OMNI
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION NEWSLETTER #27, JULY 31, 2021.
ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
UN Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace,
Justice, and Ecology
(#25, April 2, 2021; #26, June 13, 2021)
Urge federal, state, and local
legislators to sign the US version of ICAN pledge: www.NuclearBan.US/ICANpledge.
Urge legislators to co-sponsor
NORTON HR 2850: www.nuclearban.us/join-the-campaign.
Please contact our Senators.
Suggested reading: Disarming the
Nuclear Argument by Tommon Wallis: www.DisarmingArguments.com
Short videos: “the world has spoken”
www.youtube.com/watch?y--MiyTKluApRQ
And join OMNI's protests of
UAF nuclear weapons research intersection of Razorback Road and MLKJr.
Blvd. Let the public know Arkies know about the nuclear danger. Contact
Abel Tomlinson. Watch for announcements.
Dick
Contents Nuclear Weapons
Abolition Newsletter #27
RESISTANCE:
the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons TPNW.
Organizations
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolence
v. Trident Subs
Nukewatch Quarterly
Fight for Civil Rights = Fight for World Peace
Nuclear Nations in Conflict: Kashmir
Biden Administration: Tell Biden No
New Nukes
Behind the Biden Ad’s $100 Billion
Missile System
Trump Dangers Continue
TEXTS
RESISTANCE
US Anti-Nuclear Weapons
Organizations (notes by Dick)
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action at Poulsbo, WA, maintains
a daily presence against the Trident submarine base nearby and publishes a
monthly magazine against nuclear weapons.
GROUND ZERO (JULY 2021) selections:
Civil
Resistance: Road Block.
Eiger
and Milner, “Five Activists Cited at Mother’s Day Action: ‘The nuke’s days are
numbered.’ Pp. 1-2. Photo of GZ members blocking the road to the
nuclear subs displaying the banner “Trident Threatens All Life on Earth.” Mother’s Day for Peace was started by Julia
Ward Howe in 1872. Hopes are higher from
the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons TPNW.
Two-Week
Walk
Calling the Public to Protest Nuclear Weapons and Celebrate the Treaty.
Rev.
Senji Kanaeda, “2021 Pacific Northwest Interfaith Peace Walk. ‘The Time Has Come to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons.’” July 23 – August 9 from
Eugene, OR, to Poulsbo.
Protest
Pentagon’s Annual Weapons Fair
Milner,
“Peace Fleet Marks 20 Years of Protesting Seafair’s Militarism.” Protesting the US Navy and Air Force annual
promotion of war ships and planes.
New
Book
by Member of GZ
Zelter, Angie. ACTIVISM FOR LIFE: “Wake Up, the World is
Dying,” Now Do Something About It.
Rev. Leonard Eiger, “Angie Zelter’s New Memoir Activism for Life.” Ground Zero
(July 2021). https://www.gzcenter.org
Plus five more articles and a poem.
NUKEWATCH NUKEWATCH QUARTERLY (SUMMER 2021).
Our several excellent anti-nuclear weapons organizations and
their publications make it possible for every citizen who desires nuclear peace
to be well-informed. One of these is
Nukewatch, a project of the
Progressive Foundation, cofounded in 1979
by Samuel Day, Jr. They publish Nukewatch Quarterly.
Typically the
magazine covers all aspects of nuclear weapons and power. For example, p. 1 articles on Fukushima waste
water and uranium mine cleanup on Navajo lands.
Particularly interesting to me are the articles on the new Treaty
banning nuclear weapons, a public debate between two British submarine
commanders regarding legality of nuclear attack orders, opposition to US
missile defense program amid millions spent lobbying by contractors, weapons
wastes storage in NM, and the “No First
Use” debate.
NUKEWATCH QUARTERLY (SPRING 2021)
Page One
features 2 articles, one of weapons, the other on energy:
Kelly Lundeen,
“Demonstrations Mark Arrival of Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.” A coalition of Nukewatch, Oak Ridge
Environmental Peace Alliance, and editors of the Nuclear Resister had prepared
“100 actions in the US…and 200 actions around the world.” One action was a demonstration at Honeywell
Aerospace in Minnesota.
