WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS #32, JULY 28, 2021

 

32.  WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, JULY 28, 2021

VS. CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WAR
Applies to NUCLEAR WAR
from Linus Pauling’s Nobel Peace Lecture 1963
        Pauling protested the huge US expenditure for research and development of biological and chemical war, which had increased “sixteenfold in a decade.”  He points out especially the horrors of nerve gas and toxins such as botulism, viruses (yellow fever), and bacterial spores (anthrax) which could “kill tens of hundreds of millions of people.”  And the special danger of large-scale development of weapons of mass destruction by the US is that it might spread around the world.  He appeals to the US to stop it.   “This terrible prospect could be eliminated now by a general agreement to stop research and development of these weapons, to prohibit their use, and to renounce all official secrecy and security controls over micro-biological, toxicological, pharmacological, and chemical-biological research.”  
    His efforts helped to produce the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC, 1972). (The international community banned the use of chemical and biological weapons after World War 1 and reinforced the ban in 1972 and 1993 by prohibiting their development, stockpiling and transfer.)

        The ban has been violated, but in general the Convention has held, and its success gives hope to the campaign to ban similarly nuclear weapons. That hope received a huge boost on January 22, 2021, when the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was ratified by the nations of the world, the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination.  Nations who refused to sign the Treaty and who violate its regulation (USA and other nuclear nations and allies) are outlaws against international law.   --Dick

   
VS. NUCLEAR WAR
But Biden has not chosen to follow the pathway of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention but is following preceding presidents, Democrats and Republicans (the War Party), in continuing research and development of nuclear weapons. 

Biden’s Nukes Backflip

Kate Kizer 6-12-21	11:56 AM (1 hour ago)
Biden is adding billions toward Trump’s nuclear weapons spending spree. It’s unacceptable, and we need your help to stop it. Can you donate $15 to help stop an unfolding nightmare nuclear arms race?

Dick — President Biden just said he wants to hand over $44.5 billion dollars to continue Trump’s [and Obama’s --D] 30-year, TRILLION DOLLAR plus spending spree on new nuclear bombers, submarines, ICBMs, air-launch cruise missiles, and MORE.

It’s a massive backflip on his campaign pledge, the national platform of the Democratic Party, and his own position as vice president and senator — and the consequences could not be more serious.

Just one of the new nuclear weapons being funded has TWENTY TIMES the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima: able to kill hundreds of thousands of people in one go. 

But because Congress controls the purse strings of this inordinate expense, we have a critical window to block this nuclear nightmare spending spree. And in parallel to pushing lawmakers, legislative aides, and the media, we’re simultaneously working to strengthen international agreements to stop a global nuclear arms race — and we need your support to keep all this going:

One reason for this reversal could be the piles of radioactive cash plied into lobbying and campaign contributions by the nuclear arms industry. Last year alone, nuclear weapons producers spent $117 million in lobbying on defense. And it’s a clear money maker — for every $1 spent lobbying, an average of $236 in nuclear weapon contract money came back.

This corrupt nexus between defense mega-corporations and government policymakers is key to understanding why Obama, Trump, and now Biden ALL effectively handed the checkbook — and the reins of nuclear policy — over to the Pentagon and private corporations. 

Because the truth is: None of these programs make us safer. They ALL make the world far more dangerous and ramp up Trump’s reckless nuclear arms race with China and Russia that dramatically increases the risks of nuclear war. And that’s why we’re pulling out all the stops to block these new initiatives from moving forward — and we need your support:

Can you donate $15 to help stop an unfolding nightmare nuclear arms race?

It’s easy to forget the destructive capacity the United States and Russia have to end the world in a moment, an armageddon that can be unleashed at the sole discretion of a single human being. 

Building up and developing new nuclear weapons is the exact opposite of where we should be heading, and it’s essential in this moment, with this administration and this Congress, that we immediately turn this dangerous trajectory around. 

Thank you for working for peace,
Kate, Michael, Abbey, and the Win Without War team

[Compare Obama’s nuclear budget = Dem War Party militarism.  –D]

“Biden’s Disappointing First Nuclear Weapons Budget”  Arms Control Association, “Issue Brief, “:Volume 13, Issue 4, July 9, 2021   As the Biden administration prepares to initiate a review of U.S. nuclear weapons policy, its first budget request proposes to continue every part of the unnecessary and unsustainable nuclear weapons spending plans it inherited from the Trump administration. This includes the controversial additions made by President Trump to the Obama-era program, such as additional, more usable lower-yield nuclear capabilities. The budget submission is a disappointing and unfortunate missed opportunity to put the plans on a more stable and cost-effective footing. The request is also inconsistent with President Biden’s stated desire to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. policy and seek new risk reduction and arms control arrangements with Russia and perhaps China. During the campaign, President Biden rightly said the United States “does not need new nuclear weapons” and that his “administration will work to maintain a strong, credible deterrent while reducing our reliance and excessive expenditure on nuclear weapons.” Current U.S. nuclear weapons policies exceed what is necessary for a credible nuclear deterrent, and the financial and opportunity costs of the current modernization plan are rising fast amid a flat defense fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request and the potential for no growth beyond inflation budgets over the next several years.   Read the full Issue Brief