Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Blog

  • Time for Nuclear Sharing to End

    This article was originally published by Open Democracy.

    It was already announced some years ago, but last week Germany woke up to the fact that new US nuclear weapons are actually going to be deployed at its base in Büchel. Frontal 21, a programme on the second main TV channel reported last Tuesday that preparation for this deployment was due to begin at the German air force base. The runway is being improved, perimeter fences strengthened, new maintenance trucks arriving and the Tornado delivery aircraft will get new software.

    It is a little known fact: Germany (and four other European countries) host nuclear weapons as part of NATO “nuclear sharing”. This means that in a nuclear attack the US can load its bombs onto German (or Belgian, Italian, Turkish and Dutch) aircraft and the pilots of those countries will drop them on an enemy target. This arrangement pre-dates the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which explicitly disallows any transfer of nuclear weapons from a nuclear weapon state to a non-nuclear weapon state, thus undermining the spirit of the treaty.

    This new nuclear bomb – the B61-12 – is intended to replace all its older versions and be able to destroy more targets than previous models. It is touted by the nuclear laboratories as an “all-in-one” bomb, a “smart” bomb, that does not simply get tossed out of an aircraft, but can be guided and hit its target with great precision using exactly the right amount of explosive strength to only destroy what needs to be destroyed. Sound good?

    Not to us – a guided nuclear bomb with mini-nuke capability could well lower the threshold for use. And the use of any kind of nuclear weapon would lead to the use of more nuclear weapons – this we know from the policies and planning of all nuclear weapon states. It has already been well established by three evidence-based conferences in recent years on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

    This new “magic bomb” is not yet with us. It is still being developed and is planned to be deployed in five years time, if there are no more delays. The development of the B61-12 – euphemistically called a “Life Extension Programme” although it is a full redesign not just an update – has fortunately taken longer than intended, giving us more time to convince European leaders what a bad idea it is to deploy new nuclear weapons in Europe.

    The debate is already under way in the “host” countries, most prominently in the Netherlands where the parliament has already voted not to task the new F35 aircraft with a nuclear role. However, the Dutch government is not listening. The German Bundestag voted in 2010 to get rid of the B61, and the government was nominally in favour, but after the change of government in 2013, Foreign Minister Steinmeier put the decision on ice, quoting the new security situation.

    Yet the current confrontation between NATO and Russia needs deescalation, not rearmament. Sending a signal to Russia that NATO is modernising its European infrastructure and deploying new high-tech bombs is bound to elicit a reaction. Even as we write, reports are coming in that Russia will respond by withdrawing from the INF-Treaty, basing SS-26/Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad (didn’t they already do that?) and targeting Germany with nuclear weapons.

    And what will be the NATO response to all of those threats? When will this escalation become hysteria and the first ‘shot across the bows’ start a nuclear war? Nuclear deterrence is the archetypal security dilemma. You have to keep threatening to use nuclear weapons to make it work. And the more you threaten, the more likely it is that they will be used.

    This is the moment where nuclear weapon-free countries need to call out for a ban on nuclear weapons to stop this madness. It is also the right time for nuclear co-dependents, like Germany, to make up its mind to give its nuclear dependency up.

    Deploying new nuclear weapons is forbidden by the NPT, which obligates its members to end the arms race. The transfer of nuclear weapons from the US to Germany and any plans to do so also undermine the NPT. As a responsible member state of this important treaty, it is time to denounce nuclear weapons and to join the international community of nuclear weapon-free countries that is signing the ‘Humanitarian Pledge’, calling for the legal gap to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons to be closed. Time for Germany to show some real leadership for nuclear disarmament.

  • Nobel Peace Prize for 2015

    “An encouragement to the Tunisian people” is fine, but Nobel had a much greater perspective. Indisputable evidence shows that he intended his prize to support a visionary reorganization of international affairs. The language in his will is a clear confirmation of this, says Tomas Magnusson of Sweden, on behalf of Nobel Peace Prize Watch. The committee continues reading the expressions of the testament as they like, instead of studying what type of “champions of peace” and what peace ideas Nobel had in mind signing his will on November 27, 1895. In February 2015, the Nobel Peace Prize Watch lifted the secrecy around the selection process when it published a list of 25 qualified candidates with the full nomination letters. By its choice of the Tunisian quartet for 2015, the Nobel committee has rejected the list and, again, is clearly outside the circle of recipients Nobel had in mind.

    In addition to not understanding the least bit of Nobel’s idea, the committee in Oslo has not understood the new situation in the committee’s relation to its principals in Stockholm, continues Tomas Magnusson. We must understand that the whole world today is under occupation, even our brains have become militarized to a degree where it is hard for people to imagine the alternative, demilitarized world that Nobel wished his prize to promote as a mandatory urgency. Nobel was a man of the world, able to transcend the national perspective and think of what would be best for the world as a whole. We have plenty for everyone´s needs on this green planet if the nations of the world could only learn to co-operate and stop wasting precious resources on the military.

    The members of the Board of the Nobel Foundation risk personal liability if a prize amount is paid over to the winner in violation of the purpose. As late as three weeks ago seven members of the Foundation’s Board were hit by initial steps in a lawsuit demanding that they repay to the Foundation the prize paid to the EU in December 2012. Among the plaintiffs are Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, a Nobel laureate; David Swanson, USA; Jan Oberg, Sweden, and the Nobel Peace Prize Watch (nobelwill.org). The lawsuit follows after a Norwegian attempt to regain the ultimate control of the peace prize was finally turned down by the Swedish Chamber Court in May 2014.

  • Children of War

    In war, children die,
    float away on clouds of grief.
    By far, the greatest lie of all
    is the well-worn but absurd belief
    that war is noble, not a crime.

    In war, children writhe in pain,
    while their parents wail.
    Before we spread war’s red stain,
    should we not consider how we fail
    the young, again and yet again?

  • El Papa Francisco pide prohibición completa de armas nucleares

    Click here for the English version.

    Cuando el Papa Francisco llegó a los Estados Unidos trajo consigo no sólo su espiritualidad, sino su entereza, la compasión y el compromiso de crear un mundo más decente. Instó a la población de Estados Unidos y sus representantes para vivir la Regla de Oro y respetar la naturaleza que nos sostiene a todos. A pesar de tener una agenda muy ocupada, encontró tiempo para compartir una comida con las personas sin hogar, dialogó con los presos, y bendijo a los necesitados. Comentó que los niños son los más importantes entre nosotros. Él nos dio ejemplo con sus sonrisas, su calor, sus palabras y sus hechos.

