Category: Sunflower

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

“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.

 

Alex Hale
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Humanize, Not Modernize

by David Krieger

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is now in its 33rd year of working for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.  We seek these goals for the people of today, and also for those of the future, so that they may have a healthy planet to live on and enjoy.

Science and technology have brought great benefits to humanity in the form of health care, communications, transportation and many other areas of our lives.  An average person alive today lives a better and longer life than did kings and nobles of earlier times.  Yet, science and technology have not been universally positive.  They have also given us weapons capable of destroying civilization and most complex life on the planet, including that of our own species.

To read more, click here.

70 Years After Hiroshima, It’s Time to Confront the Past

by Setsuko Thurlow

In the United States, a repugnant remembrance is soon to be unveiled. The National Park Service and the Department of Energy will establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Unlike the memorials at Auschwitz and Treblinka, the United States seeks to preserve the history of the once top-secret sites at Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Hanford, where international scientists developed the world’s first nuclear bomb, as a sort of celebration of that technological ‘achievement’. Among the first so-called ‘successes’ of this endeavor was creating hell on earth in my beloved Hiroshima.

Former German President Richard von Weizeker once said, “We must look truth straight in the eye – without embellishment and without distortion.” The truth is, we all live with the daily threat of nuclear weapons. In every silo, on every submarine, in the bomb bays of airplanes, every second of every day, nuclear weapons, thousands on high alert, are poised for deployment threatening everyone we love and everything we hold dear.

How much longer can we allow the nuclear weapon states to wield this threat to all life on earth? Let us make the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the appropriate milestone to achieve our goal: to abolish nuclear weapons, and safeguard the future of our one shared planet earth.

To read more, click here.

Youth Pledge for Nuclear Abolition

Nuclear weapons are a symbol of a bygone age; a symbol that poses eminent threat to our present reality and has no place in the future we are creating.

Seventy years have passed since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and yet the existence of nuclear weapons continues to threaten every single person with the prospect of a cruel and inhumane death. For 70 years speeches have been made, statements issued and endorsed saying “never again,” and yet we are still held hostage by nuclear weapons. We, youth around the world, are mustering the courage to stand up and fulfill these decades-old promises of abolition. We need to eliminate this threat to our shared future and we urge you to join us, the Generation of Change.

It is time to take action.

To read the full pledge and to add your name, click here.

After the Iran Deal: How to Make the Most of the Next 15 Years

by Alice Slater

A major sticking point for universal support for the Iran deal is the worry expressed repeatedly by doubters and supporters alike, in the plethora of mainstream media coverage, that in 15 years Iran may have the capacity to break out and produce a nuclear bomb only one year after the deal expires. David Petraeus and Dennis Ross, Obama’s former Special Assistant on the Middle East, have actually suggested, in The Washington Post, that we should “put teeth” into the deal by threatening now that “if Iran dashes toward a weapon especially after year 15, that it will trigger the use of force.”

How much better would the public be served if the extensive reporting on the deal also provided the information we need on how we could beat Iran to the punch and honor our own obligations under the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate for the elimination of nuclear weapons?

To read more, click here.

Nuclear Weapons Experts File Amicus Brief in Support of Marshall Islands Lawsuit

Four nuclear weapons experts have filed an amicus curiae brief in support of a lawsuit filed by the Republic of the Marshall Islands to compel the United States to meet its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The basic bargain of the NPT is that non-weapons states agreed to never acquire nuclear weapons, in exchange for which nuclear weapons states promised to enter into good faith negotiations for nuclear disarmament. Ratification of the treaty by the U.S. Senate in 1970 made its provisions the law of the land under the U.S. Constitution.

The experts filing the brief are: Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists; Dr. James Doyle, a nuclear nonproliferation expert fired by the Los Alamos national lab after publishing a study arguing for nuclear weapons abolition; Robert Alvarez, a former Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy, now at the Institute for Policy Studies; and Jay Coghlan, director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico.

This amicus curiae brief, along with other briefs, can be found online at www.nuclearzero.org/in-the-courts.

“Nuclear Weapons Experts File Amicus Brief in Support of Marshall Islands Lawsuit,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, August 12, 2015.