The second
article is “Fukushima at Ten: Aftershocks and Failed Decontamination” by John
LaForge, an update on recent news and analysis.
Page Two has
equally important articles:
The first by
former Canadian Senator Douglas Roche that “deftly skewers the absurdities of
the official opposition to the new Treaty” (editors). Roche’s latest book is Recovery: Peace Prospects in the Biden Era.
The other is an
editorial by LaRoche, “Nuclear Weapons Treaty Ban Needs Bold Advocacy.” We have the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Now we the people must confront “the
establishment’s ongoing preparations for nuclear war.” (As we must also with the climate catastrophe
and our leaders’ perpetuation of the fossil fueled system, which with equal
urgency must be confronted now—or really ten years ago. –D)
I hope in the
future to tell about the rest of Spring NQ
and other recent numbers.
NUKEWATCH
QUARTERLY (WINTER 2020)
Here is the text of their page one report of the UN’s Treaty
banning nuclear weapons, a copy of a letter from John LaForge, and my few notes on several recent numbers.
NUKEWATCH QUARTERLY (SUMMER 2020)
News
& Information on Nuclear Weapons, Power, Waste, & Nonviolent
Resistance.
A
publication of the Progressive Foundation, which also publishes the equally
excellent The Progressive Magazine.
P.
1, “First US Citizen Convicted for Protests at Nuclear Weapons Base in Germany”
by John LaForge (CounterPunch, 5-26-2020).
Dennis DuVall, VfP member from
Arizona, now living in Dresden. Co-Director John LaForge covers the
world with his well-informed and incisive articles—eight in this number
alone. E.g., “First US Citizen Convicted
for Protests at Nuclear Weapons Base in Germany.” US citizen Dennis DuVall (VFP from Arizona) is
“focused on international treaty law that forbids any planning and preparation
of mass destruction,” citing also the Nuremberg Charter and Principles
establishing individual responsibility for violations of laws of war.
P. 2 “Supporting
the UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons”
by Steve McKeown, all about the hundreds of organizations working to advance
the Treaty. Accompanied by a map of the
37 countries that had ratified the Treaty.
50 countries will place the Treaty into force. [That was accomplished and the Treaty entered
into force January 22, 2021.]
P. 4 “Gone
Viral” by John Heid recounts Fr. Daniel
Berrigan fleeing from the police as he continued to demonstrate, burn draft
card files, and write against the Vietnam War.
During that time he also wrote America
Is Hard to Find: Notes from the Underground and Letters from Danbury Prison
(1972). Heid applies lessons Berrigan learned during the VN War (while the
populace was fretting over the war, the leaders built up the nuclear arsenal)
to the Covid-19 pandemic (while the people were focused on the virus, Raytheon
Missiles and Defense was given a multi-billion dollar contract to develop a new
generation of missiles). The pandemic
and nuclear weapons proliferation have comparisons. (I heartily recommend this succinct but penetrating analysis.—D)
P. 4 (NQ also
reports on nuclear power): Elena Hight, “Radioactive Fracking Waste Under a
Weakened EPA.” I count a total of 10
items on nuclear power in this number of NQ, mostly on radioactive waste.
RESISTANCE
Vincent Intondi.
Reflections on [Ending ] Injustice, Racism, and [Abolishing] the
Bomb. [The fight for civil rights and the struggle for
world peace are the same. Other equally
urgent issues should be connected too, as the Green New Dealers know.--D]
ARMS CONTROL TODAY
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2020-07/features/reflections-injustice-racism-bomb
July/August 2020
. . . . [The author’s visit to Hiroshima changed
him.]
But I could not forget what I learned, who I met, or how I felt
in Hiroshima. Regardless if I was fighting for civil rights; against the
inequities perpetuated by the World Trade Organization and International
Monetary Fund; for justice for the indigenous people of Chiapas, Mexico; or to
stop the U.S. war in Iraq, I kept coming back to one thought: What does any of this matter if we were all
dead from nuclear war?
