Monday, July 24, 2017

OMNI: HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI, NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION, UN ABOLITION TREATY, 2017 NEWSLETTER

OMNI
HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI REMEMBRANCE AUGUST 6, 2017, NUCLEAR WEAPONS  ABOLITION MOVEMENT, UNITED NATIONS ABOLITION TREATY  2017 NEWSLETTER
Compiled by Dick Bennett OMNI
for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology

HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI PROGRAM AUGUST 6, 2017
OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology invites you to attend our annual Remembrance of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:  Sunday, August 6. 
OMNI remembers the death of 230,000 innocents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, renounces war and threats of war, joins the Global Zero hopes of all humanity for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and celebrates the United Nations Treaty Initiative to ban nuclear weapons.  
Music, poetry and speakers will reflect on the meaning of the day.  And a possible live-stream video with Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui is being confirmed.
This is always a deeply meaningful occasion for people who long for peace.  Please join us Sunday August 6, 6:00 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 901 W. Cleveland.

Contents: Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance August 6 and 9, Abolition Movement, United Nations Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons Newsletter 2017.
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and an Inside Look at the Pentagon 
New Books
Nuclear Darkness:  Photographs  of Hiroshima Before and After the Bomb
Caren Stelson, Sachiko, a Nagasaki survivor’s story
Susan Southard, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War 
Memoir by Paul H. Johnstone, Commentary by Diana Johnstone. From MAD to Madness:  Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning

Resistance Today
We are not alone, but these anti-nuclear weapons organizations need your physical and financial support.   Some of you might want to support all of them, and that will be your major project for peace.  Others can choose one or two.   But doing nothing to help them supports the exterminators.
The first organizations advocate banning the nuclear bombs, because, given the planetary destructiveness of the largest bombs, nothing less will protect the human project.
Global Zero, international abolition movement
ICAN: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Nuclear Zero, Republic of Marshall Islands’ Suits against Nuclear Nations
Nonviolent Resistance from Luck, WI, Tucson, AZ, Bangor, WA, and, Washington, DC (and Cambridge, MA, Atlanta, GA), Pasadena, CA.  See OMNI’s Nonviolence newsletters.   NONVIOLENCE NEWSLETTER #11, DECEMBER 28, 2016.  http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/12/nonviolence-newsletter-11.html
Peace Action, seeking ban on nuclear weapons, meanwhile also urging a Middle East WMD free of nuclear weapons, cancelling funding of the US $1 trillion modernization (nuclear weapons forever) program, and more, as do all of the following
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action v. Trident Nuclear Submarines, Bangor, WA, daily protesting the largest concentration of nuclear bombs.  Leonard Elger.
WAND, Erica Fine, Susan Cundiff, supporting Senator Franken’s Resolution to Scale Back Nucs, etc.  Jean Gordon, Chapter in Little rock, AR, LTE for Hiroshima-Nagasaki Event.
Nukewatch, Project of the Progressive Foundation, Luck, WI, publisher of Nukewatch Quarterly, John LaForge
NAPF, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, David Krieger
The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, AZ, Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, John Tierney, focused on restraining national proliferation of the weapons and on reducing the number of weapons

HISTORY OF THE BOMB CONTINUED
THE WEAPON:  Eric Schlosser, Command and Control, Book on TITAN II Accident at Damascus, AR.  The Titan II carried a W-53 thermonuclear warhead, with more than 560 times the explosive yield of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. 
THE RESISTANCE:  Dan Zak’s AlmightyAn 80-year-old nun, a Vietnam veteran, and a housepainter, members of the religious group Ploughshares, broke into the Y-12 complex at Oak Ridge.  “Zak gracefully synthesizes the stories of the politicians and bureaucrats controlling stockpiles of weapons and those of the [Ploughshares] activists working to disarm them.” Publisher’s Weekly
Google Search 7-20-17 of Mother Jones Magazine Exposing the US Nuclear Weapons Program

See OMNI’s Nonviolence Newsletters.  Here’s #11, the latest; #12 is in preparation.   NONVIOLENCE NEWSLETTER #11, DECEMBER 28, 2016, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/12/nonviolence-newsletter-11.html   Many of you believe in nonviolence and are seeking ways to promote it.  Consider become editor of the nonviolence newsletters, or of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki newsletter, or any newsletter of interest to you.


REMEMBERING THE NUCLEAR BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, For the Future
·         NUCLEAR WEAPONS EXPLAINED
·         HIROSHIMA
·         GLOBAL NUCLEAR ARSENAL
·         HIGH-ALERT NUCLEAR WEAPONS
·         WAR CONSEQUENCES
·         SOLUTIONS
·         SUPPORT THIS WEBSITE
·         Hiroshima
·         Before the bomb
·         After the bomb
·         Movies
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Hiroshima: the first city destroyed by a nuclear weapon
On August 6, 1945, the Japanese city of Hiroshima was destroyed by a nuclear weapon, an atomic bomb dropped by the United States. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki; five days after that, Japan unconditionally surrendered to the United States, bringing an end to World War II.
The atomic bombs killed several hundred thousand people, many instantly in the nuclear fire, many later with burns, injuries and radiation sickness, and still many others, over the years, with cancers and birth defects. These deaths continue to this day. Like most of the cities bombed in World War II, the majority of the inhabitants were women, children and the elderly.
Before the war began, bombing cities was considered an act of total barbarism; there were no “conventional bombs” and it certainly was not considered “conventional” to target civilian populations for mass destruction. But this ideal was shattered early in the war, and eventually all sides engaged in mass bombing raids against cities and civilians.
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After the Nazis conducted their massive bombing raids against London, the British retaliated by developing incendiary bombs, fire-bombs designed to burn down cities. British and American bombers dropped these bombs on 5 German cities, killing hundreds of thousands of German civilians in Hamburg, Dresden, Kassel, Darmstadt, and Stuttgart. In March, 1945, the U.S. fire-bombed the city of Tokyo, killing at least 100,000 people.
By the time the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, 50 million people had already died in World War II. The bombing/murder of civilian populations had occurred so many times that it was no longer even regarded as unusual. I believe this is perhaps the greatest tragedy of the war, and it set the stage for the Cold War and the nuclear arms race that followed.
When you view these images of Hiroshima, remember that there is a good chance that a nuclear weapon may now be targeted on your own city and home. And consider that modern nuclear weapons are generally 8 to 50 times more powerful than the first atomic bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Before Destruction http://www.nucleardarkness.org/hiroshima/
Nuclear Darkness would like to thank the City of Hiroshima (Cultural Promotion Division Culture and Sports Department Citizens Affairs Bureau) for letting us use the Panorama Pictures of Hiroshima http://www.nucleardarkness.org/hiroshima/

Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story.
Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story by Caren Stelson. Lerner/Carolrhoda, $19.99 Oct. 2016.    https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/71614-q-a-with-caren-stelson.html
Q & A with Caren Stelson By Claire Kirch.  Publisher’s Weekly Sep 29, 2016
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In the preface to her book, Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story, Minneapolis writer Caren Stelson relates an event in a Minneapolis park on August 26, 2005 that changed her life. It was a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A Japanese woman who had survived the bombing of Nagasaki spoke that day, and five years later, Stelson tracked Sachiko Yasui down to ask her if Stelson could share her story with young readers. Sachiko has just been longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature.
What inspired you to write Sachiko?
The first time I met Sachiko Yasui, I was inspired by her strength, courage, resilience, and hope for peace. How does a six-year-old child survive nuclear war? How does a child heal from such an apocalyptic experience and find a pathway peace as an adult? I wanted to understand Sachiko’s life’s journey. In times such as ours, I believe Sachiko’s story is important for all of us to contemplate.
The U.S. bombed Nagasaki in 1945. Why is Sachiko’s story still relevant to young people so many years later?
Although the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place over 70 years ago, the world continues to live with the unthinkable possibility of another nuclear war. Sachiko’s story is a reminder of what ordinary civilians had to endure long after August 9, 1945. Yet Sachiko’s story also offers young people hope that they too have the resilience and courage to overcome whatever losses and hardships they may face in their own lives.   MORE https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/71614-q-a-with-caren-stelson.html

SUSAN SOUTHARD.  NAGASAKI : LIFE AFTER NUCLEAR WAR.   Penguin, 2015.
EXCERPT:  Sifting Through the Wreckage of Nagasaki.  The Daily Beast.  Aug. 6, 2016.
In the hours after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, survivors tried to come to grips with the devastation created by the blast.
08.06.16 12:01 AM EThttp://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1439,w_2560,x_0,y_0/c_limit,w_1480/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1492110328/articles/2016/08/06/sifting-through-the-wreckage-of-nagasaki/160805-southard-nagasaki-bombing-tease_tmdahg
PRISMA BILDAGENTUR AG/ALAMY
Susan Southard’s award-winning book, Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War, was just released in paperback for the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan. Below is a short excerpt from Chapter 3-Embers, which takes place in the pre-dawn hours of August 10, 1945, some 16 hours after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Three young people are mentioned here. Taniguchi Sumiteru, 16, was just over a mile from the bomb, delivering mail on his bicycle through the hills of northern Nagasaki when the blast force of the bomb threw him off his bicycle. His entire back was burned off, and he lay on a hillside for three days before being found. Thirteen-year-old Yoshida Katsuji had been only a half-mile away and was facing the bomb; he was thrown back 130 feet across a field, a road, and an irrigation channel, then plunged to the ground, landing on his back in a rice paddy flooded with shallow water. Yoshida’s body and face were brutally scorched. Nagano Estsuko, 15 (no relation to Governor Nagano in this excerpt), had been further away from the blast, over the mountains that enclosed Nagasaki on three sides. She had raced toward the annihilated city and by sheer coincidence she had run into her father as they both tried to get to their home near the center of the blast.
Nagasaki mayor Okada Jukichi had spent the night of August 9 atop a hill on the eastern border of the Urakami Valley, waiting in a panic for the fires below to diminish. At 3 a.m. on August 10, he made his way down the hill. In darkness lit only by scattered embers, he stumbled through debris and bodies to the place where his house had stood the day before, just a few hundred feet from the hypocenter. The soles of Okada’s shoes burned as he frantically combed through the hot ashes for his wife and children. Finding no trace of them, he hurried to the air raid shelter beneath his house to discover at least ten dead bodies, including those of his entire family. Simultaneously crazed and clearheaded, he proceeded to the next neighborhood over, where he identified the deceased family members of his deputy mayor.
Okada was one of the earliest witnesses to the still-smoldering hypocenter area, which had been totally unreachable the day before. Covered in soot, he ran across the low southeastern mountains bordering the Urakami Valley to the air raid shelter of the Nagasaki Prefecture Air Defense Headquarters near Suwa Shrine. The mayor reported what he had seen to Governor Nagano, estimating the death toll at fifty thousand people—far higher than Governor Nagano could have imagined. Stunned, the governor decided to request regular updates from police chiefs in each region of the city and to dispatch reports to Japan’s home minister in Tokyo every half hour with updated damages and fatality estimates from what he still called the new-type bomb.
While Okada was searching for his family in the middle of the night, a three-man documentary crew—veteran war photographer Yamahata Yōsuke, writer Higashi Jun, and painter Yamada Eiji—arrived at Michino-o Station, in the rural outskirts of Nagasaki two miles north of the hypocenter. The team, sent by Japan’s News and Information Bureau—the government’s military propaganda organization—had been given orders to record Nagasaki’s damages for use in anti-U.S. propaganda campaigns. Due to Nagasaki’s damaged tracks, Michino-o Station was as far south as the train could go.
After their 11-hour journey, the men stepped off into the cool night air and began walking toward the city to report to the military police headquarters in southern Nagasaki. Their path took them along hillsides near where Taniguchi lay. From the top of a small mountain at Nagasaki’s northern edge, the vast atomic plain lay before them, dotted by small fires still burning in the ruins. Layers of smoke wafted overhead.