Marshall Islands Foreign Minister to Receive Nuclear-Free Future Award

Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), will receive the Nuclear-Free Future Award in the category of “Solutions.”  De Brum has led efforts by RMI to get the nine nuclear-armed nations to fulfill their duties under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including serving as a co-agent in groundbreaking lawsuits against them at the International Court of Justice.  The Marshall Islands were the site of 67 U.S. atomic tests from 1946-58 that left the region contaminated with deadly radioactivity, forced the evacuation of entire islands, and caused long-lasting deadly health effects among the people of the RMI.  Minister de Brum personally experienced the atomic detonations as a young boy including the massive 1954 Castle Bravo shot at Bikini Atoll, the largest of over 1,000 nuclear detonations by the United States.  De Brum has been a resolute voice in calling for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.

The awards ceremony will take place in Washington, D.C. on October 28, 2015. For more information about the Nuclear-Free Future Award, click here.

Whistleblower Receives $4.1 Million Settlement

Justice has finally been served for Walter Tamosaitis, one of many Americans throughout the country who has been unfairly treated merely for doing their duty and for adhering to common dictates of morality. Fired after 44 years of exceptional service, Tamosaitis has finally found remuneration, after 5 years of waiting, in one of the largest known legal damages paid out to a nuclear whistle-blower. After the verdict, he said, “Hopefully, I have sent a message to young engineers to keep their honesty, integrity and courage intact.”

Although maintaining that it “strongly disagrees that it retaliated against him in any manner,” the Los Angeles-based AECOM’s plant design and construction failed to meet federal safety standards after Tamosaitis alerted federal officials. Now at the end of his nightmare tangling with the nuclear-powers-that-be, Tamosaitis said he will “wake up tomorrow morning and pinch myself to see if it is really over.”

Ralph Vartabedian, “Hanford Nuclear Weapons Site Whistleblower Wins $4.1 Million Settlement,” Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2015.

Congress to Conclude Deliberations on Iran Deal in mid-September

The 60-day period for Congress to review the nuclear deal, agreed to by Iran and the P5+1 in July, is coming to a close. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Action Alert Network provides U.S. residents the opportunity to send messages to their members of Congress to make their opinions heard on this important issue.

We encourage you to take action today and encourage your Senators and Representative to vote in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. To take action, click here.

Gorbachev Warns of New Nuclear Arms Race

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has warned of a new global nuclear arms race in an interview with Der Spiegel. Gorbachev said, “If five or 10 countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons, then why can’t 20 or 30? Today, a few dozen countries have the technical prerequisites to build nuclear weapons. The alternative is clear: Either we move towards a nuclear-free world or we have to accept that nuclear weapons will continue to spread, step-by-step, across the globe. And can we really imagine a world without nuclear weapons if a single country amasses so many conventional weapons that its military budget nearly tops that of all other countries combined? This country [the U.S.] would enjoy total military supremacy if nuclear weapons were abolished.”

Ishaan Tharoor, “Gorbachev Warns of New Arms Race,” New Zealand Herald, August 8, 2015.

China Tests New Type of Nuclear Missile

After conducting a flight test of its new intercontinental ballistic missile, China appears to be approaching deployment capability for its DF-41 road-mobile missile, which likely holds multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV).

Along with being less vulnerable to anti-ballistic missile systems, a single missile could annihilate multiple targets simultaneously and would enable use of cross-targeting techniques, which utilize more weapons for greater kill probability. India may already be responding to this threat, which means that Pakistan likewise will follow.

Zachary Keck, “China Tests Its Most Dangerous Nuclear Weapon of All Time,” The National Interest, August 19, 2015.

U.S. Conducts Another Test of its Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

On August 19, the United States conducted a test launch of its Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Gen. Robin Rand, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, cynically commented, “When I think of the value these types of tests have played over the years, I think of the messages we send to our allies who seek protection from aggression and to adversaries who threaten peace.  I also think about the American people we’ve sworn an oath to protect; people like my grandchildren who count on us to get this right. We can’t let them down.”

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, criticized the United States’ ongoing tests of Minuteman III missiles. He said, “While the U.S. continues to develop and test launch its nuclear-capable missiles, the Marshall Islands is seeking a judgment against the U.S. and the other nuclear-armed nations for failure to fulfill their nuclear disarmament obligations under international law.”