To me, it was simple. These were not separate issues. Jobs,
racial equality, climate change, war, class, gender, and nuclear weapons were
all connected and part of the same fight: universal human rights, with the most
important human right being the freedom to live…live free from the fear of
nuclear war.
Of course, this thinking is not new. Contrary to the narrative
that nuclear disarmament has been and remains a “white” issue, since 1945, the
anti-nuclear movement has included diverse voices who saw the value in
connecting all of these issues. Moreover, the nuclear disarmament movement has
been most successful when it left room for diverse voices and combined the
nuclear issue with social justice.
The movement to abolish nuclear weapons began even before the
first bomb was dropped. Among the earliest critics of nuclear weapons were the atomic
scientists, members of the Roman Catholic Church, the Women’s International
League for Peace and Freedom, and many in the Black community. Specifically,
regarding African Americans, for some, nuclear weapons were directly linked to racism.
Many African Americans agreed with Langston Hughes’ assertion
that racism was at the heart of President Harry Truman’s decision to use
nuclear weapons in Japan. Why did the United States not drop atomic bombs on
Italy or Germany, Hughes asked. The Black community’s fear that race played a
role in the decision to use nuclear weapons only increased when the U.S.
leaders threatened to use nuclear weapons in Korea in the 1950s1 and Vietnam a decade later. For others,
the nuclear issue was connected to colonialism. From the United States
obtaining uranium from Belgian-controlled Congo to the French testing a nuclear
weapon in the Sahara, activists saw a direct link between those who possessed
nuclear weapons and those who colonized the nonwhite world. For many ordinary
citizens, Black and white, however, fighting for nuclear disarmament simply
meant escaping the fear of mutually assured nuclear destruction and moving
toward a more peaceful world.
Today, many people love to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., especially his “I Have a Dream” speech,
while also ignoring the full title and focus of the march: “Jobs and Freedom.”
Throughout his life, King made the connections of what he called the “triple evils” of capitalism, racism,
and militarism.
Civil rights
leader Bayard Rustin, shown here in 1964, combined domestic activism with
international, including a trip to protest French nuclear testing in Africa.
(Photo: Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
King was not alone among civil rights activists in making these connections. To put it in today’s
context, to singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson, “Black Lives Matter”
meant not only speaking out about racism in the United States but also
highlighting where the United States obtained its material to build nuclear
weapons. To W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Lives Matter meant not only forming the NAACP
or writing Souls
of Black Folk, but also getting millions to sign the “Ban the Bomb”
pledge to stop another Hiroshima in Korea. To civil rights leader Bayard
Rustin, Black Lives Matter meant not only organizing the March on Washington
but also traveling to Ghana to stop France from testing its first nuclear
weapon in Africa. To Lorraine Hansberry, Black Lives Matter meant not
only A
Raisin in the Sun, but Les Blancs, her last play,
about nuclear abolition. To Representative Ronald Dellums (D-Calif.), Black
Lives Matter meant not only bringing jobs and education to Oakland, California,
but also making sure President Ronald Reagan did not build the MX missile.
The prominent Black writer James
Baldwin put it best on April 1, 1961, when he addressed a large group of
peace activists at Judiciary Square in Washington. Baldwin was one of the
headlining speakers for the rally, titled “Security Through World Disarmament.”
When asked why he chose to speak at such an event, Baldwin
responded, “What am I doing here? Only those who would fail to see the
relationship between the fight for civil rights and the struggle for world
peace would be surprised to see me. Both fights are the same. It is just as
difficult for the white American to think of peace as it is of no color.…
Confrontation of both dilemmas demands inner courage.” Baldwin considered both
problems in the same breath because “racial hatred and the atom bomb both
threaten the destruction of man as created free by God.”
The power of diversity in the nuclear disarmament movement was
perhaps most evident in the 1980s. With Reagan’s rhetoric of a “winnable
nuclear war” and massive budget increases for nuclear weapons while cutting
social programs that hurt the most vulnerable, the anti-nuclear movement grew
exponentially. The nuclear freeze movement emerged.