NAGASAKI: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard.  Penguin, 2015.       “We made our first steps into this macabre domain,” Higashi later wrote, “as though embarking on a journey into a different world.” With only the light of the crescent moon and the scattered fires to help them see, the men reached the main prefectural road running north-south through the Urakami Valley, barely detectable beneath layers of ashen rubble. The air was hot. They stumbled over bodies and passed people lying on the ground begging for water. A mother, dazed and confused, held her dead child in her arms and whimpered for help. The men offered the victims kind and encouraging words, but there was little else they could do. Higashi, however, was aghast when he stepped on something “soft and spongy” and discovered that he was standing on the corpse of a horse, and he was terrified when a person suddenly surfaced from a hole in the ground and grabbed his leg, begging for help.
The men walked for two hours, past the areas where Yoshida lay on the ground and Nagano and her father huddled in a crowded air raid shelter. They finally reached the military police headquarters, damaged but still standing. After reporting in, the team walked to the hills to wait for the morning light.
From NAGASAKI: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard, published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2015 by Susan Southard.
Susan Southard holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and was a nonfiction fellow at the Norman Mailer Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.   Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War is the recipient of the 2016 Lukas Book Prize, sponsored by the Columbia School of Journalism and Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, The Economist, the American Library Association, and Kirkus Reviews.

From MAD to Madness:  Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning
Memoir by Paul H. Johnstone, Commentary by Diana Johnstone.   Foreword by
Paul Craig Roberts.

PAUL H. JOHNSTONE was a senior analyst in the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG) in the Pentagon.  He was assistant director of three crucial studies on outcomes of nuclear war and the director of a fourth, on the impact on civilians. He also initiated a series of “critical incident” studies recounting
decision-making problems, which led to the McNamara study of the errors
of Vietnam war policy known as The Pentagon Papers and was one of its
authors.
SYNOPSIS
This deathbed memoir by Dr. Paul H. Johnstone, former senior analyst
in the Strategic Weapons Evaluation Group (WSEG) in the Pentagon
and a co-author of The Pentagon Papers, provides an authoritative
analysis of the implications of nuclear war that remain insurmountable
today. Indeed, such research has been kept largely secret, with the
intention “not to alarm the public” about what was being cooked up.

This is the story of how U.S. strategic planners in the 1950s and 1960s
worked their way to the conclusion that nuclear war was unthinkable. It
drives home these key understandings:

• That whichever way you look at it -- and this book shows the many
ways analysts tried to skirt the problem -- nuclear war means mutual
destruction

• That Pentagon planners could accept the possibility of totally
destroying another nation, while taking massive destructive losses
ourselves, and still conclude that “we would prevail”.

• That the supposedly “scientific answers” provided to a wide range of
unanswerable questions are of highly dubious standing.

• That official spheres neglect anything near a comparable effort to
understand the “enemy” point of view, rather than to annihilate him, or
to use such understanding to make peace.

Dr. Johnstone’s memoirs of twenty years in the Pentagon tell that
story succinctly, coolly and objectively. He largely lets the facts speak
for themselves, while commenting on the influence of the Cold War
spirit of the times and its influence on decision-makers.

Johnstone writes: “Theorizing about nuclear war was a sort of virtuoso
exercise in creating an imaginary world wherein all statements must
be consistent with each other, but nothing need be consistent with
reality because there was no reality to be checked against.”

While remaining highly secret – so much so that Dr. Johnstone himself
was denied access to what he had written – these studies had a major
impact on official policy. They contributed to a shift from the notion
that the United States could inflict “massive retaliation” on its Soviet
enemy to recognition that a nuclear exchange would bring about
Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).

The alarming truth today is that these lessons seem to have been
forgotten in Washington, just as United States policy has become as
hostile to Russia as it was toward the Soviet Union during the Cold
War. U.S. foreign policy is pursuing hostile encirclement of two major
nuclear powers, Russia and China. Without public debate, apparently
without much of any public interest, the United States is preparing to
allocate a trillion dollars over the next thirty years to modernize its
entire nuclear arsenal. It is as if all that was once understood about the
danger of nuclear war has been forgotten.

See below for more history of nuclear weapons.
RESISTANCE TODAY: from REFORMS: REDUCTIONS IN BOMBS TO ABOLITION OF ALL NUCLEAR BOMBS
Contents
ICAN: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Global Zero, international abolition movement
Nuclear Zero, Republic of Marshall Islands’ Suits against Nuclear Nations
Ground Zero Center
Nukewatch, Nukewatch Quarterly
The Nuclear Resister
     “Draft Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
WAND
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF)
More:  See previous H/N Abolition Newsletters. 



ICAN: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017.
ICANThe #nuclearban isn't going away, NATO states will need to relate to it.hilltimes.com/2017/07/19/nuc…
  
ICANIndepth analysis about #nuclearbanand its impact. washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-ca…  
440 partners in 100countries
·         HOME
·         ABOUT ICAN
·         THE TREATY
·         THE FACTS
·         WHY A BAN?
·         RESOURCES
·         MEDIA
·         SIGN UP



On 7 July 2017, the UN adopted a landmark agreement to ban nuclear weapons. Here we answer some FAQs about how the treaty will operate
July 7th 2017
On 7 July 2017, the UN adopted a landmark agreement to ban nuclear weapons. Here we answer some FAQs about how the treaty will operate
July 7th 2017
After a decade-long effort by ICAN, and 72 years after their invention, today states at the United Nations formally adopted a treaty to ban nuclear weapons
June 23rd 2017
The Chinese artist sent a message of support this week to delegates involved in the UN nuclear weapon ban treaty negotiations

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·         http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/themes/gonzo/images/nego.jpg

THE FACTS
·         sheen
“If Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr were alive today, they would be part of ICAN.”
Martin Sheen Actor and activist

https://www.globalzero.org/
There are more than 17000 nuclear weapons in nine countries. Each one is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Our Movement. When we eliminate nuclear weapons, it will be ...
The only way to eliminate the nuclear threat is to stop the ...
About Global Zero. Global Zero is the international movement for ...
Who we are. Global Zero is the international movement for the ...
The Global Zero Action Plan for the phased, verified elimination of ...
Frequently Asked Questions about the nuclear threat and the ...
ABOUT GLOBAL ZERO
Global Zero is the international movement for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Its members understand that the only way to eliminate the nuclear threat – including proliferation, nuclear terrorism and humanitarian catastrophe – is to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, secure all nuclear materials and eliminate all nuclear weapons: global zero. The movement combines cutting-edge policy development and direct dialogue with governments with public outreach, including media, online and grassroots initiatives to make the elimination of nuclear weapons an urgent global imperative.