Capt. Christopher Mesnard, “Minot Conducts ICBM Test Launch on 45 Year Minuteman III Anniversary,” Air Force Global Strike Command, August 19, 2015.

September’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is “Global Justice in the 21st Century,” by Richard Falk. Falk is Senior Vice President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice at Princeton University.

Recent titles on the blog include, “The Nuclear Challenge: 70 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” and “Alliance Blackmail: Israel’s Opposition to the Iran Nuclear Agreement.” 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 September, including the September 11, 1957 fire that broke out in a plutonium processing facility at Rocky Flats near Denver, Colorado.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

Revolution in You

Soka Gakkai International’s U.S. branch (SGI-USA) has produced a new music video entitled “Revolution in You.” The five-minute video showcases the talents of some of SGI-USA’s members in an inspiring format.

The video was played at the introduction of the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition in Hiroshima on August 30, and is available to watch on YouTube at this link.

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.

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

International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition

Rick Wayman, NAPF’s Director of Programs, co-chaired the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition in Hiroshima, Japan, from August 28-30. The Summit included two days of intensive learning, planning and networking with 30 young leaders from 23 countries. Those two days were followed by a conference in which hundreds of young people from around the world gathered to learn more about the urgent need to abolish nuclear weapons and to collectively make a “youth pledge” to commit to working for nuclear abolition.

Click here for more information about the summit, including the youth pledge and video of the event.

Paul Chappell Named International Spokesperson for Peace Heroes Walk Around the World

NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul Chappell has been named international spokesperson for Peace Heroes Walk Around the World, an educational initiative developed by the Dayton International Peace Museum (DIPM) in Dayton, Ohio. The Museum, which facilitated a community-changing Peace Heroes Walk in Dayton last May, now plans to promote Peace Heroes Walk Around the World to cities across the United States and throughout other nations.

To read more, click here.

 

“The Chancellor is making a choice to essentially prioritize investment in nuclear weapons over the protection of the most vulnerable citizens of our country.”

— John Swinney, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, criticizing UK Chancellor George Osborne for authorizing GBP 500 million of extra spending at the UK’s Faslane nuclear weapons base.

 

“Let’s be the generation that makes peace possible. This youth summit is sending a strong message to the world, that the youth are for peace and for a nuclear-free-world, and the world must listen.”

— Ahmad Alhendawi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, speaking at the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition on August 30, 2015.

 

“You can’t talk about the overall security environment in the Middle East unless you address the reality of Israel’s own nuclear status.”

— Avner Cohen, professor of nonproliferation studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

 

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.”

— Maria Montessori (1870-1952), Italian educator. This quote appears in Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

 

David Krieger
Grant Stanton
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Reflections on the 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings

by David Krieger

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing some 90,000 people immediately and another 55,000 by the end of 1945. Three days later, the United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing some 40,000 people immediately and another 35,000 by the end of 1945. In between these two bombings, on August 8, 1945, the U.S. signed the charter creating the Nuremberg Tribunal to hold Axis leaders to account for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Under well-established international humanitarian law – the law of warfare – war crimes include using weapons that do not distinguish between civilians and combatants or that cause unnecessary suffering.  Because nuclear weapons kill indiscriminately and cause unnecessary suffering by radiation poisoning (among other grotesque consequences), the U.S. was itself in the act of committing war crimes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki while agreeing to hold its defeated opponents in World War II to account for their war crimes. To read more, click here.

Hibakusha Thoughts on the 70th Anniversary

by Shigeko Sasamori and Setsuko Thurlow

Shigeko Sasamori, 83, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, said, “People cannot live forever. People die from natural causes such as illness and disease and from natural disasters such as floods, fires, and earthquakes, but war claims the most lives. People start wars. People should stop wars.” Setsuko Thurlow, also 83 and a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, said, “The first thought that comes to me is the image of my four-year-old nephew Eiji transformed to a charred, blackened child who died in agony. Had he not been a victim of the atomic bomb, he would have been 74 years old this year. This shocked me. Regardless of the passage of time, he remains in my memory as a four-year-old child, who came to represent all the innocent children of the world. This has been the driving, compelling force for me to continue my struggle against the ultimate evil of nuclear weapons. His image is burned into my retina.” To read more, click here.

