia, they're applauded instead — because "we're so tough."

American writer Patrick O'Rourke once wrote: "The 20th century was a proving ground for big ideas: fascism, communism and the atomic bomb." So far, the 21st century has shown that Russia is once again exceptional. It is the only country in the world where all three of those things still exist.

The point of all this is that threats involving nuclear bombs must never be taken lightly. If you don't believe that, go to Hiroshima. If you leave the memorial park with tears in your eyes, it becomes much easier to understand just how fragile human life — and life on this planet — truly is. And how much it must be protected from madmen.

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