Since its launch in Paris in December 2008, it has grown to include 300 world leaders and half a million citizens worldwide; hosted four Global Zero Summits and numerous regional conferences; built an international student movement with more than 175 campus chapters in 29 countries; produced an acclaimed documentary, Countdown to Zero, with the team behind An Inconvenient Truth; launched cutting-edge international campaigns in key countries; and produced compelling, high-production videos to reach millions of people worldwide with an empowering call to action.

Global Zero’s role as a global catalyst for bold leadership toward the elimination of all nuclear weapons has never been more important. That is what the entire international Global Zero movement is working for – the leaders and experts, artists and cultural icons, as well as grassroots activists and student leaders who represent the world’s first post-Cold War generation. It is imperative that we bring all of our assets to bear and exert the international support and pressure necessary to bring a world without nuclear weapons within reach. https://www.globalzero.org/about

Global Zero is the international movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons. 
TAKE ACTION   and help us eliminate the nuclear threat once and for all? Add your name now.
 with Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Naomi Watts and a host of amazing artists!  mobilize your peers, lead creative campaigns, and apply real pressure on policymakers to eliminate all nuclear weapons, everywhere. 
 LEARN MORE  about the nuclear threat and the Global Zero solution  for the elimination of all nuclear weapons  proposal for deep cuts to the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
GZ IN THE NEWS

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Nuclear Zero
On April 24, 2014, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) filed lawsuits against all nine Nuclear Weapon States in the International Court of Justice and, separately, against the United States in U.S. Federal District Court.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty has been in force for over 44 years. The Nuclear Weapon  States continue to rely heavily on nuclear weapons and are engaging in modernization programs to keep their nuclear weapons active for decades to come.
The time has come for the Nuclear Weapon States to be held accountable for their inaction.
Learn More and Act
For more information on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits and to sign the petition, go to www.nuclearzero.org.


I feel boundless admiration also for the persevering peacemakers who sustain the nonviolent Ground Zero Center in Washington State.https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif  They offer an illuminating guide to our efforts to connect our Remembrance with the international movement to abolish nuclear weapons.   Get acquainted with them.  The following letter contains some ideas we might use at our Remembrance and following.     Dick  1-1-17

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
Here's to Sanity and Abolition Efforts in the New Year http://www.gzcenter.org/2017/01/01/heres-to-sanity-and-abolition-efforts-in-the-new-year/  By Leonard Elger
Ground Zero gznonviolencenews@gmail.com via uark.onmicrosoft.com 
3:02 PM (20 hours ago)
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to GZNonviolenceN.   1-1-17
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New Year's Eve Greetings Friends of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action,

One year is nearly over and another about to begin, and this is NOT a plea for donations. This is a different kind of request. I want you to read on and join us in building the world we know is possible, yet may seem so far off. Yes, it takes money. Yet, it takes so much more than that. As we have learned from the wisdom of Standing Rock, we need to "support, educate, protect, collaborate, unify, occupy and protest" and much more. 

The horrible seeds of humanity's destruction that were sown so many decades ago have been nurtured since then by the keepers of the bomb. Today, the keepers of the bomb continue to design and build a new generation of these devices of nuclear extinction. The US government is moving ahead with all speed, slated to spend $1 trillion over 30 years, to rebuild that devil's progeny of the Cold War, which, along with Russia, is driving a new arms race that can only drive the Doomsday Clock even closer to Midnight. Is it not ironic that the two powers that drove the world to the brink during the Cold War are once again planting the new and improved seeds of humanity's destruction? Is this not some form of insanity? The most recent comments by President-elect Trump and President Putin make it crystal clear that those who we elect (and I use that term with great reservation) have far less wisdom (and perhaps sanity as well) than they claim. 

As President Obama leaves The White House, he also leaves a legacy we would never have expected following his now infamous Prague speech. It is tragic that the Nobel Peace Prize winner did not summon the courage of whatever convictions he retained to stand strong against the demands of Congress (and the Military-Industrial Complex) and instead build a bridge to Putin, negotiating a number of steps that would have ramped back the nuclear danger. Instead, he has facilitated what is inarguably a new arms race and Cold War that is moving ahead at an alarmingly increasing pace.

It is unconscionable that such a small number of nations, led by the US and Russia, have held, and continue to hold, the rest of the world under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Our task, then, is clear - to deepen our resistance to nuclear weapons and seeking their total abolition!  A monumental, yet absolutely critical goal. Nothing less than ZERO will ensure the safety and survival of future generations. And THAT will require embracing a new paradigm, far different than that which has driven the nuclear age to this point. It is a paradigm of mutual security rather one of mutually assured destruction.

At Ground Zero Center we are already moving into 2017 with plans to reach out, educate and motivate others to act for change. Read on to find out what's happening in our (nuclear-armed) corner of the world (also known as "the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the U.S.").  MORE  http://www.gzcenter.org/2017/01/01/heres-to-sanity-and-abolition-efforts-in-the-new-year/

Welcome to the new GZ Nonviolence E-News
GZ Center for Nonviolent Action  Outreach@gzcenter.org via uark.onmicrosoft.com 
7:42 PM (13 hours ago)
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to James
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Ground Zero Center For Nonviolent Action
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action offers the opportunity to explore the meaning and practice of nonviolence from a perspective of deep spiritual reflection, providing a means for witnessing to and resisting all nuclear weapons, especially Trident. We seek to go to the root of violence and injustice in our world and experience the transforming power of love through nonviolent direct action.
GZ Nonviolence News
JULY UPDATE

Dear Zeroistas,

Welcome to the new and improved GZ Nonviolence E-News. We  are now using Mailchimp as the platform to stay in touch with all of you in our continuing work together toward a nuclear weapon-free world.

Much has happened in the world since our last e-newsletter. Much of the news (in the corporate press) has mirrored the ongoing angst about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka: North Korea) and the danger its nuclear weapons could present to the US "homeland." Meanwhile, the long-established nuclear powers continue to modernize their arsenals, while refusing to honor their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT.