Marshall Islands Files Appeal in Ninth Circuit

On July 13, the Republic of the Marshall Islands filed an Appeal Brief at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as part of its Nuclear Zero Lawsuit against the United States. Laurie Ashton, lead attorney for the Marshall Islands in this case, said, “While the United States has the world focused on nonproliferation measures across the globe, it is in flagrant breach of its obligation to negotiate complete nuclear disarmament. It refuses to discuss any timetable whatsoever to achieve nuclear disarmament, and is instead actually modernizing its nuclear arsenal with new capabilities to last decades into the future at a budget of approximately $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars). The lawsuit brings these breaches to Court, forcing the U.S. to respond in public.” “Marshall Islands Appeals U.S. Court’s Dismissal of Nuclear Zero Lawsuit,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, July 13, 2015.

Numerous Amicus Curiae Briefs in Support of the Marshall Islands

Six amicus curiae briefs have been filed at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuit against the United States. Briefs were filed by parties representing a diverse group of interests, including human rights, the environment, religion, labor, medicine, nuclear non-proliferation, peace, science and international law. An amicus curiae letter was submitted by six U.S. mayors. The amicus curiae briefs and letter, along with all other court documents related to the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, can be accessed online at www.nuclearzero.org/in-the-courts. “Strong Support for Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuit,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, July 21, 2015.

Misuse of Taxpayer Funds at Sandia National Laboratory

Iran and P5+1 Reach Nuclear Deal

After years of negotiations beginning in 2006, the Iran Nuclear deal was signed on July 14, limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions. The deal will oblige Iran to remove two-thirds of its installed centrifuges and store them under international supervision, get rid of 98% of its enriched uranium, accept that sanctions would be rapidly restored if the deal were violated, and permanently give the International Atomic Energy Agency access “where necessary when necessary.” In return, international economic sanctions will slowly be lifted, with an arms embargo remaining in place for five years and an embargo on missiles for eight years. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation recently issued an Action Alert in support of the Iran deal, calling on members of the U.S. Congress to approve the deal during its 60-day review period. Click here to take action. Jeremy Bowen, “Iran Nuclear Talks: ‘Historic’ Agreement Struck,” BBC News, July 14, 2015.

U.S. Conducts Flight Test of New B61-12 Nuclear Bomb

The U.S. Air Force and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have conducted their first development flight test of the B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb.   “Achieving the first complete B61-12 flight test provides clear evidence of the nation’s continued commitment to maintain the B61 and provides assurance to our allies,” said NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs Dr. Don Cook.   The refurbishments are intended to extend the bomb’s lifespan while also improving its accuracy and efficiency. The B61 has been in use since its creation in the 1960s, and the Pentagon has requested additional funds for the B61’s next life-extension program to continue updates. At $11 billion, this future program would be the most expensive nuclear weapons refurbishment in history. Critics argue that the B61-12 Life Extension Program is unnecessary and provides new military capabilities, contrary to President Obama’s promise not to introduce nuclear weapons with new military capabilities. Mark Prigg, “Air Force Drops Dummy Nuclear Bomb in Nevada in First Controversial Test to Update Cold War Arsenal,” Daily Mail, July 8, 2015.

Japanese Government Seeks to Reinterpret Peace Article in Constitution

In a victory for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his party, the lower house of the Diet approved legislation that would allow Japanese military forces to engage in foreign conflicts for the first time since World War II. The largely unpopular vote, reached as demonstrators protested outside of Parliament, culminates months of debate over Japan’s departure from a 70-year tradition of pacifism. The Diet’s upper house, set to discuss the issue in coming weeks, is expected to vote in favor as well. Abe’s push for the legislation fits into his agenda of leading Japan beyond remorse for its past military actions, and towards a future as an integrated player on the world stage. He claims the bill’s passage will enable Japan to better provide for regional security, citing China’s expansionist aggression as a key concern. Critics argue that the legislation violates Japan’s postwar constitutional charter, which relinquishes the state’s right to “war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan states: “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.” Jonathan Soble, “Japan Moves to Allow Military Combat for First Time in 70 Years,” The New York Times, July 16, 2015.