    El Papa tuvo tantas actividades durante su visita de seis días que muchos estadounidenses tal vez no vieron y escucharon su discurso en las Naciones Unidas el 25 de septiembre sobre la “urgente necesidad de trabajar por un mundo libre de armas nucleares, aplicando el Tratado de No Proliferación, en lo escrito y en su espíritu, con el objetivo de una prohibición total de estas armas”. El Papa nos pide no sólo que deseemos un mundo así, pero nos exhorta “a trabajar” para ello. Si se va a trabajar para alcanzar este mundo, todos debemos intercambiar la apatía por la empatía, la conformidad por el pensamiento crítico, la ignorancia por la sabiduría, y la denegación del reconocimiento de la amenaza que estas armas representan para la humanidad y el futuro de la vida en la Tierra.

    El Papa Francisco nos llama a reconocer que existe una “necesidad urgente” para dicho trabajo. No es el trabajo de un día lejano, o que se puede hacer un día de estos. El tema es urgente, la necesidad es enorme. Él insistió por la “plena aplicación del Tratado de No Proliferación, en su redacción  y espíritu.” El Tratado de No Proliferación (TNP), que entró en vigor en 1970, obliga a las partes en el artículo VI del tratado “a celebrar negociaciones de buena fe sobre medidas eficaces relativas a la cesación de la carrera de armamentos nucleares en fecha cercana y al desarme nuclear … “.

    Los cinco países con armas nucleares que son parte en el TNP (Estados Unidos, Rusia, Reino Unido, Francia y China) no están siguiendo a ni lo escrito ni el espíritu del tratado. En lugar de poner fin a la carrera de armas nucleares, dedican grandes cantidades de dinero a la costosa y peligrosa “modernización” de sus arsenales nucleares, haciendo caso omiso de su obligación de negociar de buena fe para el desarme nuclear. Los cuatro países con armas nucleares que no son parte del tratado (Israel, India, Pakistán y Corea del Norte) están obligados por el derecho internacional consuetudinario a estas disposiciones del TNP, y también están haciendo caso omiso de sus obligaciones en virtud del derecho internacional.

    El Papa Francisco dice claramente que la meta a alcanzar es la “prohibición total” de las armas nucleares. Medidas parciales no son suficientes. Como líder espiritual que es, tiene que ser muy consciente de que toda la Creación, incluyendo la humanidad, se coloca en riesgo por las más de 15.000 ojivas nucleares que hay todavía en nuestro planeta. El Papa rechaza efectivamente la disuasión nuclear como justificación. Él dice: “Una ética y una ley basada en la amenaza de destrucción mutua – y posiblemente la destrucción de toda la humanidad – es contradictorio en sí mismo y una afrenta a todo el marco de las Naciones Unidas, que terminaría como ” naciones unidas por el miedo y la desconfianza. ‘”

    Como alguien que ha trabajado para la abolición de las armas nucleares durante más de tres décadas, me siento muy alentado por el llamado rotundo del Papa para la “prohibición total”. Él no anda con rodeos. Fue claro y directo y habló de la urgencia de lo que es necesario para realizar la tarea. Muchos otros en todo el mundo que busca un planeta libre de armas nucleares también deben estar encantados con el llamado de Francisco “para la abolición de las armas nucleares, incluyendo los 117 países que han firmado el” Compromiso Humanitario “, iniciado por Austria, para llenar el vacío legal que actualmente existe con respecto a la posesión de estas armas. La pequeña República de las Islas Marshall se debe sentir particularmente alentada por el llamado del Papa para la abolición, ya que está en el proceso de demandar a los nueve países con armas nucleares en la Corte Internacional de Justicia y en una corte federal por su incapacidad para cumplir con sus obligaciones en virtud del el Tratado de No Proliferación y el derecho internacional consuetudinario.

    El Papa Francisco es un hombre sabio y decente. Sus palabras de apoyo para una “prohibición total” de las armas nucleares deben llegar al corazón de todos los que buscan un mundo libre de esta terrible amenaza, una meta que los que ahora vivimos le debemos a nuestros hijos y nietos y a todas las generaciones que nos seguirán en el planeta.

    David Krieger es presidente de la Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Sus libros y artículos están disponibles en la página web de la Fundación (www.wagingnpeace.org).

    Rubén Arvizu es Director para América Latina de la Nuclear Age Peace Foundation y Director General para América Latina de la organización de Jean-Michel Cousteau, Ocean Futures Society.

  • Pope Francis Calls for Complete Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

    When Pope Francis came to the United States he brought with him not only his spirituality, but his courage, compassion and commitment to creating a more decent world.  He urged the people of the US and their representatives to live by the Golden Rule and to respect nature that sustains us all.  Despite a full schedule, he found time to share a meal with the homeless, dialogue with prisoners, and bless those in need.  He commented that the children are the most important among us.  He taught us with his smiles, his warmth, his words and his deeds.

    pope_ungaThe Pope did so much during his six-day visit that many Americans may have missed his remarks at the United Nations on September 25th on the “urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.”  The Pope asks us not only to desire such a world, but admonishes us “to work” for it.  In order to achieve this world, one must work to replace apathy with empathy, conformity with critical thinking, ignorance with wisdom, and denial with recognition of the threat these weapons pose to humankind and the human future.

    Pope Francis calls upon us to recognize that there is an “urgent need” for such work.  It is not work for a distant day, or work that can be put off to another time.  The matter is urgent, the need is great.  He also calls for the “full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit.”  The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in 1970, requires the parties in Article VI of the treaty “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament….”

    The five nuclear-armed countries that are parties to the NPT (US, Russia, UK, France and China) are not at present following either the letter or spirit of the treaty.  Rather than ending the nuclear arms race, they are engaged in costly and dangerous “modernizing” of their nuclear arsenals, while ignoring their obligations to negotiate in good faith for nuclear disarmament.  The four nuclear-armed countries that are not parties to the treaty (Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea) are bound by customary international law to these provisions of the NPT, and are also ignoring their obligations under international law.