The really important news (that much of the press all but ignored) is the recent announcement that the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons adopted the historic Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Unlike other treaties, including the NPT, this is the first true multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty negotiated since the dawn of the nuclear age.
With no help from the nuclear-armed nations and their vassal states the world - in a collaborative effort of civil society and diplomats - sent a clear message that it is high time to abolish nuclear weapons. Click here to read more about the treaty.

In a Joint Statement released after the treaty was adopted, the United States, Britain and France said, “We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it.”  What a surprise!!!
Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing (or Hibakusha), praised the dedication of everyone who had put their “brains and hearts” into the negotiations. She asked delegates to pause and remember the hundreds of thousands of people who had perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Each person who died had a name,” she said. “Each person was loved by someone.” She said she had been waiting seven decades for this day and was overjoyed that it had finally arrived because it marked the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons. The world would not return to failed nuclear-deterrence policies. “If you love this planet you will sign this Treaty,” she said, declaring: “Nuclear weapons have always been immoral; now they are also illegal.”
As for the Trident nuclear weapon system, it continues to represent the most important element of US nuclear weapons. Under the U.S.-Russia New START treaty signed in 2010, roughly 70-percent of the U.S.’ nuclear warheads will be deployed on Trident. And, the development and production of a new generation of Trident  - 12 new submarines costing over $100 billion - only serves to subvert non-proliferation and disarmament efforts, and gives countries like North Korea further justification for their nuclear weapons programs.

The new ban treaty marks the beginning a new era of stigmatization of the continued preparation by the nuclear-armed nations that threatens humanity on an existential level. It will require a massive global effort by parliamentarians, NGO’s, and civil society, all working together, to bring a huge, continuous groundswell of pressure on the nuclear armed nations to not just “disarm,” but to create a paradigm shift away from violent conflict and toward mutual security assurances among nations. The framework and functioning of the United Nations must be respected and strengthened. Nonviolence MUST become the order of the day (and of the new era).

At Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action we continue to not only resist Trident, but to work, through the active study and practice of nonviolence, for the total abolition of these useless devices that threaten humanity with extinction. Here's a brief rundown of what's new and what's coming up in our corner of the world.

NEW AND IMPROVED GZ WEB SITE
We are absolutely thrilled to announce our updated web site. In addition to easier navigation, it's much more dynamic. Our new webmeister has been working hard to provide a more interactive experience where people can learn about nuclear weapons, the issues they present, and take action to help build a nuclear weapon-free world.

You will find plenty of informative posts, information on GZ events, and much more. If you haven't seen the new web site, 
click here to check it out.   MORE
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WAND https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif
The following note is from Susan Cundiff of WAND who reminds us of the difficulty of placing organizations in neat Reform/Abolition categories. 
We are in support of any resolution that reduces nuclear weapons or nuclear triad expenditure while simultaneously believing in abolition.  This action hi-lights our watchful eye on the budget trade-offs and the outrageous cost of the “modernization” plan.  We also make the point that nuclear weapons do not add to our security.  Place us in the abolition camp always working for whatever gains in that direction we can score.

Stop the Nuclear Weapons Spending Binge!
Erica Fein, WAND peace@wand.org via uark.onmicrosoft.com 
12-12-16
4:07 PM (1 hour ago)
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Monday, December 12, 2016
Dear Dick,
In a breaking investigative article, the Washington Post (1) reported that the Pentagon quashed a report that found $125 billion in wasteful spending on high-cost contractors and other “administrative waste.” This is money that could fix our crumbling bridges, be invested in our education system, or support health care access.
At the same time, the Pentagon is pushing for a $1 trillion overhaul of our nuclear arsenal - roughly 4,571 nuclear warheads (2) - the largest investment in nuclear weapons since the Cold War.
There are Members of Congress who are skeptical of the $1 trillion nuclear weapons spending binge, and they need your support!Senator Al Franken of Minnesota has introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate to scrutinize these plans and ensure the Pentagon chooses options that are right for 21st century security needs.
With the end of the Cold War, we thought the arms race was over, but another is now beginning. And we know from history what it will look like: more advanced weapons of mass destruction and runaway budgets at the Pentagon. Meanwhile, all across the country our children go hungry, our veterans die of inadequate health care, and our crumbling bridges collapse. If the Department of Health and Human Services quashed a $125 billion savings report, there would be an uproar. We must hold the Pentagon to the same standards and demand more accountability, including its plans for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. 
A scaled up nuclear arsenal will do nothing to make us safer. Instead, it incentivizes other countries to begin or scale up their own arsenals. We as a nation cannot be successful in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons if we place such a premium on our own. The Franken Resolution sends a message that we should be scaling back these excessive plans.
Sincerely,
Erica Fein
Nuclear Weapons Policy Director


101 Main Street, 14th Floor | Cambridge MA 02142
322 4th Street NE | Washington, DC 20002
250 Georgia Avenue S.E. Suite 202 | Atlanta, GA 30312

To the Editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from the Coordinator of Arkansas WAND urging support for the UN’s vote to adopt an abolition treaty.
“As we approach the 72ndth anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an historic announcement from the UN that may have gotten lost in the din of political news. 122 nations have voted to adopt a treaty to Ban the Bomb with only one no vote. Beginning September 20 nations will have the opportunity to ratify the treaty. 90 days after 50 countries sign it will be illegal to have or to work toward having nuclear weapons.
 Some people have downplayed the accomplishment, saying that countries like North Korea will never give up their nuclear weapons. But 3,700 scientists, including Nobel Laureates, signed an open letter endorsing the negotiations. 
 Lawrence Korb, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress who was   President Reagan’s Under Secretary of Defense, calls it a welcome step toward abolishing nuclear weapons for good.  He argues that although it will be a long process, it is a legal basis for sanctioning countries that defy the ban.
Former Secretary of Defense, William Perry, says “the treaty is an important step toward delegitimizing nuclear war as an acceptable risk of modern civilization, and it creates a strong moral imperative: Thou shalt not possess nuclear weapons.”
Although the US and the 8 other nuclear countries did not take part in negotiating  the treaty,  the United States should take the lead in ratifying it and convincing the other nuclear states  to follow suit.   
 Tell Congress the US can regain its leadership in the world by ratifying this historic treaty.”
 Jean Gordon
Little Rock    
     

