WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #176, MAY 8, 2024.

 

WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #176, MAY 8, 2024.  Compiled by Dick Bennett.

 

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, Doomsday Clock Statement .  
Israeli Nuclear Weapons v. Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.
Dee Knight.  A Realistic Path to Peace.

 

“Nuclear Dangers: Ukraine War, the Third Year.”  Zoom, 1p.m., ET, Grigory Yalinsky, previously announced.

 

“A moment of historic danger:

It is still 90 seconds to midnight

2024 Annual Report and Doomsday Clock Statement.”
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Rachel Bronson, President  & CEO; Editor, John Mecklin, January 23, 2024

https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/

Ominous trends continue to point the world toward global catastrophe. The war in Ukraine and the widespread and growing reliance on nuclear weapons increase the risk of nuclear escalation. China, Russia, and the United States are all spending huge sums to expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals, adding to the ever-present danger of nuclear war through mistake or miscalculation.

In 2023, Earth experienced its hottest year on record, and massive floods, wildfires, and other climate-related disasters affected millions of people around the world. Meanwhile, rapid and worrisome developments in the life sciences and other disruptive technologies accelerated, while governments made only feeble efforts to control them.

The members of the Science and Security Board have been deeply worried about the deteriorating state of the world. That is why we set the Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight in 2019 and at 100 seconds to midnight in 2022. Last year, we expressed our heightened concern by moving the Clock to 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been—in large part because of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.

Today, we once again set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight because humanity continues to face an unprecedented level of danger. Our decision should not be taken as a sign that the international security situation has eased. Instead, leaders and citizens around the world should take this statement as a stark warning and respond urgently, as if today were the most dangerous moment in modern history. Because it may well be.

But the world can be made safer. The Clock can move away from midnight. As we wrote last year, “In this time of unprecedented global danger, concerted action is required, and every second counts.” That is just as true today. . . .  MORE https://thebulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-Doomsday-Clock-Statement.pdf

How to turn back the Clock

Everyone on Earth has an interest in reducing the likelihood of global catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change, advances in the life sciences, disruptive technologies, and the widespread corruption of the world’s information ecosystem. These threats, singularly and as they interact, are of such a character and magnitude that no one nation or leader can bring them under control. That is the task of leaders and nations working together in the shared belief that common threats demand common action. As the first step, and despite their profound disagreements, three of the world’s leading powers—the United States, China, and Russia—should commence serious dialogue about each of the global threats outlined here. At the highest levels, these three countries need to take responsibility for the existential danger the world now faces. They have the capacity to pull the world back from the brink of catastrophe. They should do so, with clarity and courage, and without delay.

It’s 90 seconds to midnight.

 

 

Israeli Nuclear Weapons v. Nuclear Proliferation Treaty
Work to abolish ALL nuclear weapons, but simultaneously try to reduce and block them, including illegal US support for the Israeli nuclear arsenals.

 

In a letter sent April 18 to President Biden and top members of his administration, Veterans For Peace cited existing federal law that gives the President “…no discretion whatsoever to allow any military assistance of any form to be delivered to Israel,” based on that country’s “serial violations of the Symington-Glenn Amendments, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2799aa.” The letter cites a lengthy list of credible reports that Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for decades. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the Symington-Glenn Amendments to the International Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976, which allow no presidential discretion, goes into effect.

 

READ MORE

 

Dee Knight.  A Realistic Path to Peace: From Genocide to Global War and How We Can Stop It.
Author’s Description
"A Realistic Path To Peace" delves into the causes of Israel's  genocide against Palestinians, describes the crisis of war in eastern Europe (Ukraine and Russia), West Asia and East Asia, sorting truth from propaganda. It examines the role of the Big Lie in developing public consent and blunting popular opposition, and describes ways countries around the world as well as the general public are pressing for peace.   It includes key arguments from experts on all sides, and compelling, fully documented evidence to support its conclusions.

A core message is that the world is in a crisis now. As its empire declines toward collapse, the U.S. leadership is making a series of disastrous errors. The "neocons" in Washington, DC, are determined to maintain U.S. global domination regardless of what it might take. The stakes are high for them. They seem to believe that if they "allow" any other country to challenge their global leadership, their whole system could fall apart. So they are prepared to do whatever it takes. Supporting genocide in Israel-by providing weapons, money, and a bizarre "moral justification" for horrific genocidal bombing-is a sign of what it takes. Blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline was another sign of what it can take.

Western European leaders have been rounded up and bludgeoned into a unified NATO alliance against Russia, and in support of Israeligenocide against Palestinians. This alliance-originally composed of "north Atlantic" countries under U.S. leadership at the end of World War II-is now also being extended to Asia. It's a quest to curb China's historic economic success, which threatens Western domination of global trade. 

Whether efforts to achieve peace can overwhelm the power of the U.S. and NATO war machine is an open question. The alternative is too horrific to imagine. That in itself can be a driving force to build the peace movement we need. And we can be confident that the neocons have made a bad gamble. They are unlikely to win. Their loss could bring about a world free of imperialist war. It's early to know if that can happen, but it's a possibility worth striving for.

“This book of excellent essays analyses the current U.S. drive to war, against Russia and beyond. Knight exposes its roots and points to the only path to peace: opposition to the U.S. war machine.”  Radhika Desai, Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group; Convenor, International Manifesto Group.