    Pope Francis is clear that the goal to be achieved is the “complete prohibition” of nuclear weapons.  Partial measures are not enough.  As the spiritual leader that he is, he must be keenly aware that all of Creation, including humankind, is placed at risk by the more than 15,000 nuclear weapons still on our planet.  The Pope effectively dismisses nuclear deterrence as a justification for nuclear weapons.  He states, “An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as ‘nations united by fear and distrust.’”

    As someone who has worked for the abolition of nuclear weapons for more than three decades, I am greatly encouraged by the Pope’s resounding call for “complete prohibition.”  He did not mince his words.  He was clear and direct and spoke of the urgency that is necessary to accomplish the task.  Many others throughout the world seeking a world free of nuclear weapons must also be elated by Pope Francis’ call for nuclear weapons abolition, including the 117 countries that have signed the “Humanitarian Pledge,” initiated by Austria, to fill the legal gap that currently exists regarding possession of these weapons.  The tiny Republic of the Marshall Islands must be particularly encouraged by the Pope’s call for abolition as it is in the process of suing the nine nuclear-armed countries in the International Court of Justice and in US federal court for their failure to fulfill their obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law.

    Pope Francis is a wise and decent man.  His words of support for a “complete prohibition” of nuclear weapons should give heart to all who seek a world free of nuclear weapons, a goal that those of us now alive owe to our children and grandchildren and all generations that will follow us on the planet.

    Vaya aquí para la versión española.

  • Sunflower Newsletter: October 2015

    Issue #219 – October 2015

    Follow David Krieger on twitter

    Click here or on the image above to follow NAPF President David Krieger on Twitter.
    • Perspectives
      • Reason Is Not Enough by David Krieger
      • Will the Nuclear Powers Also Play by the Rules? by Lawrence Wittner
      • The UN: Are Development and Peace Empty Words? by Rebecca Johnson and Ray Acheson
    • Nuclear Disarmament
      • Pope Francis Speaks Out for Nuclear Disarmament
      • Anti-Nuclear Parliamentarian Elected as Leader of UK Labour Party
    • Nuclear Proliferation
      • U.S. and Iranian Presidents Speak About Nuclear Agreement at UN
      • North Korea Says It Is Bolstering Its Nuclear Arsenal
    • Peace
      • Japanese Government Reinterprets Peace Article in Constitution
    • Nuclear Modernization
      • Russia Threatens Countermeasures if U.S. Deploys Modernized Nuclear Bomb in Germany
      • U.S. Uranium Processing Facility Likely to Cost Over $10 Billion
    • Nuclear Zero Lawsuits
      • Tony de Brum and People of the Marshall Islands Win the Right Livelihood Award
      • Scottish Parliament Debates the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits
      • Amicus Letters of Support to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
    • Resources
      • October’s Featured Blog
      • This Month in Nuclear Threat History
      • Toxic Remnants of War Network
      • I Was Her Age
    • Foundation Activities
      • Peace Poetry Contest Winners Announced
      • Evening for Peace Honoring Setsuko Thurlow
      • Peace Leadership in Europe
    • Quotes

     

    Perspectives

    Reason Is Not Enough

    by David Krieger

    Reason is not enough to halt the nuclear juggernaut that rumbles unsteadily toward catastrophe, toward omnicide.

    The broken heart of humanity must find a way to enter the debate. The heart must find common cause with imagination. We cannot wait until the missiles are in the air with the sand falling through the hourglass. We must use our imaginations. We must listen to the sad stories of those who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki and imagine the force of the winds, the firestorms rushing through our cities, the mushroom clouds rising, the invisible radiation spreading. If we can’t imagine the death and destruction, we cannot combat it and we will never stop it.

    To read more, click here.

    Will the Nuclear Powers Also Play by the Rules?

    by Lawrence Wittner

    When all is said and done, what the recently-approved Iran nuclear agreement is all about is ensuring that Iran honors its commitment under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) not to develop nuclear weapons.

    But the NPT—which was ratified in 1968 and which went into force in 1970—has two kinds of provisions. The first is that non-nuclear powers forswear developing a nuclear weapons capability. The second is that nuclear-armed nations divest themselves of their own nuclear weapons. Article VI of the treaty is quite explicit on this second point, stating: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

    What has been the record of the nuclear powers when it comes to compliance with the NPT?

    To read more, click here.

    The UN: Are Development and Peace Empty Words?

    by Rebecca Johnson and Ray Acheson

    Relentless militarism, underpinned by patriarchal capitalist structures and institutions, are at the root of today’s major security crises, from nuclear threats to the millions of refugees fleeing armed gangs and Syria’s bombed-out cities. As the UN General Assembly convenes in New York, governments need to take more responsibility for tackling the weapons, arms trade and conflicts that their policies have created and exacerbated.

    The 2030 Agenda commits governments “to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence.” It declares: “There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.” Yet despite this emphasis on peace and freedom from violence, the Agenda only includes one goal related to weapons – to significantly reduce illicit arms flows by 2030 (goal 16.4).

    To read more, click here.

    Nuclear Disarmament

    Pope Francis Speaks Out for Nuclear Disarmament

    Pope Francis spoke out strongly in favor of peace and nuclear disarmament during his speech to the United Nations on September 25. In his highly-anticipated remarks, Pope Francis said, “There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.”

    He also spoke about the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1. He said, “The recent agreement reached on the nuclear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy. I express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious, and bring forth the desired fruits with the cooperation of all the parties involved.”

    “Video: Pope Francis Speaks at the UN on Nuclear Weapons,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, September 25, 2015.

    Anti-Nuclear Parliamentarian Elected as Leader of UK Labour Party

    Jeremy Corbyn, a long-time member of the UK Parliament, was elected as leader of the Labour Party in September 2015. Corbyn has a distinguished history of working for the global abolition of nuclear weapons, primarily with the UK-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

    Speaking recently at the Labour Party Conference, Corbyn said, “I don’t believe £100 billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons taking up a quarter of our defense budget is the right way forward. I believe Britain should honor our obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and lead in making progress on international nuclear disarmament.”

    Speaking to the BBC, Corbyn said, “I am opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. I am opposed to the holding of nuclear weapons. I want to see a nuclear-free world. I believe it is possible.”

    “Speech by Jeremy Corbyn to Labour Party Annual Conference 2015,” Labour Press, September 29, 2015.

