function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } 'Countdown To Zero' Urges Lowering The Number Of World's Nukes...To Zero

Do you know how many nuclear weapons there are in the world? What about the nations that have them? Further...how are those nukes protected? These are pretty important questions that, perhaps not surprisingly, most Americans can't answer.

Even more alarming? The actual answers: there are 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and they're not all accounted for. And the ones that are? They occasionally malfunction.

If you're not scared yet, the new film from the producers of "An Inconvenient Truth" can take care of that. "Countdown To Zero," a film directed by Lucy Walker, looks at the origins of the atomic bomb, the near-catastrophes its caused throughout history, and the current state of the world's nuclear ambitions. The film makes the argument that too many things can go wrong -- mistakes, terrorism, malfunctions -- to keep nuclear weapons in existence.

One of the most frightening true stories told in the film is from the 1990s. The U.S. launched a rocket into the sky to study the northern lights. The Russians were informed of this move, but somehow miscommunication led to something potentially disastrous. The Russian military was convinced that the U.S. had just launched a nuclear missile headed for Moscow or St. Petersburg. Launch codes were retrieved and the so-called "button" was placed in front of then-president Boris Yeltsin. All he had to do was give the go-ahead, and a simple misunderstanding between nations could have eradicated tens of millions of Americans within an hour. Fortunately, according to the film, Yeltsin "wasn't drunk," and didn't believe what the military told him. As in several other circumstances, it was luck that saved us.

The ultimate goal, argues "Countdown To Zero," should be the complete eradication of atomic bombs. The film depicts dozens of prominent leaders who agree: Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, and former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson.

WATCH the trailer:

So, now that you're sufficiently shaking in your underground bunker, it's time to take action. And "Countdown To Zero" aims to provide viewers with tools to do so. Here's what they recommend:

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First of all, see the film. It's out today in New York City and Washington D.C., and expands on Friday, July 30th, to theaters in Los Angeles, Chicago and several other cities. Free tickets are available to select showings around the U.S. over the next several weeks.

Sign the petition on takepart.com/zero to demand a world without nuclear weapons. As of this writing, the petition has just over 21,000 signatures. You can also sign the petition via the widget below.

Text ZERO to 77177 to get updates on the film and the project.

Download a PDF of the "Countdown To Zero" discussion guide. It comes with information about the film, the major topics, and how you can spark a discussion in a classroom or elsewhere.

You can also take a look at TakePart.com's flickr slideshow of stills from the film:

As John F. Kennedy once said, "The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us." The filmmakers behind "Countdown To Zero" want to inspire a movement to make Kennedy's dream a reality.

Know something we don't? E-mail us at [e-mail]

Comments

[YouDontWantMeHere]

alls i remember is the 2nd part: or how i learned to love the bomb

[75thRanger]

Yeah good luck with that...........what a colossal waste of time.

“Sua Sponte”

1917, 1928, 1952, 1990

[WPF]

What a novel concept.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

"The overriding goal of foreign policy for the United States, with respect to nuclear weapons, is to maintain control of nuclear weapons and materials.

"Nuclear weapons are problematic today because they remain a necessary means of overpowering other nations and intimidating foes, but they have also become a liability as other states threaten to go nuclear in order to restore balance to a unipolar world.

"A blatant display of American hypocrisy is seen as a major weakness for the maintenance of American power by liberal imperialists like Obama.

"This is why US policy with respect to Iran seems so disjointed and paralyzed. Iran possesses immense energy resources, it straddles a region of geo-strategic importance, and its influence and power is growing. For US elites, Iran must be controlled at all cost. A nuclear Iran would make this much, much more difficult. Regime change is the goal, just like in Iraq.

"The US being the world's preeminent nuclear power with no interest in disarming, that would be bald hypocrisy. But then again the US will not disarm, for this would be anathema to the needs and goals of the foreign policy elite. What to do?

"Into this mix arrives Countdown to Zero and similarly crafted propaganda pieces..."

http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1799&Itemid=235

[flossophy]

Sorry earthlings... the cat's out of the bag on this one.

Only liberal democracies should have nookies.

[flossophy]

Impossible. Get real.

[extremecentrist]

Also, it scares me that adults made this movie and not third graders. Nice goal, very nice. It's a darling idea. But really, that's not how the ugly world works Lucy Walker.

[extremecentrist]

I predict a unilateral disarmament from each nuclear nation in order of who watches this movie first to last.

[Marla Thurman]

I had "nuclear nightmares" from childhood. They stopped briefly with the onset of the first Gulf War, strangely, but they came back with a vengeance. This is no ordinary anxiety dream, either, like being in church naked. Nuclear weapons leave no options. Go, movie.

[disintaGreatNation]

If Andrew Breitbart runs a story that a nuclear attack by, say, Iran on the U.S. is imminent, will Obama okay a "retaliatory" launch?

[scat]

lol. lets get of low fiber food, fatty food, sticks and stones and bad scotch while we are at it.

[ron ray]

nice sentiment, but when has any weapon ever ceased to exist? they've outlawed switchblades and nunchucks; they still exist. some likes bows and arrows have been replaced except as a game, but they exist.

even dismantling all the nuke won't make them go away. I can always build on.

[CrazedSurfer]

How we going to blow up those comets & asteroids that want to doom us?

[Newthron]

Of course it will happen again. We made it, have it and used it. They made it, have it and at any giving time in time, a demented leader or a terrorist organisation will use it.

It's like a gun, any one who has a gun, has used it at list more then once. It takes on person to create the expected accident.

[Newthron]

I was in hurry, and I let a bunch of mistakes. "more than once." "It takes one person."

Respect!

[tnlcallen]

While we are at it, let's get rid of all crime, and prejudice, and anger. Noble goals all, but not likely in my lifetime, or a thousand lifetimes to come. I support the sentiment, I just realize the futility of it.