NUKEWATCH, NUKEWATCH QUARTERLY, Luck, WI
Nukewatch Quarterly (Summer 2017)
Opens with another brilliant essay by John LaForge, who knows nuclear weapons from a peace perspective as well as anybody. “Legal Evolution: World Welcomes Draft Treaty Ban on Nuclear Weapons.”   He’s in the same class as AFSC’s Joseph Gerson.      (Where have you read in Arkansas about the “Draft Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” delivered on May 22, 2017, to the UN for final negotiations?  One might well expect such a treaty, supported by 130 countries—but shamefully not by the US--, to receive significant front page coverage in our statewide newspaper.  And now from June 15 to July 7 in New York the negotiations are engaged.)
     LaForge discusses General George Butler’s Feb. 2, 1998 call for nuclear weapons abolition (the weapons are illegal); the new Draft Convention: “comprehensive, compelling, and even awe-inspiring”; including a summary history of international treaties rejecting nuclear weapons because catastrophically indiscriminate.  Let’s join LaForge in giving a thumbs up to the Draft Treaty!  But a thumbs down to the media and all the other organizations that should be informing the public about the second greatest peril threatening the planet.  –Dick  (6-21-17 to HN com.)  (122 UN nation members voted for the Draft Treaty, which is now circulating the members for final approval. 7-20-17)
     More contents of Nukewatch Summer 2017:
“Chomsky on North Korea’s Provocations & Ours”
The $200 billion since 1983 corporate gravy train ballistic missile program finally was a success, maybe.
The Pentagon has long lied it had 10 aircraft carriers, but it has 19.
The development of new nuclear warheads approved by Obama with $12.2 billion funded by Congress even though the US already has 20 each in the Netherlands,  Belgium, and Germany and 50-90 in Italy and Turkey.   This is a packed complex revelatory article, Chomsky typically digging up the facts for a truthful record.
Six articles on nuclear waste.
And more.
Subscribe to Nukewatch.   –Dick

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 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gifNAPF’s online newsletter The Sunflower keeps readers up to date about nuclear weapons, and I pass it on to my relevant lists.  --Dick


LATEST NUMBER OF THE NUCLEAR RESISTER JUNE 8, 2017. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif  Their 37th year, Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa published another no. of NR, providing latest news of resistance to US militarism, US global violence, and nuclear weapons:   release of Chelsea Manning and Ryan Johnson, Good Friday protest of drone warfare at Hancock Field near Syracuse, Creech AFB in Nevada, and Des Moines, protest at the Nevada nuclear test site by the Las Vegas Catholic Worker, protests v. Pres. Trump’s Tomahawk cruise missiles in Syria, blockade of new Destroyer U.S.S. Thomas Hudner at Bath Iron Works, over 2 pages on international protests.  Jack and Felice deserve our support for their steadfast, awakening newspaper.

The Nuclear Resister (December 9, 2016). 
Some of its contents:
Regular information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists.
Nonviolence Actions Coast to Coast.  [See OMNI nonviolence newsletters:  #10 http://omnicenter.org/newsletters/2014/2014-06-12.pdf ]
Drone War Resistance in Nevada and California  [See OMNI Drone Watch newsletters:  #19, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/07/drone-watch-19.html ]
Article on brain-washing children at Oceana Naval Air Show.  All the tech weapons marvels but never mentioning their purpose.
And much more.  The husband/wife editors, Jack and Felice, are among the heroes of nuclear resistance and abolition: nukeresister@igc.org
--Dick



Print allWe're hard at work already
John Tierney 1-6-17   info@armscontrolcenter.org via uark.onmicrosoft.com 
11:47 AM (2 hours ago)
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to James
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Dear James,
This week, Senior Fellow John Isaacs and I were on Capitol Hill visiting key members of Congress and their staff as they celebrated the swearing-in of the new members and opened the new session of Congress. We were there to ensure that our priorities will be front-and-center for our new leadership as they begin the serious tasks of confirming a new presidential cabinet and consider the array of international security, arms control and nuclear non-proliferation threats facing our nation.
Senators and members of the House we spoke to were united in expressing serious concerns about the dangers of intemperate or off-the-cuff references to the use of nuclear weapons or a renewed arms race. They made it clear that as we enter the new administration, nuclear weapons and all their associated risks are on everyone’s minds.
That’s where we came in. We answered questions and talked about policies for non-proliferation and more responsible Pentagon spending. We offered our expertise on the most delicate foreign policy and international security issues of the day – from the U.S.’s relationship with Russia to the threat of North Korea to the need to secure nuclear materials around the globe.
The conversations we had this week were important – but they were just a first step on the long road ahead.
Sincerely,
John Tierney, Executive Director
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Member of Congress (former)
01/03/1997-01/03/2015





ALSO FOR RESISTANCE:   KNOWLEDGE, KNOWING THE HISTORY OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS, REMEMBERING US NUCLEAR PAST and THE RESISTERS
Contents
A book about a nuclear accident, another about a nuclear protest, and another magazine reporting on nuclear weapons.

Erik Schlosser, The Titan II Explosion at Damascus, AR:  Book Command and Control and Film
Dan Zak, Almighty:  Book about Ploughshares v. Y-12 US Nuclear Weapons Complex
Google Search of Mother Jones Magazine’s Reporting Nuclear Weapons