    Nuclear Proliferation

    U.S. and Iranian Presidents Speak About Nuclear Agreement at UN

    U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani both spoke about the recent nuclear agreement in their remarks to the United Nations General Assembly on September 28. President Obama said, “For two years, the United States and our partners – including Russia, including China – stuck together in complex negotiations. The result is a lasting, comprehensive deal…. And if this deal is fully implemented, the prohibition on nuclear weapons is strengthened, a potential war is averted, our world is safer. That is the strength of the international system when it works the way it should.”

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “Today, a new chapter has started in Iran’s relations with the world. From the standpoint of international law, this instrument [the nuclear agreement] sets a strong precedent where, for the first time, two sides rather than negotiating peace after war, engaged in dialogue and understanding before the eruption of conflict.”

    Click the links to read the full remarks of President Obama and President Rouhani.

    North Korea Says It Is Bolstering Its Nuclear Arsenal

    North Korea has announced that it is improving the quality and quantity of its nuclear arsenal in response to the “reckless hostile policy” of the United States and its allies.

    North Korea has also announced plans to launch a satellite into orbit for scientific purposes. Many opponents of the North Korean regime view such satellite launches as a thinly-veiled attempt to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

    Choe Sang-Hun, “North Korea Says It Is Bolstering Its Nuclear Arsenal,” The New York Times, September 15, 2015.

    Peace

    Japanese Government Reinterprets Peace Article in Constitution

    Despite significant protest both in Japan and abroad, the Japanese legislature voted to reinterpret Article 9 of the constitution, which declares that the Japanese people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation.” The Article also pledges that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained” and that “the right of belligerency will not be recognized.”

    The reinterpretation of Article 9 will allow for “collective self-defense” in conjunction with allied nations. Gensuikyo, the Japan Council Against A and H Bombs, has vociferously opposed the reinterpretation of Article 9. After the recent vote by the legislature, Gensuikyo said in a statement, “We are firmly determined to do our utmost to get the war laws repealed.”

    Matt Ford, “Japan Curtails Its Pacifist Stance,” The Atlantic, September 19, 2015.

    Nuclear Modernization

    Russia Threatens Countermeasures if U.S. Deploys Modernized Nuclear Bomb in Germany

    Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said that Russia will be forced to take countermeasures if the United States deploys the modernized B61-12 nuclear bomb in Germany. According to recent German news reports, such deployment of U.S. nuclear bombs could take place as soon as the end of 2015.

    Peskov stated, “This could alter the balance of power in Europe. And without doubt it would demand that Russia take necessary counter measures to restore the strategic balance and parity.”

    The United States already deploys approximately 180 nuclear bombs in five NATO countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

    Masha Tsvetkova and Katya Golubkova, “Russia Pledges Counter Measures if U.S. Upgrades Nuclear Arms in Germany,” Reuters, September 23, 2015.

    U.S. Uranium Processing Facility Likely to Cost Over $10 Billion

    The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), a watchdog group located near the Y-12 nuclear facility in Tennessee, has estimated that the planned Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) will cost at least $10 billion, despite government promises that it will not exceed $6.5 billion.

    The Uranium Processing Facility has been plagued by mismanagement, runaway cost projections, and schedules that recede toward infinity. It continues, year after year, to be listed on the Government Accountability Office’s “High Risk Projects” list. Despite the problems, the UPF continues to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in the federal budget.

    The proposed UPF would produce new secondaries for thermonuclear weapons, which greatly increase the explosive yield of nuclear weapons.

    “Oak Ridge Bomb Plant Cost Soaring Toward $10 Billion,” Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, September 8, 2015.

    Nuclear Zero Lawsuits

    Tony de Brum and People of the Marshall Islands Win the Right Livelihood Award

    Foreign Minister Tony de Brum and the people of the Marshall Islands will receive the 2015 Right Livelihood Award “in recognition of their vision and courage to take legal action against the nuclear powers for failing to honor their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

    De Brum is co-agent of the Marshall Islands in the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits against the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations at the International Court of Justice. The Marshall Islands also filed a lawsuit against the United States in U.S. Federal Court. De Brum is also a leading voice in international climate negotiations, and will play an important role at the upcoming climate summit in Paris in December.

    Commenting on the award, NAPF President David Krieger said, “Tony de Brum is one of the truly outstanding political leaders of our time. He is relentless in his pursuit of peace and justice. He and the people of the Marshall Islands have played an oversized role in the fight to end the nuclear weapons era – by going to court to hold the nuclear-armed countries to their nuclear disarmament obligations under international law.  They have also played a major role in the fight to halt climate change. Minister de Brum and the people of the Marshall Islands are most worthy of the Right Livelihood Award and of the recognition being bestowed upon them.”

    “Foreign Minister Tony de Brum and the People of the Marshall Islands Receive Right Livelihood Award,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, October 1, 2015.

    Scottish Parliament Debates the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits

    On September 23, the Scottish Parliament held a debate about the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits against the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations. The debate, initiated by Bill Kidd, a member of Scottish Parliament and Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, included contributions from members of numerous political parties.

    Summing up the debate, Keith Brown, the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, said, “Although the case that the Republic of the Marshall Islands is bringing against the UK Government is a matter for the International Court of Justice, the Scottish Government can certainly sympathize with the Marshall Islands on the issue of nuclear weapons. Our history of nuclear weapons is of course different from that of the Marshall Islanders, as we have heard, but we share a common belief that there should be no place for nuclear weapons in our world today, and that there is an obligation on each and every nation to do all that it can to realize that vision.”

    “Scottish Parliament Debates Nuclear Zero Lawsuits,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, September 23, 2015.

    Amicus Letters of Support to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

    Two amicus letters of support have been submitted to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Marshall Islands’ position in their Nuclear Zero Lawsuit against the United States.

    Three Nobel Peace Laureates – Mairead Maguire, Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi – submitted a letter, along with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a UK-based organization.

    The letters of support, along with all of the documents related to the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, can be accessed at http://nuclearzero.org/in-the-courts.

    Resources

    October’s Featured Blog

    This month’s featured blog is from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in the United Kingdom. CND General Secretary Kate Hudson writes on issues of nuclear disarmament, peace and justice.