Companies Responsible for Contamination at Rocky Flats

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has ruled that Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International Corp. should be held liable for nuisance claims regarding the detrimental misconduct of the Rocky Flats nuclear plant in Colorado. The charges were brought against Dow and Rockwell by local landowners who suffered damages from contaminated soil and water as a result of the plant’s mishandling of highly radioactive waste. The plant was closed in 1989 when FBI raided Rocky Flats and found evidence of the contamination. For the last 25 years, the parties have been embroiled in litigation.   Scott Flaherty, “Major Fallout in Rocky Flats Case,” The National Law Journal, June 29, 2015.

August’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is the Peace and Health Blog of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). IPPNW, the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate for its work for the abolition of nuclear weapons, is a leading voice in support of the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits and the international effort to achieve a treaty banning nuclear weapons. Recent titles on the blog include, “What’s Good for Iran is Good for the Nuclear-Armed States,” and “2015 NPT Review Conference Outcome is the Humanitarian Pledge.” 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 August. To read Mason’s full article, click here. This month is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  For more information on the history of the Nuclear Age, visit NAPF’s Nuclear Files website.

Sadako Peace Day is August 6

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will hold its 21st Annual Sadako Peace Day commemoration event on Thursday, August 6. This year’s event, which falls on the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, remembers the victims of the U.S. atomic bombings and all innocent victims of war. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will deliver the keynote address. The program also includes music, poetry and reflection. Click here to view the invitation. The event will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria – 800 El Bosque Road, Montecito, California. The event is free and open to the public.

Paul Chappell in Sojourners Magazine

Paul K. Chappell, Peace Leadership Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, is featured in the August edition of Sojourners Magazine. Paul was interviewed by Sojourners writer Catherine Woodiwiss on a recent peace leadership lecture tour in Washington, DC. Woodiwiss writes, “Chappell follows a great tradition of 20th century nonviolent thinkers, from Mahatma Gandhi to Dorothy Day to Martin Luther King Jr. For those asking what waging peace looks like in practice, Chappell’s language of active precision calls to mind King’s casting of nonviolence as a ‘powerful and just weapon’ that cuts without wounding.” To read the full Sojourners article, click here. The article was reprinted with permission from Sojourners, (800) 714-7474, www.sojo.net.

NAPF President David Krieger to Speak in Maui

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, will be the featured speaker at an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event will take place on August 6 at 6:30 pm at the University of Hawaii Maui College. It is organized by Maui Peace Action. Click here to download a flyer with more information.

International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition

Rick Wayman, NAPF’s Director of Programs, will co-chair the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 30. Organizers expect approximately 300 young people to gather in Hiroshima to learn more about the urgent need to abolish nuclear weapons and to collectively make a “youth pledge” to commit to working for nuclear abolition. Click here for more information about the summit, including registration details and livestream information.

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

“What is good for Iran—and for the other 185 nuclear-weapon-free NPT member states—is good for the nine nuclear-armed states and for the world as a whole. A treaty banning nuclear weapons, negotiated and adopted by non-nuclear states, would send an unmistakable signal to the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and the DPRK that continuing to possess nuclear weapons is the act of an international outlaw, and that eliminating those arsenals is an obligation that can no longer be deferred.” — International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, in response to the deal struck between Iran and the P5+1.

“What the Hiroshima survivors are telling us is that no one else should ever go through the experience they suffered. An atomic bombing creates a living hell on Earth where the living envy the dead.” — Tadatoshi Akiba, former mayor of Hiroshima. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available online in the NAPF Peace Store.

“The military capabilities of this weapon stem from a totally fictitious and bizarre idea that the United States can fight and win nuclear wars.” — Theodore Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, referring to the B61-12 nuclear bomb currently being modernized and tested by the United States.

Susanna Faulds Fiona Hayman McKenna Jacquemet David Krieger Carol Warner Rick Wayman

The Nuclear Age at Seventy

by David Krieger

The first explosion of a nuclear device took place at Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Just three weeks later, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and three days after that on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The new weapons had devastating power, killing approximately 100,000 people immediately in the two cities and another 100,000 people by the end of 1945.

Since these bombings brought the world into the Nuclear Age, the human future and that of other forms of life have been at risk. Never before did humankind have the power to destroy itself, but that completely changed in the Nuclear Age. By our own scientific and technological cleverness, we humans had created the means of our own demise. Our technological capacity for destruction had exceeded our spiritual capacity to work together and cooperate to end the threat that these weapons posed to our common future.

To read more, click here.