 1980 NEAR NUCLEAR EXPLOSION of TITAN II AT DAMASCUS, AR:  Book and Documentary
Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.
A Sneak Peek at Eric Schlosser’s Terrifying New Book on Nuclear Weapons.   MICHAEL MECHANICmOTHER jONES SEP. 15, 2013.   His six-year investigation of America's mishaps and near-misses will scare the daylights out of you.    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/eric-schlosser-command-control-excerpt-nuclear-weapons/
           http://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/titaniimissile630.jpg?w=990
The Titan II carried a W-53 thermonuclear warhead, with more than 560 times the explosive yield of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Rob Schoenbaum/Zuma
Update (1/16/2014): The Air Force announced yesterday that it had suspended and revoked the security clearances of 34 missile launch officers at the Malmstrom base in Montana after it came to light that they were cheating—or complicit in cheating—on monthly exams to ensure that they were capable of safely babysitting the nuclear warheads atop their missiles. Eleven launch officers, two of whom where also implicated in the cheating episode, were targeted in a separate investigation of illegal drug use. (As Schlosser told me in an interview, “You don’t want people smoking pot and handling nuclear weapons.”) The new revelations were just the latest fiasco in the Air Force’s handling of America’s nuclear arsenal, which military officials invariably insist is safe. Then again, as you’re about to discover, they’ve lied about that in the past.
On January 23, 1961, a B-52 packing a pair of Mark 39 hydrogen bombs suffered a refueling snafu and went into an uncontrolled spin over North Carolina. In the cockpit of the rapidly disintegrating bomber was a lanyard attached to the bomb-release mechanism. Intense G-forces tugged hard at it and unleashed the nukes, which, at four megatons, were 250 times more powerful than the weapon that leveled Hiroshima. One of them “failed safe” and plummeted to the ground unarmed. The other weapon’s failsafe mechanisms—the devices designed to prevent an accidental detonation—were subverted one by one, as Eric Schlosser recounts in his new book, Command and Control:
When the lanyard was pulled, the locking pins were removed from one of the bombs. The Mark 39 fell from the plane. The arming wires were yanked out, and the bomb responded as though it had been deliberately released by the crew above a target. The pulse generator activated the low-voltage thermal batteries. The drogue parachute opened, and then the main chute. The barometric switches closed. The timer ran out, activating the high-voltage thermal batteries. The bomb hit the ground, and the piezoelectric crystals inside the nose crushed. They sent a firing signal…
Unable to deny that two of its bombs had fallen from the sky—one in a swampy meadow, the other in a field near Faro, North Carolina—the Air Force insisted that there had never been any danger of a nuclear detonation. This was a lie.
http://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/CommandAndCo350.jpg
Here’s the truth: Just days after JFK was sworn in as president, one of the most terrifying weapons in our arsenal was a hair’s breadth from detonating on American soil. It would have pulverized a portion of North Carolina and, given strong northerly winds, could have blanketed East Coast cities (including New York, Baltimore, and Washington, DC) in lethal fallout. The only thing standing between us and an explosion so catastrophic that it would have radically altered the course of history was a simple electronic toggle switch in the cockpit, a part that probably cost a couple of bucks to manufacture and easily could have been undermined by a short circuit—hardly a far-fetched scenario in an electronics-laden airplane that’s breaking apart.
The anecdote above is just one of many “holy shit!” revelations readers will discover in the latest book from the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation. Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I’ve ever read, Schlosser’s six-year investigation of America’s “broken arrows” (nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical—this stuff is top secret, after all—but the book is beyond relevant. It’s critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on hair-trigger alert.
In sections, Command and Control reads like a character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting, extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches, dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions.
While casual readers will learn a great deal about the history and geopolitics of our nuclear arsenal, Schlosser’s central narrative is built around a deadly 1980 explosion at a missile silo in Damascus, Arkansas, where the W-53 thermonuclear warhead, the most powerful weapon ever mounted on a missile, sat atop a Titan II. He puts us on site as the catastrophe unfolds, offering an intimate window on the perspectives and personalities of those involved. It’s a gripping yarn that shows how the military concept of “command and control”—the process that governs how decisions are made and orders are executed—functions in practice, and how it can unravel in a crisis.
Command and Control will leave readers with a deep unease about our ability—let alone, say, Pakistan’s—to handle nuclear weapons safely.   MORE  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/eric-schlosser-command-control-excerpt-nuclear-weapons/
COMMAND AND CONTROL, THE DOCUMENTARY
(a longer version of this entry was sent to the HN committee and a few others 12-31-16)
AETN/PBS will show the new film Command and Control  on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 8pm.  The following night AETN will show two related programs at 8 and 9, NOVA: “The Nuclear Option,” and “Uranium—Twisting the Dragon’s Tail.”
AETN - “American Experience: Command and Control” Google Search, Dec. 31, 2016, P. 1
www.aetn.org › Engage › Blog
Oct 4, 2016 - Investigate the high-stakes story of the Damascus, Arkansas, nuclear accident in 1980 with special screenings of upcoming “American ...
www.aetn.org › Pressroom
Aug 25, 2016 - The Arkansas Educational Television Network is a state network of PBSmember ... 'American Experience: Command and Control' detailing Damascus, ... 'We believe 'Command and Control' will help all Arkansans to ...
https://www.facebook.com/commandandcontrolfilm/
Command and Control premieres on January 10 at 9/8c on PBS. Play ..... and Control just a mile away at South Side Bee Branch Fine Arts Center with AETNCommand and Control will Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival on ... - PBS
www.arktimes.com/.../preview-command-and-control-a-documentary-on...
Jun 26, 2016 - Take a look at the trailer for "Command and Control," a documentary retelling the ... The movie will be in theatrical release in the fall and an airing on PBS is planned. ... He said the AETN airing is most likely to be in January.

Dan Zak.   Bottom of Form
Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age.   Random House, 2016.  416pp.
COURAGE, RESISTANCE, AND EXISTENTIAL PERIL IN THE NUCLEAR AGE

Almighty by Dan Zak
Bottom of Form
ABOUT ALMIGHTY
ON A TRANQUIL SUMMER NIGHT in July 2012, a trio of peace activists infiltrated the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Nicknamed the “Fort Knox of Uranium,” Y-12 was supposedly one of the most secure sites in the world, a bastion of warhead parts and hundreds of tons of highly enriched uranium—enough to power thousands of nuclear bombs. The three activists—a house painter, a Vietnam War veteran, and an 82-year-old Catholic nun—penetrated the complex’s exterior with alarming ease; their strongest tools were two pairs of bolt cutters and three hammers. Once inside, these pacifists hung protest banners, spray-painted biblical messages, and streaked the walls with human blood. Then they waited to be arrested.

WITH THE BREAK-IN and their symbolic actions, the activists hoped to draw attention to a costly military-industrial complex that stockpiles deadly nukes. But they also triggered a political and legal firestorm of urgent and troubling questions. What if they had been terrorists? Why do the United States and Russia continue to possess enough nuclear weaponry to destroy the world several times over?