    Recent titles on the blog include, “Jeremy Corbyn and the Future of Trident,” and “Why the Atom Bomb was Dropped on Japan.” To read the blog, click here.

    This Month in Nuclear Threat History

    History chronicles many instances when humans have been threatened by nuclear weapons. In this article, Jeffrey Mason outlines some of the most serious threats that have taken place in the month of October, including the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which nearly led to nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

    To read Mason’s full article, click here.

    For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

    Toxic Remnants of War Network

    The Toxic Remnants of War Network is a new civil society network working to reduce the humanitarian and environmental impact of pollution from conflict and military activities. The network connects NGOs, countries, institutions and independent experts engaged in work on the environment, humanitarian disarmament, public health and human rights.

    To learn more about this new network, click here.

    I Was Her Age

    A new documentary by British filmmaker Emma Baggott follows a delegation of eight Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors who accompanied youth on a journey around the world to share the horrors of nuclear weapons and appeal for their prohibition and eradication. Created in collaboration with Peace Boat and Mayors for Peace, this film is freely available for educational use by citizens around the world.

    To view the 33-minute film, click here.

    Foundation Activities

    Peace Poetry Contest Winners Announced

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has announced the winners of the 2015 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards. A panel of poets read through the many hundreds of submissions to declare winners in three age categories: Adult, Youth (13-18) and Youth (12 and under).

    To read this year’s winning poems, click here. For more information about the 2016 poetry contest, click here.

    Evening for Peace Honoring Setsuko Thurlow

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Annual Evening for Peace will take place on October 25, 2015 in Santa Barbara, California. The Foundation will present its Distinguished Peace Leadership Award to Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and an outspoken advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons. She is the recipient of the Order of Canada Medal, the highest honor for Canadian civilians, and is a Hiroshima Peace Ambassador. She is also a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Click here for more information about the Evening for Peace, including sponsorship opportunities, ticket information and details about this year’s honoree.

    Peace Leadership in Europe

    From a conference of international scholars to a group of international nine and ten year-olds, the work of the NAPF Peace Leadership Program moves into an ever-expanding world.

    NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell gave the keynote address at the 2015 CMM Learning Exchange at the University of the Armed Forces in Munich, Germany. Paul Chappell shared from his CMM project: Literacy in the Art of Living, the Art of Listening, and the Art of Waging Peace. “To survive as a species in the twenty-first century and beyond, we must promote literacy in these often neglected arts. We must also promote literacy in our shared humanity. This is how we will evolve as a civilization, or we will perish. That is our only choice.”

    Following the conference, Paul Chappell spent September 21, the International Day of Peace, speaking at United World College in Maastricht, in the Netherlands, an international school with more than 800 students from ages 2 to 18.

    To read more about Paul’s recent trip to Europe, click here.

    Quotes

     

    “There can be no safe hands for nuclear weapons. The humanitarian consequences of a possible detonation of a nuclear weapon, whether intentionally or accidentally, will be catastrophic for humanity.”

    — Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, speaking on the opening day of the United Nations General Assembly.

     

    “Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations. To prioritize such spending is a mistake and a misallocation of resources which would be far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the fight against extreme poverty. When these resources are squandered, the poor and the weak living on the margins of society pay the price.”

    — Pope Francis

     

    “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see your shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.”

    — Helen Keller. This quote appears in Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

    Editorial Team

     

    Alex Hale
    David Krieger
    Carol Warner
    Rick Wayman

  • Foreign Minister Tony de Brum and the People of the Marshall Islands receive Right Livelihood Award

    For Immediate Release
    Contact:
    Rick Wayman
    (8    05) 696-5159
    rwayman@napf.org

    Foreign Minister Tony de Brum and the People of the Marshall Islands receive Right Livelihood Award

    Tony de Brum

    Santa Barbara – Marshall Islands Foreign Minister, Tony de Brum, and the people of the Marshall Islands, have been honored with the 2015 Right Livelihood award “in recognition of their vision and courage to take legal action against the nuclear powers for failing to honor their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

    The award, from Swedish charity, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, was established in 1980 to honor and support those “offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today.” Widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” the Right Livelihood Award has no categories, but rather, recognizes that in striving to meet the human challenges of today’s world, the most inspiring and remarkable work often defies classification.

    Minister de Brum has spent his entire life working for peace, justice and a world free of nuclear weapons on behalf of the Marshall Islands. He is also a powerful advocate on the issue of climate change. Said Minister de Brum, “Clearly, one cannot isolate climate change from the other most pressing issue of world security today. As a country that has seen the ravages of war, suffers the lingering effects of nuclear tests, and faces the onset of a rising sea, we see all these to be threats of equal force against world peace and human life.”

    In a courageous move last year, the Marshall Islands, led by Minister de Brum, filed lawsuits against all nine nuclear-armed nations in the International Court of Justice and separately against the United States in U.S. Federal District Court. The lawsuits call upon these nations to fulfill their legal obligations, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law, to begin and conclude negotiations for complete nuclear disarmament.

    Upon hearing of the award, Laurie Ashton, lead attorney for the Marshall Islands in the U.S. case, said “Minister de Brum has been tireless and fearless in his focused pursuit, on behalf of the Marshall Islands, of binding, legal solutions to the abject failure of the nations possessing nuclear weapons to negotiate nuclear disarmament in good faith. It is a privilege to represent the Marshall Islands and work with Minister de Brum on this tremendous effort and I congratulate him, and the people of the Marshall Islands, on this well-deserved award.”

    In 2012, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation awarded Minister de Brum its Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. More recently, and the Foundation has served as a consultant to the Marshall Islands and de Brum on their Nuclear Zero lawsuits. David Krieger, President of the Foundation commented, “Tony de Brum is one of the truly outstanding political leaders of our time. He is relentless in his pursuit of peace and justice. He and the people of the Marshall Islands have played an oversized role in the fight to end the nuclear weapons era – by going to court to hold the nuclear-armed countries to their nuclear disarmament obligations under international law.  They have also played a major role in the fight to halt climate change. Minister de Brum and the people of the Marshall Islands are most worthy of the Right Livelihood Award and of the recognition being bestowed upon them.”

    Other recipients of the 2015 Right Livelihood Award are Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada), Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera (Uganda) and Gino Strada / EMERGENCY (Italy). For a full description of all of the 2015 Right Livelihood Award Laureates, visit www.rightlivelihood.org.