New groups such as the Women’s Actions for Nuclear Disarmament,
Feminists Insist on a Safe Tomorrow, Performers and Artists for Nuclear
Disarmament, Dancers for Disarmament, and Athletes United for Peace formed.
Established organizations such as Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, the Union
for Concerned Scientists, and Physicians for Social Responsibility all saw
their membership skyrocket.2
For some, ending the nuclear arms race was and still is linked
to their religious faith. Others saw a direct link between the amount of money
being spent on nuclear weapons and eliminating badly needed social programs
that benefited the poor. Many viewed and still view nuclear weapons as part of
the overall military industrial complex, which included U.S. intervention in
Central America and the Middle East, while for others, there was a genuine fear
that the United States and Soviet Union would start a nuclear war.
This new sense of awareness, fear, and action culminated in the
June 12, 1982, demonstration in New York’s Central Park, in which 1 million
people of different races, genders, class, and religions marched and rallied
for nuclear disarmament. As Randall Forsberg, one of the principal authors of
the proposal for a nuclear weapons freeze, said in her speech to the throngs
that day, “Until the arms race stops, until we have a world with peace and
justice, we will not go home and be quiet. We will go home and organize.”
The rally, combined with other actions of the 1980s, contributed
to the Reagan administration changing course on nuclear weapons, effectively
showed the power of grassroots organizing, challenged the idea that the
movement was not diverse, and paved the way for a new generation of activists
committed to saving the world from nuclear annihilation.
[How can we
abolish nuclear weapons? The traditional methods remain best, but require full commitment
by the majority of citizens. –D] The questions that we must ask ourselves today
are how have we avoided nuclear war for the last 75 years and how can we
sustain the popular support and awareness that is necessary to move
policymakers to take the steps necessary to reduce and eliminate nuclear
dangers. The answers: good luck and good organizing. There is nothing we can do
about luck, except hope it is on our side. But by learning from the past, it is
clear that there is much we can do as organizers, advocates, lobbyists,
artists, writers, teachers, and just concerned citizens.
We need to make
connections. Our power is in our diversity. The anti-nuclear movement needs
to continue to reach out to marginalized communities and show the links between
that amount of money spent on nuclear weapons and how those funds could be used
for food, health care, jobs, housing, and education. Whether it is connecting
with the religious, immigrant, LGBTQ, or Black communities, half the battle is
showing up.
We need education.
Far too many students go through their entire education, including college, without
ever learning about the history of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki or the greater nuclear threat that has persisted since 1945. We must
demand that curriculums across the country dedicate more time to the nuclear
arms race and the movement to stop nuclear war. This means being involved on
school boards and curriculum committees and creating the materials that we can
distribute and incorporate into the various school systems.
We need artists. Part
of the reason the nuclear issue resonated in the 1980s was because performers
such as Jackson Browne, Rita Marley, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Gil
Scott-Heron, Harry Belafonte, and Linda Ronstadt, as well as various Hollywood
and Broadway stars, performed, raised money, and lent their voices to the
cause. We saw the power of this action when President Barack Obama was pushing
the Iran nuclear deal.
We need filmmakers. One
of the most successful strategies of the anti-nuclear movement in the 1980s was
to create “The Day After.” Viewed by millions, this film, along with Helen
Caldicott’s relentless pursuit of making sure the world knew the human effects
of nuclear weapons, shook ordinary citizens to their core. We can and must
replicate these actions to drive home the uncomfortable fact that nuclear
weapons are a threat to everyone, everywhere.
We need to hold
politicians accountable. Currently, we have a president who has threatened
repeatedly to use nuclear weapons, has no problem spending billions on the
nuclear arsenal, and may even want to resume nuclear testing. Moreover, we have
local, state, and federal politicians who support the president’s decisions and
are complicit in the march to nuclear competition and the perpetuation of the
oppression imposed by the threat of nuclear weapons use. Whenever we have an
opportunity to back a politician who fights for nuclear disarmament, we need to
do so. We need to demand from our elected officials that they work toward the
goal of nuclear abolition and indeed have some of our organizers within the movement
run for office themselves. Of course, we need to vote.