IN ALMIGHTYWASHINGTON POST REPORTER Dan Zak answers these questions by reexamining America’s love-hate relationship to the bomb, from the race to achieve atomic power before the Nazis did to the solemn 70th anniversary of Hiroshima. At a time of concern about proliferation in such nations as Iran and North Korea, the U.S. arsenal is plagued by its own security problems. This life-or-death quandary is unraveled in Zak’s eye-opening account, with a cast that includes the biophysicist who first educated the public on atomic energy, the prophet who predicted the creation of Oak Ridge, the generations of activists propelled into resistance by their faith, and the Washington bureaucrats and diplomats who are trying to keep the world safe. Part historical adventure, part courtroom drama, part moral thriller, Almightyreshapes the accepted narratives surrounding nuclear weapons and shows that our greatest modern-day threat remains a power we discovered long ago.
SEE MORE
PRAISE
“This is a strangely captivating book—dark and utterly frightening…Zak’s narrative is a perfectly measured blend of biography, suspense, and history. He skillfully uses the small, finite story of the Y-12 protest to explore our national identity as a people whose culture is now intimately connected with things nuclear.” –Kai Bird, The New York Times Book Review

“With nuns splashing blood, countries making pledges, diplomats working to reduce the size of world-destroying arsenals, suppliers cheering a new Cold War, Zak demonstrates that we’re all in it together. And he’s honest enough to report as well the hard truth that none of us yet knows how to get out of it alive.” –Richard Rhodes, The Washington Post (author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb)

“Centering on a single episode, a powerful declaration of conscience, a Washington Post reporter tells an intensely unsettling story about living with our nuclear arsenal. In July 2012, cutting through fences topped with razor wire and avoiding guards, guns, sensors, armored cars, and alarms, an 80-year-old nun, a Vietnam veteran, and a housepainter, all deeply religious, all affiliated with the pacifist Plowshares movement, broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the “Fort Knox of Uranium.”… it’s the moral convictions demonstrated by Zak’s three holy fools that will remain with readers. A scrupulously reported, gracefully told, exquisitely paced debut.” Kirkus (starred review)

“Zak takes the reader on a journey into the still-vibrant realm of the US nuclear arms complex. His guides are an aging nun, a house-painter and other everyday Americans who realize the senseless violence at the center of the nation’s national security. A brilliant portrayal of these heroes of our time.” –Kate Brown, author of Plutopia

 

 

MOTHER JONES  EXPOSING NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Inside the Most Expensive Nuclear Bomb Ever Made – Mother Jones

www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/.../nuclear-weapon-obama-most-expensive-ever/
Engineers at the United States' nuclear weapons lab in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have spent the past few years designing and testing the B61-12, a high-tech ...
www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/map-nuclear-bombs-power-weapons/
Nov 9, 2011 - Also see: An investigation into our expensive, expanding nuclear weapons complex and a look at some of the wackiest (and worst) ideas for ...
www.motherjones.com/.../eric-schlosser-command-control-movie-documentary-nucle...
Sep 11, 2016This Scary New Film Shows Why Americans Should Be Very Nervous About Our NuclearArsenal. Atomic weapons are machines, and all ...
www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/terrifying-nuclear-weapons-test-videos/
Mar 16, 2017Filming a 1955 nuclear explosion at the Nevada Test Site nuclear weapons.
www.motherjones.com/.../air-force-missile-wing-minuteman-iii-nuclear-weapons-bur...
At a July 2013 forum in Washington, DC, Lt. General James Kowalski, who commands all of the Air Force's nuclear weapons, said a Russian nuclear attack on ...
www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/nuclear-truckers/
Feb 15, 2012 - Nuclear trucking routes in the US Jeff Berlin. “Is that it?” My wife leans forward in the passenger seat of our sensible hatchback and points ...
www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-europe/
Mar 31, 2016 Donald Trump refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe during a town hall in Wisconsin on Wednesday. The Republican ...
www.motherjones.com/category/secondary-tags/nukes
Obama's Nuclear Hypocrisy: He Promised A World Without Nukes, What Happened? James Carroll ... The Nuclear Weapons Industry's Money Bombs. — By R.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/.../nuclear-weapons-complex-budget-disarmame...
Nov 9, 2011 - “Today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” he told ...
www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/05/nuclear-option/
Other nations now had in their hands the weapon with which the United States had ... The last application for a new nuclear plant was withdrawn in 1978. By the ...

Contents Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance Newsletter, August 9, 2015
2015 Remembrance Program
Dick:  What’s at Stake
Seeking Historical Truth As the Foundation for Action
Dick, Discovering the Truth and Not Forgetting
Johan Galtung: Japanese v. Western Colonialism
Joseph Gerson, Myths and Lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Tomgram: Christian Appy and “The ‘Merciful’ Ending to the ‘Good War’”
Mickey Z, Lies About Hiroshima
Google Search 8-3-15:  Hiroshima Nagasaki names of victims
Poems about Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Take Action
Dick’s 2015 Essay for the Free Weekly
Union of Concerned Scientists, Tell President Obama to Go to Hiroshima
NAPF: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Contents Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance and Global
     Nuclear Zero (Abolition)
Newsletter 2016
Hiroshima August 6, Nagasaki August 9, 1945
OMNI’S 2016 Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembrance and Nuclear Abolition Program, August 14, “Morality & War: A New Future For All”

TAKE ACTION:  Global Zero, World Beyond War, Peace and Planet, Win Without War, WAND

David Swanson, World Beyond War, New UN Initiative: Treaty Proposed to Ban
       Nuclear Weapons;  Conference and Action in September
Stephen Miles, Win Without War: Write Now

WAND, Contact Your Congressmen


President Obama Visits Hiroshima: 7 Responses

Greg Mitchell, Hollywood’s Whitewash of the Bombings
Joseph Gerson, H-N Events Around the World; Gerson on the Meaning of
     Hiroshima and Problems of Deterrence
Hastie, Condemn Air War Too
President John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Speech for Peace His
     Greatest Speech

ABOUT DAN ZAK
Dan Zak is a reporter for The Washington Post. He has written a wide range of news stories, narratives, and profiles while on local, national, and foreign assignments. He is from Buffalo, N.Y., and lives in Washington, D.C.
Hardcover
Published by Blue Rider Press
Jul 12, 2016 | 416 Pages | 6 x 9 | ISBN 9780399173752


END HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI REMEMBRANCE AND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS  2017 NEWSLETTER

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