    #                                                          #                                                                     #

    You can download a photo of Foreign Minister Tony de Brum for use with this story at this link: http://bit.ly/tdebrum. To set up interviews, please contact Rick Wayman, NAPF Director of Programs, at rwayman@napf.org or (805) 696-5159.

    Founded in 1982, The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s mission is to educate and advocate for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons and to empower peace leaders. The Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. It is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status to the United Nations. For more information, visit www.wagingpeace.org.

  • 2015 Poetry Contest Winners

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2015 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards. Below are the winning poems. For more information on the 2016 contest, visit www.peacecontests.org.

    Goka O Mita*, The Tour Guide Gives an Interpretative Account
    by Patricia Sheppard
    Adult Category, First Place

    From the one river, seven rivers flow
    to the Inland Sea.  There were many bridges,
    big and small over the rivers.
    The city hung upside down

    in the seven rivers like the spirit

    of Mokuren’s dead mother when he saw her
    in a dream.  Distended at high tide,
    the day started with no hope of clouds.

    Monday morning.
    An air raid alarm earlier when a B-san
    flew over.  Then, back to normal.
    People were on the streets, on the bridges,

    catching the trolleys into town,
    schoolchildren, businessmen, visitors
    to the city.  It was the season of Obon
    of feeding the hungry spirits of the dead.

    A pink and blue light flickered
    and the sun exploded.
    Rising dragon vortex,
    no music, only wind rushing.

    I ran with the others toward the rivers.
    We were like birds buffeted by the wind.
    I tasted blood in my mouth.
    The fire was catching up.

    Under the bridge, bodies clogged the rivers.
    No one is writing this down.  No one
    is feeding the dead in Hiroshima,
    white flower of ash.

    *The translation of the Japanese phrase is “unforgettable fire.” In the poem, some images and phrasing are taken from Unforgettable Fire, Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors, Edited by NHK, Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai, [Japan Broadcasting Corporation] (Tokyo 1977).

     

    Peace
    by William A. Carpenter
    Adult Category, Honorable Mention

    My fist opens
    in a blossom of fingers
    palm exposed
    its five petals
    no longer a hammer
    or a club
    but a cup
    or a bowl
    or if joined
    with another
    a link
    in a chain
    of connectedness
    that the fist
    only wishes
    it could break.

     

    Discovery
    by Kristin Van Tassel
    Adult Category, Honorable Mention

    My son holds a machine gun,

    the body black plastic, handle orange, excavated
    from the lower strata of a waiting room toy box.

    “What’s this, Mama?” he asks, his round belly

    a reminder of his still recent toddlerhood. Here,
    between Good Houskeeping and the artificial

    banana plant, rising cobra-like, a rhetorical challenge:

    and how might I serve the taxonomy of weapons
    technology, of killing made ever-more convenient?

    “What do you think?” I ask, finally. He frowns,

    rotating his find, feeling its molded parts, pausing
    with the orange handle on top, barrel pointed down.

    “Toucan,” he pronounces, with a scholar’s confidence.

    And there it is. Not the phoenix or ethereal dove,
    but a wild bird, alive with tropical color, its neon

    beak almost touching my son’s juicy, sun-ripened cheek.

     

    Instructions for How to Prepare My Corpse
    by Eli Adams
    Youth Category (13-18), First Place

    When I die, fold my hands together
    The way children fold their hands behind their necks,
    Playing dead beside bloody boots
    Until bombs stop dropping.

    When I die, don’t tell anyone my name.
    Reduce me to a decimal, a dot in a numerical
    reduction you can deliver straight-faced through television screens.
    Add mine to a stack of unnamed bodies
    With clipped wings and gags between our canines
    Because your western tongue twists when trying to pronounce my name.
    Peel away my humanity so your conscience can carry on.

    When I die, send my corpse to Congress
    With a note that says, “You took too long,”
    Signed by all six-hundred-thousand of us.

    When I die, be sure to say it was my fault
    Loud and clear.
    Treat me like a criminal, an undeserving animal,
    Tattoo slurs across my skin
    With a needle sharpened sloppily by the dog teeth of intolerance,
    Mix your inky black beast in with my innocent blood
    To turn it dark purple and paint me like I’m poison.

    When I die, put me in your pocket,
    Wear me like a blanket,
    Tuck my name between the creases of your hands
    Lift my ghost up when you raise two fingers or one fist,
    When you salute the tender touch of peace
    Use me as your excuse.

    When I die leave my eyes open
    So I can watch you all march.

    Mango Tree
    by Emily Sun
    Youth Category (13-18), Honorable Mention

    “Mr. Lal found his daughter, 12, close to dawn. She and her cousin…were hanging by their scarves from a mango tree…Relatives insisted that the bodies hang there for 12 hours because they wanted outsiders to see how the girls had been found.” ~New York Times, June 2014
    the day you and eddy saw
    two girls hanging limp from my branches
    eddy staring at a river of hair
    you wanting to cut a piece
    mam plunged your hands in rice
    to stop the shivering
    gloved her hands like birds
    you and eddy once named after stars
    and buried in the well

    someone must grieve for them, mam says,
    cracks my spine in half

    by night,
    you, mam, eddy a pile
    splashing blue tv light on your cheeks
    windows wide open sweet mango pit air
    mam saying turn it off when I fall
    asleep you pretending to snore
    she pinching your ear would you want to
    die like this
    with the tv on

    morning you wipe the ring of sap
    from her eyes

     

    Do You Know How They Catch Monkeys in Africa?
    by Caroline Waring
    Youth Category (13-18), Honorable Mention

    The tips of his shoes dug into the rubble
    Body twisting through the adobe maze
    A mouse trapped by walls on all sides
    The stings of rubber bullets pellet flesh
    Intricate bruises cloak the body like paint.

    It’s one-two: breathe in, breathe out
    Right foot forward, left foot higher
    Playing parkour in the Gaza Strip.

    Where boys find themselves reduced to
    Throwing rocks, an exercise in desperation
    Clad in Keffiyehs, and rough fingertips.

    Where armored soldiers gather at every corner
    A threat in constancy, a restriction of movement
    A boy tied to a jeep windshield like a buffer.

    Where at the very least one may receive
    A phone call before a life is ended
    or a neighborhood burned to the ground.

