Isn't it strange?
In the 1980's an overwhelming 80% of Americans wanted to see an end to the nuclear arms race. The U.S. establishment treated this grassroots movement almost as an aberration, virtually ignoring it.
This massive, global, grassroots movement helped bring an end to the Cold War. But, throughout the duration of the Bush, Clinton, and G.W. Bush presidencies there was no respect for, no move to act on, the wishes of the American people and the worldwide supporters of nuclear disarmament.
Isn't it strange, that it was only last year, when the former champions of nuclear weaponry- Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, Bill Perry and Sam Nunn, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons that the establishment "woke up" and started to take this notion seriously?
No doubt Barak Obama was influenced by this philosophy when he attended Columbia University. He almost certainly witnessed the million-strong peace march in Central Park, June 1982. And, during that time he wrote two articles calling for nuclear disarmament between Russia and the U.S.
This early period in the life of President Obama is clearly one of the motivating influences of his presidency. He is the only U.S. President ever to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Now, however, he is facing two of the most powerful forces in the world: the Military Industrial Complex, and the nuclear weapons labs.
He is a brilliant politician who exhibits patience and wisdom when dealing with his adversaries. But, the Nuclear Policy review recently published by the Pentagon exhibits no evidence that the U.S. Military establishment intends to decrease its essential reliance upon nuclear weapons, which remain the cornerstone of its military arsenal.
$5.5 billion dollars have been allocated to Los Alamos Labs to continue the development of new plutonium pits for new nuclear weapons scheduled for production in the future. The U.S. missile defense program stands unabated, and is forging ahead using Iran and North Korea as its raison d'être.
In this scenario we are only, ever, minutes away from Armageddon and the truth is the world is sick and tired of being held hostage by nuclear warriors whose 20th century mindset cannot seem to comprehend this. They insist on maintaining thousands of hydrogen bombs in ground, and sea, based missiles, on high alert, ready to be launched within minutes leaving us vulnerable to human or computer error, to hackers (domestic and foreign), and to the sheer adrenalin and anxiety of political crisis.
During the tragic events of 9/11 the nuclear command moved the country to the highest state of nuclear alert, ready to launch, simply because that is U.S. policy when faced with an unexplained state of emergency. The utter devastation of a nuclear response, had it occurred, would have dwarfed not only the horror of 9/11, but of anything imaginable.
Ninety-five percent of the approximately 23,000 nuclear weapons in the world are owned by the United States and Russia. Despite the extreme secrecy surrounding military information we must assume from available information that at any given minute 15-40 hydrogen bombs target New York, and Washington D.C, Moscow, Leningrad, and more of the worlds major cities. The effect of one 550 kt weapon on a city like Washington D.C. would be devastating. Imagine 40 and start doing the math. In fact, there is at least one hydrogen bomb targeting most towns with populations of over 100,000. This is true in Russia, China, Europe, Canada, and the U.S.
The stark truth is that one single failure of nuclear deterrence could end human history. The operational and deployed nuclear arsenals of Russia and the U.S. hold the human race and all other species captive and at nuclear ransom. I am sickened that we still play this deadly game of nuclear risk with our fragile planet. There are no national or political goals that justify a war that could terminate human existence. What terrifying accident or act of aggression must happen to wake people and our leaders to this reality? This cannot be how we learn if we wish to avoid nuclear Armageddon, and nuclear winter.
Once initiated, it would take one hour to trigger a swift, sudden end to life on this planet. The clock on global warming is ticking louder and louder. Nuclear war and nuclear winter would be a strange way to stop it.
President Obama needs our support in doing the right thing, in taking this first step all the way to the end of a journey where nuclear disarmament is more than a campaign promise. He needs to hear our voices, strong, around him. Once again 80% of Americans must rise up and demand the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Look on the bright side. Mankind will finally reach the goal of total equality amongst its peoples. In the words of Tom Lear "We'll all go together, when we go". Given humanity's history, and the recent comments by Stephen Hawking, it may be for the best of the universe in general. At least it will be relatively quick.
But when it comes to the specifics, he is as usual a double dealer. He has already made nuclear threats against Iran and North Korea,
And quite simply as long as the US remains a military hegemon over the world with its nearly 1000 overseas bases, there will be no nuclear disarmament. A few nuclear weapons is the poor man's deterrent.
Finally there is great danger from the arsenals of the US and Russia. There have been five documented instances of near failure of the "fail safe" devices on our nuclear weapons. The last was in 1995 when the launch of a weather satellite was mistaken by Russia for a nuclear launch by the US and Russia. Boris Yeltsin was given five minutes to decide whether to retaliate. He said no.
But sooner or later these missiles will go off. No matter how improbable the scenario, it is only a matter of time.
jw
p.s. Is it a requirement to get published in HuffPost that one must do homage to Obama when it is far from deserved?
I am reminded of the sickening, haunting, mostly unspoken fear that gripped our nation during the 70s and 80s, engendered largely by the almost secretly protected knowledge that we were sitting on a destructive force that was actually unimaginable, and that we were pursuing an admittedly insane procedure to make use of a useless weaponry.
When Jonathan Schell published his anti-mendacious and incredibly timely book, "The Fate of The Earth," you could feel the wind shift. I lived in NY at the time and everyone, EVERYONE was reading this book (Sorry for the caps, justified this time). Quickly, it seemed that everyone in the nation was reading it.
What followed was the first START treaty.
At this time, Mr. Schell has published again, an article in The Nation (relax righties, good writers and decent people can write there, too) in which he argues persuasively for a ban on all nuclear weapons. I know you all have lots of objections automatically; read the article - he will speak to them.
We ought to have a national debate about this, just as happened in the 80s. Maybe the better angels of our nature can prevail a second time.
"I believe that as soon as people want peace in the world they can have it. The only trouble is they are not aware they can get it…All we are saying is give peace a chance...All you need is love...Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."-John Lennon
"If you are not apart of the solution; you are apart of the problem."-Eldridge Cleaver
Learn more @
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1354&Itemid=222
The United Nations General Assembly approved a draft resolution put forward by Iran on nuclear disarmament in October 2009, despite strong opposition from the U.S., Britain, France, Israel and a number of western countries.
“The resolution ratified in the first committee of the UN General Assembly calls on all nuclear countries to destroy their nuclear weapons under the supervision of international bodies…The resolution also urges Israel to join the NPT and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities.”
"Blowing Doors and Nuclear Deceptions" @
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1705&Itemid=232
Except for the fact I have lived the teachings of the Bible, especially Jesus', and became objective I would not put much stock in it. Knowing Armageddon is a nuclear destroyed safe haven for the saints which man not having gone through the metamorphosis of the "new birth" would die in, I am convinced only the United States have them. That is why the US will not sign the "first strike" agreement, they want to reserve the right to use them at their own discretion. Seeing the plot to make the world like 1930s Germany with her nuclear weapons to destroy any country opposing her, we can see why.
At present, there is no reason to fear the use of the weapons. Only if the US is successful in overturning the Constitution shall we have a concern the weapons will be used. But, by then it will be to late to do anything about it. We have to make sure congress does not allow any further disregard for the constitution than the fact that NO ELECTED OFFICIALS are keeping their oath to protect it.
My recollection is more like 17-19 minutes. The flight window of a ballistic missile launched from a nuclear submarine stationed somewhere off the american or european continents. Our decision makers don't have much time to react at all in the event of bogeys matching missile charachteristics launching out of nearby waters.