OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #194, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024.

 

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #194, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024.   Compiled by Dick Bennett

ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Art Hobson.  Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
ICAN  UN International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, Book Club by Back from the Brink.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS RESISTANCE ORGANIZATIONS     

 

Art Hobson.   “Nuclear War Spells Doom for Civilization: 
We Can Rid the Planet of this Scourge.”   NWADG 3 September 2024.

This article was originally published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and is published here with their permission. 

This article was originally published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and is published here with their permission. 

        . . .[Nuclear] weapons are an atrocity.  To understand their power, consider a single U.S. Trident submarine.  It carries 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles.  Each missile has a range of 5,000 miles and carries a dozen H-bombs, each of them 15 times larger than the Hiroshima bomb.  One such submarine could in principle destroy 192 cities. 

          We have 18 such submarines.  Most of them would go underwater and be invulnerable at any hint of nuclear war.  

          But that's not all:  We also have a strategic force of 60 nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers.  If nuclear war looms, these airplanes would be continually in the air and nearly invulnerable. 

          But that's still not all.  We also have 440 Minuteman missiles in buried "silos" in the northern Midwest.  Russia has similar missiles.  These make both sides much less safe, since their locations are known, and they can be targeted in a surprise first strike.  This gives both sides an incentive to strike first whenever nuclear war seems imminent. 

          But this "triad" of destruction is still not all.  The U.S. also has "tactical" (smaller than the Hiroshima bomb) nuclear weapons stored in Germany where they could strike Moscow within a few minutes.  

          There are nine nuclear weapons nations today.  The U.S. and Russia possess most of nuclear weapons, but China is catching up fast. 

          These arsenals represent an atrocious "overkill" capacity, because all sides could "deter" any thought of a surprise nuclear attack with a far smaller force.  In fact, all that a superpower (U.S., Russia, and soon China) needs to deter an attack by any other power is 3 or 4 Trident-type submarines.  The bombers and land-based missiles are superfluous overkill that reduce our security.

          Despite this plethora of nuclear weapons, there is hope.  Many level-headed strategic experts and international organizations argue for a world free of nuclear weapons.  For example, U.S. elder statesmen such as Senator Sam Nunn (former chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee), William Perry (Secretary of Defense under Clinton), Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford), and George Shultz (Secretary of State under Reagan) have advocated this. 

          More importantly, in 2017 the United Nations passed (with 113 nations in favor, 35 against, and 14 abstentions) the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).  Nations ratifying the Treaty agree not to develop, possess, or use nuclear weapons.  Today, 97 nations--50% of all nations--have signed and/or ratified the TPNW.  The holdouts include the 9 nuclear nations and the 32 NATO nations.  

          The world faces two long-standing existential threats to civilization.  One of them, global warming, requires an international effort extending over many decades.  The other threat is even more dangerous but far simpler to solve:  global nuclear war.  It can be solved if all people will push their governments to join the TPNW.  The most important governments are the nuclear weapons powers, led by the United States.  This result is feasible.  People must take the nuclear weapons threat far more seriously, especially today in places like Ukraine and Gaza where nuclear war could easily begin. 

          Please speak up against this atrocity to civilization.

 

The next two entries describe past events, but they contain still important information.

 

ICAN  UN International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Dear Dick,  8-29-24  
Today August 29 is the UN International Day against Nuclear Tests and I am proud to be writing to you from Astana, Kazakhstan, where ICAN is taking part in a series of powerful meetings about nuclear disarmament and nuclear justice to mark this day. We are joined by several governments, UN and Red Cross representatives, members from affected communities and civil society - including many of our partners - all working together for a world that is not just free from nuclear tests but free of nuclear weapons altogether. 

The 29th of August was chosen because it is the anniversary of the first ever Soviet nuclear test carried out at Semipalatinsk in 1949 and the day this test site was finally closed in 1991. It is also the day that, in 2019, Kazakhstan ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 

It is particularly poignant to be here in Kazakhstan, which is not only the location of devastating nuclear tests, but also the place where the world witnessed remarkable activism to end testing here and everywhere. . . .

 

Back from the Brink.  Annie Jacobsen.  Nuclear War: A Scenario, Book Club.  Aug 5, 2024.

Dialogue and education are critical to preventing nuclear war and shaping policies that will reduce nuclear risks. Do you have civic-minded friends, family members, or co-workers who like to read, learn, and discuss?

This August and September, Back from the Brink (BftB) and Dutton Publishing invite individuals and communities to come together and take part in a national reading and community-based dialogue about Annie Jacobsen’s book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, U.S. nuclear weapons and policies, and ways to make a difference.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Published in March 2024, Nuclear War: A Scenario by investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen, is a harrowing, non-fiction account that examines the origins of U.S. nuclear war fighting strategy and one plausible scenario and timeline for how a catastrophic nuclear war could unfold based on current policies.

Based on interviews with scores of experts and former military and nuclear planning officials, the New York Times bestselling book offers an opportunity for civic-minded, concerned individuals to read and learn more and engage in important, non-partisan dialogue about U.S. nuclear weapons and policies.

HOW THE BOOK CLUB WILL WORK

Contact Sean Meyer at sean@preventnuclearwar.org.

 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS RESISTANCE ORGANIZATIONS      

·        Arms Control Association (1971)

·         ATOM Project (2012)

·        Back from the Brink (2017)

·        Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (1957)

·       Council for a Livable World (1962)

·        Code Pink (2002)

·       Economists for Peace and Security

·        FCNL (1943)

·       Global Security Institute

·        Global Zero (2008)

·        Ground Zero Center (1977)

·        International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Nobel Peace Prize (2007).

·        International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility  (1991)

·       International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1980)

·       Nuclear Free World Policy (1998)

·        Nevada Desert Experience (1984)

·        Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (1982)

·        The Nuclear Resister (1980)

·        H.R.2850 - Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2021,117th Congress (2021-2022)

·        Nukewatch (1978)

·        OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology (2001) .

·        OPANAL (1967)

·        Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, (2012)

·        Pax Christi International,  (1945)

·        Peace Action (1957)

·        Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament

·        Physicians for Social Responsibility (1961)

·        Plowshares Movement (1980)

·        Scientists against Nuclear Arms (1981)

·        Ploughshares Fund (1981)

·        Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (1957)

·        The Ribbon International (1983)

·        United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (1998)

·        WAND  Women’s Action for a New Direction (1982)

·        Win Without War (2002)

·        World Beyond War

·        World Disarmament Campaign (1967)    --Dick

·         

My summary of Chomsky’s analysis of US/Russia history on Democracy Now:  After the Eastern European Wall was torn down, NATO’s defensive purpose vanished utterly, and NATO became an interventionist instrument of the US and West, despite US promise not to expand eastward.   Gorbachev offered a nuclear free zone from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, but he was snubbed by the West.  Now NATO continues to threaten Russia, while the West demonizes its leader Putin.  –D

 

September 11, 2001.  Attack mainly by Saudi Arabian terrorists kills 2,800, destroying in NYC the World Trade Center and in DC a section of the Pentagon. 
September 11, 1973.  US. Backs overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Ellende in Chile.     WRL Peace Calendar.

 

 

END OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #194, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024.