We need to support the
anti-nuclear movement and help it evolve. Much like new organizations that
emerged in the 1980s, over the last decade we have seen groups such as Global
Zero, Beyond the Bomb, and Don’t Bank on the Bomb and global disarmament
networks such as the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons emerge.
From the start, these groups have promoted intersectionality and made the
connections among race, climate, feminism, and poverty in the fight to abolish
nuclear weapons, not just in the United States but worldwide. In many cases,
dynamic women have led this new movement. They are younger, with fresh ideas;
savvy; and motivated. Whether one is in favor of working toward a no-first-use
policy or a formal ban on nuclear weapons through negotiations at the United
Nations, these organizers need our support, money, time, and respect.
With all this said, I cannot lie. I am saddened as I write this.
Every five years on the anniversary of the first atomic bombings, the demand
for my work seems to increase. Although I am thankful that I have the
opportunity to write and speak about racism and nuclear weapons, this also
means both are still with us.
Part of the problem is that we cannot wait until an anniversary
of the atomic bombing or the release of another video of an unarmed person of
color being murdered by police forces to talk about these issues.
Yet, I also remain hopeful. I find hope in the work of
long-established groups such as the Arms Control Association, Ploughshares
Fund, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and others. I find hope in younger
anti-nuclear activists and the movement around the world to formally ban the
bomb. I find hope in seeing so many in the streets demanding racial justice and
refusing to remain silent in the face of hate, racism, and bigotry. But mostly,
I remain hopeful that there will come a time, perhaps on another anniversary of
Hiroshima, when I will be asked to write about the past when nuclear weapons
and institutional racism once existed and were finally dismantled. Until that
day, the fight continues, and we march on.
NUCLEAR NATIONS: KASHMIR
NOT JUST NO NEW NUCLEAR NATIONS: NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS
There’re NK and SK,
Russia and the West, China, Israel, and USA THE ACTIVE BOMBER!
PAKISTAN/INDIA
DANGER: Perpetual Fighting over Kashmir.
“Four Indians Die in Kashmir
Clash.” NADG (6-14-18). Each side
said the other initiated the attack.
! KASHMIR
Frequent Border War
Between Two Nuclear Nations. Compare to
the border conflicts and incursions by N. and S. Korea which eventuated in one
going too far and full-scale war ensued.
But India-Pakistan border conflict could destroy civilization. --Dick
“Battles in Kashmir Kill Nine People.” Google Search, 1-16-18
Nine killed in held Kashmir on India's Independence
Day - Newspaper ...
www.dawn.com › Newspaper
› Back Page
Aug 16, 2016 - SRINAGAR: Nine people, among them a
16-year-old protester and a police commander, lost their lives on Monday as
clashes and gun battles raged across the disputed region on
India's Independence Day. The teenage boy was shot dead late on Monday
following clashes between Indian forces and ...
Two LeT
militants killed in Kashmir gun battle, Indian forces claim
https://nation.com.pk/.../two-let-militants-killed-in-kashmir-gun-battle-indian-forces-c...
Jul 1, 2017 - Indian security forces
claim to have shot dead a top Kashmiri militant who was
accused ofkilling six police officers during a seven-hour
gun battle in the. ...
Anti-India sentiment runs deep among the region's mostly Muslim population and most people support the
militant's cause against Indian rule despite a ...
Rebels storm
Indian paramilitary camp in Kashmir; 8 dead
www.tampabay.com/rebels-storm-indian-paramilitary-camp-in-kashmir--dead-ap_wo...
Dec 31, 2017 - Officials say five Indian
soldiers and three suspected militants were killed after rebels
stormed a paramilitary camp in disputed Kashmir. ... Rebels storm Indian
paramilitary camp in Kashmir; 8 dead. In this Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018 photo provided by
China's Ministry of Transport ...
APA - Gun battle
in Jammu Kashmir kills 3
en.apa.az/world-news/asia-news/gun-battle-in-jammu-kashmir-kills-3.html
Jan 8, 2018 - Three militants
were killed on Monday in a gun battle with the Indian
Armed Forces in disputed Jammu Kashmir, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.