    “Hello, I’m Yosef, an officer with the IDF
    In five minutes we will blow up your home.”
    “How did you get this number?”

    There flies feathered doves, coupled
    Over graffiti-laden walls and mangled fences,
    strung in wire, as blockades, those guardians of poverty.

    He leaves footprints in the dirt, perpetually fleeing
    He stretches muddied, clipped fingernails
    Against the clear blue sky, swimming in clouds
    because this crowded, crumbling, clay prison
    Is his home.

     

    Sweet Memories
    by Rachel Liu
    Youth Category (12 and Under), First Place

    I still remember that dark, gloomy day.
    The creamy, white envelope from the government,
    Seemed so harmless at first,
    But when my mother started sobbing out my brother’s name,
    My blood ran cold, and I knew.

    Now, as I stand here, dressed in a formal gown,
    Black as the midnight sky, and so tight that I can barely breathe,
    I recall those sweet memories, of my big brother.

    The time when he taught me to ride a bicycle,
    But I teetered and tottered, and tumbled to the ground.
    It hurt, but I shed no tears that day,
    Because my big brother was there.

    The time when he brought me to Mitch’s house,
    And his snake reared up, and hissed straight at me,
    Glaring and glowering in furious anger,
    I couldn’t help letting out a terrified squeal.
    It was horribly frightening, but the snake calmed down,
    And I was no longer scared,
    Because my big brother was there.

    The time when my soccer team lost an important final,
    And I cried and cried, utterly crushed.
    But I still got up in perseverance,
    Because my big brother was there.

    Questions swirl through my thoughts.
    Why can’t people just live in peace?
    Why does this world have to be so violent?

    Those sweet memories, of my big brother,
    When he was still here, are only faraway dreams,
    Ones that will never come true.
    Even so, I wish that my big brother were here.

  • October: This Month in Nuclear Threat History

    October 4, 1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite, as the Space Age began.   U.S. government leaders concerned that a missile capable of launching satellites (particularly follow-on Soviet space missions that carried animals and hundreds of pounds of equipment) might soon be able to place a nuclear warhead on U.S. or allied territory led to fears of a “missile gap.”  Inflated estimates from the U.S. Air Force and intelligence community predicted that the Soviets might deploy up to 500 operational intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by 1961.  However, some of the first U.S. military spy satellites, including CORONA, determined by 1960 that the Soviets, in fact, possessed only four operational ICBMs.   In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. military and scientific communities studied the deployment of nuclear weapons into outer space including a Deep Space Force nuclear-armed manned program, a nuclear-powered spacecraft (Project Orion), and the testing of nuclear weapons on the Moon.   The Soviets also worked on antisatellite weapons as well as orbital nuclear weapons platforms called FOBs (Fractional Orbit Bombardment system).  On October 17, 1963, multilateral negotiations culminated in the passage of U.N. General Assembly Resolution No. 1884 (XVIII) which called on nation-states “to refrain from placing in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction or from installing such weapons on celestial bodies.”  More negotiations followed which resulted in the signing and ratification of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.   Comments:  However, there are still active military plans by the U.S. and other nations to weaponize outer space.  Also, nuclear weapons are considered by some as a last ditch option to divert asteroids or comets that may one day threaten to collide with our planet.  (Source: Jack Mendelsohn and David Grahame, editors.  “Arms Control Chronology.”  Washington, DC:  Center for Defense Information, 2002, p. 28 and Bob Preston, et al., “Space Weapons:  Earth Wars.”  Santa Monica, CA:  Rand Corporation and Project Air Force, 2002, p. 11.)

    October 7, 2001 – Al-Ahram, an Egyptian weekly newspaper reported that nuclear experts warned that depleted uranium (DU) munitions used against Iraqi forces in the First Gulf War of 1991 and by NATO against Serbian military forces in Bosnia in 1999 have resulted in an outbreak of cancers, birth defects, and other toxic-related health impacts among the populations of those nations. U.S. and allied military forces along with opposing forces have also been impacted.  The newspaper alleged that 15 European peacekeeping troops suddenly died from leukemia after inspecting former military sites in the Balkans where DU munitions were used.   Dr. Helen Caldicott’s 2002 book “The New Nuclear Danger” noted that the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority issued a warning after Operation Desert Storm in 1991 that 40 tons of uranium debris from DU weapons could potentially cause the long-term deaths of up to half a million people.  Comments:  Over the last 14 years additional journalistic accounts, often fueled by leaks from U.S. or allied military participants and partially acknowledged by public health information found on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website, have verified that DU munitions were used not only in the 1991 Gulf War and Bosnia but also by U.S. and allied forces in the 2003 Iraq War and in operations in Afghanistan.   And there are allegations by Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post that Israeli military forces have used DU munitions in Gaza, Syria, and possibly elsewhere.   Comments:  Depleted uranium (DU) munitions, a different kind of nuclear threat with allegedly 40 percent less radioactivity but the same chemical toxicity as natural uranium, has been used in the last few decades by U.S. and allied militaries, but evidence of its negative health and environmental impact in combat areas has not been widely reported by the overwhelming majority of mainstream Western news media sources.  (Sources:  U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Public Health.  “Depleted Uranium.” http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/depleted_uranium, RT.com.  “Depleted Uranium Used By U.S. Forces Blamed for Birth Defects and Cancer in Iraq.”  July 22, 2013, http://www.rt.com/news/iraq-depleted-uranium-health-394, Rob Edwards.  “U.S. Finds Depleted Uranium at Civilian Areas in 2003 Iraq War Report Finds.”  The Guardian.  June 19, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/19/us-depleted-uranium-weapons-civilian-areas-iraq all accessed on September 14, 2015.)