According to police officials in the region ... More than 70,000 people have reportedly
been killed in the conflict since 1989. India maintains more than half
a ...
India, Pakistan
Trade Gunfire and Blame in Kashmir; 4 Killed - The ...
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/01/15/world/asia/ap-as-kashmir-fighting.html
1 day ago [Jan. 15, 2018] - Four Pakistani soldiers
were killed Monday after Indian and Pakistani soldiers traded gunfire
in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, leading both of the ... Anti-India sentiment
runs deep in the region, and most people support the rebels' cause against Indian
rule while also participating in civilian street ...
Kashmir border
violence kills nine | Daily Mail Online
www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article.../Kashmir-border-violence-kills-nine.html
1 day ago [Jan. 15] - At least nine people including four Pakistani
soldiers were killed in fighting in disputed Kashmir on Monday, India
and Pakistan said.The Pakistani army said...
Kashmir border
violence kills nine | News24
https://www.news24.com/World/News/kashmir-border-violence-kills-nine-20180115
At least nine people including four
Pakistani soldiers were killed in fighting in disputed Kashmir, India and Pakistan say.
... Kashmir border
violence kills nine. 2018-01-15 22:36. Kashmiri protesters throw
stones toward Indian policemen during a clash near the site of a gun-battle in Chadoora south
ofSrinagar, ...
TELL THE BIDEN
ADMINISTRATION
NO NEW NUKES
From: Amy Frame
<info@winwithoutwar.org>
WIN WITHOUT WAR
Date: Fri, Mar 12, 2021 at 11:17 AM
Subject: The Navy doesn’t need new nukes
To: Dick Bennett <j.dick.bennett@gmail.com>
Dick — The
U.S. Navy is pushing ahead with building a Trump-initiated, completely
unnecessary new ship-based nuclear weapon.
It’s a nuke *four* previous administrations, starting with Pres. George
H.W. Bush, were happy to keep locked away in storage. Pres. Obama actually retired this nuclear
weapon entirely — because we ALREADY have thousands of nukes deployed on
submarines, fighter jets, and heavy bombers.
In fact, experts say not only is this a colossal waste of money that
accelerates a global nuclear arms race, it also sets the stage for a
catastrophe by putting nukes on ships alongside non-nuclear missiles.
Congress can
— and must — stop this nuke in its tracks. Representative Joe Courtney, chair
of the House Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee, and Senator Chris Van Hollen
agree. That’s why they’ve introduced a bill to cut off funding before this
disaster-in-waiting goes any further.Will you take two minutes to write and ask Rep. Womack and
Sens. Boozman and Cotton to add their names as cosponsors and cut funding for
this completely unnecessary new Navy nuke?
Over the
last four years, Trump and Congress accelerated a new nuclear arms race. They
approved SO many nuclear weapons projects that current estimates are that the
United States will spend $2 TRILLION on the nuclear arsenal in the coming
decades.
But if we
succeed in cutting off funding for these completely unnecessary destabilizing
new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles (SLCMs) we’ll stop this Trump
pet project from ever getting off the ground and send an unequivocal signal
around the world that we want this new nuclear arms race slowed to a
stop.
But the
timing is tight.
The Navy is
preparing to start work next year, so we’ve got to cut off the funding NOW and
stall the work. And we do that by working to urge as many members of Congress
to cosponsor Rep. Courtney and Sen. Van Hollen’s bill.
Getting
enough support now in Congress will give us a better chance that President
Biden cancels this program before his budget request to Congress is released in
May.
Thank you
for working for peace,
Amy, Shayna,
Erica and the Win Without War team
|
|
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© Win Without War 2020
1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005
What’s Behind the Biden Administration’s New
$100 Billion Nuclear Missile System?
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2:53
PM (3 minutes ago) |
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TRUMP DANGERS Published on Friday, January 05,
2018 By 35 Peace Groups Demand Congress Protect Public From Nuclear
'Bomb Threat' Trump
President's "bellicose rhetoric and reckless actions pose
a clear and present danger to national security," groups tell lawmakers. By Nearly three dozen
grassroots organizations on Friday demanded that members of Congress do their
jobs and put a leash on nuclear "bomb threat" President Donald
Trump. In an open letter (pdf) to
lawmakers, they write that the president's "bellicose rhetoric and
reckless actions pose a clear and present danger to national security." "Time and time
again, Trump has proven just how dangerous it is for him to have thousands of
nuclear weapons at his fingertips. He doesn't believe in science and doesn't
consult experts," the progressive groups, including Greenpeace
USA, Indivisible, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Ultraviolet, and Veterans for
Peace, write. "There's no
better example of the unique danger Trump poses than the unfolding crisis
with North Korea, where his cavalier attitude towards nuclear war puts the
whole world at risk." That attitude was
put on display late Tuesday when Trump boastfully tweeted about the size and power of his
"nuclear button"—a tweet the groups characterized as a
"schoolyard taunt" directed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump has threatened the nation numerous times since taking office, including
saying he would hit North Korea "with fire, fury, and frankly power the
likes of which the world has never seen before." In their letter, the
groups point to two specific pieces of legislation the lawmakers should back
to put a check on Trump's power to launch a nuclear war—the "No First
Use" bill introduced by Rep. Adam Smith
(D-Wash. ) and the bicameral "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons
Act" introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ed Markey
(D-Mass.). "Congress has
the ability to rein in this world-ending power, but has mostly chosen to sit
on the sidelines," the letter states. "This abdication of
responsibility cannot continue." It concludes:
"The majority of Americans agree: Trump is a bomb threat. It's time you
do something to stop him." Published on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 By Trump National Security Strategy Could 'Create More Pathways
to Nuclear War,' Critics Warn
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/19/trump-national-security-strategy-could-create-more-pathways-nuclear-war-critics-warn
White House's newly unveiled National Security Strategy lays
bare the president's "obsession with nuclear weapons," an anti-nuke
group warned By Viewed by critics
as further evidence that President Donald Trump is "obsessed with nuclear weapons and
creating the conditions for nuclear war," the White House's newly
unveiled National Security Strategy (NSS) lionizes America's nukes as the
"foundation" of its security policy and suggests they could be
deployed even in the case of non-nuclear threats. "Nuclear
weapons have served a vital purpose in America's National Security Strategy
for the past 70 years," states Trump's NSS document (pdf), made public on Monday.
"While nuclear deterrence strategies cannot prevent all conflict, they
are essential to prevent nuclear attack, non-nuclear strategic attacks, and
large-scale conventional aggression." The policy
statement goes on to lament the decline of "investments in our nuclear
enterprise" and the "reduced...role of nuclear weapons"
following the end of the Cold War and argued that "significant
investment is needed to maintain a U.S. nuclear arsenal and infrastructure
that is able to meet national security threats over the coming decades." Commenting on the
Trump NSS in an interview with the Guardian the
director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American
Scientists, Hans Kristensen, noted that Trump's "broadening
of the nuclear weapons mission against non-nuclear attacks" represents a
departure from the stated policies of previous administrations and concluded
that it raises a monumental question: "are we creating more pathways to
potential nuclear war?" Trump's NSS was
released as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea continue to soar.
As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, the U.S.
flew a B-1B supersonic bomber over the Korean Peninsula as part of war
exercises that North Korea denounced as a simulation of "all-out
war." Given Trump's expressed affinity for America's
nuclear arsenal, it is not entirely surprising that his administration's
security strategy would place it at the center of attention. NBC reported in October that Trump
surprised even military leaders during a meeting over the summer by calling
for "what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear
arsenal." Trump later denied requesting such a build-up. In the face of
Trump's erratic behavior and his propensity for floating threats of "fire
and fury" against official adversaries, members of Congress last month
held the first hearing in decades on the
president's authority to launch nuclear weapons. "There may be
plans in place, right now, at the White House, to launch a preemptive war
with North Korea using nuclear weapons—without consulting Congress,"
warned Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). "No one human being should ever have
the power." THE BOMB: FOLLOWERS OF A LOSING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ALMOST
CAPTURED THE CODE
“Nuclear
Football,” VP Pence, and the Insurrection [and Nuclear Bomb “Broken Arrows”] Trump
insurgents came within seconds of capturing 'nuclear football' on Jan. 6 Mark Sumner, Daily Kos Staff Wednesday July
21, 2021 · 8:21 AM CDT
A military
aide follows Mike Pence down the stairs on Jan. 6. During Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, video
footage of events on Jan. 6 revealed just how close Mike Pence came to
falling into the hands of the people who were chanting for his execution.