    October 16, 1962 – The 13-day long Cuban Missile Crisis began on this date after President John Kennedy discovered that a U.S. U-2 spy plane had detected evidence of Soviet nuclear-tipped medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles on the island.  Most historians and nuclear experts believe this incident is the closest the world has ever come to a thermonuclear World War III with the possible exception of the 1983 NATO Able Archer exercise, interpreted by Soviet leaders as a military exercise disguising a nuclear first strike by the U.S.   In 2003, Robert L. O’Connell, a former member of the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, wrote a frighteningly realistic hypothetical account of what might have happened in October 1962 if cooler heads hadn’t prevailed.   For instance, if a Soviet naval commander had fired a nuclear torpedo at U.S. military vessels enforcing the Cuban Quarantine Line and/or if SAC General Curtis Le May, on his own authority, had launched a “surgical strike” to wipe out Cuban missiles killing hundreds of Soviet technicians, those actions would have triggered an uncontrollable nuclear escalation, O’Connell credibly argued.   As a result of these unintended consequences, he envisioned the survival of a handful of Soviet nuclear missiles which were then quickly launched from Cuba against U.S. targets, “The SS-4 missile warhead detonated approximately 2,000 feet above the Lincoln Memorial.  The resulting nuclear blast, 640 kilotons, leveled the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon – the entire National Command Authority.  Now, without President Kennedy and his key advisors able to respond in a measured and judicial manner, the entire Single Integrated Operations Plan (SIOP) would be executed against the Soviet Union without regard for the consequences.  Approximately half an hour after the initiation of the SIOP and after Russian nuclear-armed Frog missiles obliterated the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, SAC bombers dropped nuclear weapons over Cuba, ultimately killing 95 percent of the population and creating serious fallout problems in South Florida and the Caribbean region.”  The Two Days’ War, as O’Connell called the hypothetical World War III, resulted in “the near-simultaneous explosion of more than 1,300 nuclear devices which resulted in approximately 100 million tons of fine radioactive dust being expelled into the upper atmosphere, spreading a cloud that within a month girdled the northern hemisphere.  This nuclear twilight set off severe famine in India and China and very serious food shortages across Europe and North America.  Of the initial population of 233 million people, around 80 million Soviets were alive a month after the war and roughly two-thirds of this number would succumb to starvation and the effects of radiation during the following year.”  An extremely fortunate United States suffered only a few million casualties but the resulting global consensus of world opinion settled on the firm belief that the U.S. was primarily responsible for the outbreak and consequences of the Two Days’ War.   Thankfully, this what-if scenario never occurred but unreasonably high risks of nuclear conflict remain a deadly serious global problem in 2015 and beyond.  Comments:  Even military hawk President Ronald Reagan eventually pronounced that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.  Today’s global political leaders still haven’t truly embraced George Santayana’s dictum:  Those who forget the past, are condemned to repeat it.  (Source:  Robert L. O’Connell.  “The Cuban Missile Crisis:  Second Holocaust.”  in Robert Cowley, editor.  What Ifs? of American History.  New York:  Berkley Books, 2003, pp. 251-272.)

    October 24, 1990 – After 42 years of testing (1949-1990), the Soviet Union conducted its last of 715 nuclear tests before entering into a unilateral moratorium.  On September 26, 1996, Russia joined the U.S. and 70 other nations in the signing of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Russian Duma ratified the CTBT by a vote of 298-74 on April 21, 2000 despite the U.S. Senate’s rejection of that treaty six months before on October 13, 1999 (by a vote of 51-48).  Increased cancer rates, groundwater contamination, and other detrimental health and environmental contamination still plague global populations decades after over 2,000 nuclear bombs were exploded below ground or in the atmosphere by members of the Nuclear Club.   Comments:  With a sure fire global verification regime, in the form of hundreds of seismic monitoring stations, as well as reliable national technical means of verification in place, there is no credible reason for the U.S. not to ratify the CTBT.  A newly elected Congress should place this at the top of its agenda in January of 2017.  (Source:  Jack Mendelsohn and David Grahame, editors.  “Arms Control Chronology.”  Washington, DC:  Center for Defense Information, 2002, pp. 14, 19, 22.)

    October 31, 2014 – French security officials, according to an Associated Press story dated November 3, 2014, investigated a series of illegal drone flights, at least 15 in number, over more than a dozen civilian nuclear power stations in the month of October with five alone on this date of October 31st.   No arrests were made and speculation on the origins of the drone flights ranged from would-be terrorists to a prank by drone hobbyists.   Comments:  Besides the obvious long-term serious health and public safety concerns coincidental with running a nuclear power plant, the natural (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tsunami, tornadoes, etc) and manmade (terrorist takeover of reactor sites or crashing airliners or armed drones into containment domes or reactor waste collection ponds) disasters make dangerous, overly expensive toxic waste-generating, and uneconomical nuclear power a deadly global risk that calls for the immediate dismantling of the international nuclear power infrastructure in the next decade.  (Sources:  Various press accounts including Associated Press and alternative news media sites.)

  • Video: Pope Francis Speaks at the UN on Nuclear Weapons

    Pope Francis delivered a strong message about war, peace and nuclear weapons to the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2015. The relevant passage starts at 30:45 in the video below.

    “War is the negation of all rights and a dramatic assault on the environment. If we want true integral human development for all, we must work tirelessly to avoid war between nations and between peoples.

    “To this end, there is a need to ensure the uncontested rule of law and tireless recourse to negotiation, mediation and arbitration, as proposed by the Charter of the United Nations, which constitutes truly a fundamental juridical norm. The experience of these seventy years since the founding of the United Nations in general, and in particular the experience of these first fifteen years of the third millennium, reveal both the effectiveness of the full application of international norms and the ineffectiveness of their lack of enforcement. When the Charter of the United Nations is respected and applied with transparency and sincerity, and without ulterior motives, as an obligatory reference point of justice and not as a means of masking spurious intentions, peaceful results will be obtained. When, on the other hand, the norm is considered simply as an instrument to be used whenever it proves favourable, and to be avoided when it is not, a true Pandora’s box is opened, releasing uncontrollable forces which gravely harm defenseless populations, the cultural milieu and even the biological environment.

    “The Preamble and the first Article of the Charter of the United Nations set forth the foundations of the international juridical framework: peace, the pacific solution of disputes and the development of friendly relations between the nations. Strongly opposed to such statements, and in practice denying them, is the constant tendency to the proliferation of arms, especially weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons. An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as “nations united by fear and distrust”. There is urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons, in full application of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in letter and spirit, with the goal of a complete prohibition of these weapons.

    “The recent agreement reached on the nuclear question in a sensitive region of Asia and the Middle East is proof of the potential of political good will and of law, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy. I express my hope that this agreement will be lasting and efficacious, and bring forth the desired fruits with the cooperation of all the parties involved.”