Fourteen minutes after the mob of Trump supporters first breached the
Capitol, Secret Service agents led Pence from the Senate chamber and down a
flight of stairs. He entered that stairwell just seconds ahead of the arrival
of insurgents, some of whom were carrying rope or zip ties. Had those
insurgents not been delayed through the actions of Capitol Police
Officer Eugene Goodman, they could easily have been there to capture Pence
and take him to the gallows waiting on the lawn outside. . . . [An] aide was carrying a small satchel, and inside that
satchel was a book listing the locations of classified military sites, a
description of how to activate and use the Emergency Broadcast System, a
“black book” of pre-planned military actions, and a small card that contains the codes necessary to authorize a nuclear
strike. That aide was with Pence at the top of the stairs in the video that
was shown during the Senate trial. The Jan. 6 insurgents didn’t just almost get Mike Pence.
They almost got the backup copy of the president’s Emergency Satchel. Better
known as the “nuclear football.” As Reuters reports, concern over how close
the satchel came to being captured by the Trump horde is calling for a review
of just how the vital information is carried and secured. Some form of the
football goes back to President Dwight Eisenhower, but it was concerns from
President John Kennedy that created the system that’s still followed today.
Both the president and vice president are closely pursued by aides who have
the current information necessary to respond if the nation were to fall under
sudden attack. Following the events of Jan. 6, in which one of the
footballs almost went into the hands of insurgents calling for the overthrow
of the elected government, there’s a concern that this 60-year-old program
may be due for some review. This wasn’t the only occasion in the last four
years in which the vital information came under threat. An aide carrying the
information on a trip to China got into what was described as a “tussle” with
a Chinese official while Trump was having lunch with Communist Party
leader Xi Jinping. That situation apparently required then chief of
staff John Kelly to get into a “physical altercation” to secure the satchel. Neither situation is particularly reassuring. Exactly what the Trump mob might have done with the
satchel had they taken it and opened it isn’t clear. There are procedures for
changing the authorizations codes in the case a football is lost or stolen.
However, the book of secure sites and the book of military actions—primarily
military actions that the U.S. intends to take in case of an attack on the
nation—are extremely sensitive and any data released from those sources could
cause serious damage to national security. Had that information been
captured, it would have been considered compromised even if the military
wasn’t aware of any leaks of the contents. Just what changes are being considered to better secure
the information are not clear. But just as a start, securing the Capitol
against future assaults by ravening mobs of Trump supporters out for
blood is a good first step. [A
more urgent matter is that since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as Broken
Arrows. And the Jan 6 attempted
takeover of the Capitol was no accident, but was incited by the losing
candidate for president. Our only
safety lies in the abolition of weapons of mass destruction. –D]. |
||||||
CONTENTS #26, June 13,
2021
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2021/06/nuclear-weapons-abolition-newsletter-26.html
Contact Abel Tomlinson
PEACE ACTION PANELS FOR LEGISLATION
Inside the ICBM Lobby
Biden’s New $100 Billion Nuclear
Missile Plan
Celebrate Ellsberg
Demonstrate with Ground Zero and
Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Russia’s Nuclear Weapons
Despite Treaty, US and Russia, and
Now UK Increasing Weapons
Space Alert! (Winter-Spring
2021)
Galtung’s 10 Proposals for Ending
Nuclear Arms: Will the World Listen Now?
END NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ABOLITION NEWSLETTER #27