Not Just Apologies but Repentance

by Nassrine Azimi

Frequently asking a single country to apologize tends to turn the gaze upon others, and the sight is hardly flattering: a roll-call of nations having admitted to or atoned for past wrong-doings falls pitifully short.

Most Western colonial powers have a stained record when it comes to apologizing for their colonial era plunders. Too many still make believe that their colonialism had less to do with greed and more with the spread of “civilization.” Quite a few still perpetuate the myth of “The White Man’s Burden.”

By any measure the leader of the no-apologies category, in a league all its own, must be the United States of America. Few countries have been as mired in as much warfare within as brief a period of history as the United States. Since WWII, the number of revolutions, coups d’état, invasions and wars it has directly or indirectly instigated has been staggering. The United States has yet to apologize for unleashing nuclear terror on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not only has there been no apology, but past governments have gone to extraordinary lengths, to convince a gullible public that the two atomic bombs saved a million American lives (notwithstanding historical research proving this story was promoted by a PR team after the bombings.)

To read more, click here.

UK Trident Discredited by Whistleblower

by Commander Robert Green

On 17 May, the Scottish Sunday Herald revealed that a whistleblower, 25-year-old Able Seaman William McNeilly, had released online an 18-page report containing serious allegations surrounding the safety and security of the British Trident ballistic missile-equipped submarine force.

The Royal Navy is out of its depth operating the existing Trident system, starved of resources and trying to get by on the cheap. This dangerous situation – which the courageous actions of a patriotic young whistleblower have exposed – can only get worse if the UK Submarine Service has to take on whatever replacement the US is prepared to let the British have.

To read more, click here.

The Marshall Islands Are Trying to Keep the World’s Nuclear Powers Honest

On paper, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is a strong treaty. The agreement among most nations aims to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, disarm existing weapons and encourage the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

In reality, many of the countries who signed it either weasel out of its obligations or simply ignore them. “For far too many years, these circular negotiations on nuclear non-proliferation have failed to listen closely to those voices who know better,” Tony deBrum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Marshall Islands — a tiny republic in the Pacific Ocean — said.

The Marshall Islands brought litigation against the world’s nine nuclear-armed countries — including the U.S., UK and Russia —in 2014. The island republic filed nine separate cases in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, as well as one in U.S. Federal Court.

Matthew Gault, “The Marshall Islands Tried to Keep the World’s Nuclear Powers Honest,” War Is Boring, June 9, 2015.

Marshall Islands Take India to Court

The Marshall Islands feels strongly that the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan could pose a huge danger to world peace since both are non-signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Last month, the International Court of Justice accepted India’s request for an extension to reply to the Marshall Islands’ application, giving it until September 16.

Dhananjay Mahapatra, “N-disarmament: Tiny Island of 70.000 People Takes India to Court,” Times of India, June 25, 2015.

U.S. Spending Increases to Counter Russian Nuclear Modernization

To maintain nuclear “superiority” and counter increases in Russia’s defense budget, the United States must ramp up its own spending on defense and nuclear weapons, according to Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. According to Thornberry, U.S. defense spending has been cut 21% over the last four years, while Russia’s defense spending has increased by 10% and includes modernization of ICBMs and long-range cruise missiles. Thornberry warned, “We’ve let the infrastructure deteriorate.”

However, United States military spending is still approximately seven times greater than Russia’s. The United States also plans to completely rebuild its nuclear arsenal and infrastructure at a cost of at least $1 trillion over the next 30 years.

Alissa Tabirian, “HASC Chair: Increase U.S. Defense Spending to Counter Russian Nuke Modernization,” Defense Daily, June 23, 2015.

NATO to Review Nuclear Weapons Policy as Attitude to Russia Hardens

At a two-day ministerial meeting in Brussels, NATO officials discussed reevaluating their nuclear weapons policies in response to increasing tension with Russia over Ukraine. Some NATO leaders do not feel that current NATO nuclear policy is aggressive enough, and view Russia’s rhetoric on nuclear weapons, involvement of the weapons in military exercises, and announced acquisition of new missiles as signaling an increased nuclear threat. Approximately 180 U.S. nuclear bombs are currently stationed on the territories of five NATO member countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey).

In addition to NATO discussions on hardening its nuclear policy, diplomats and scientists have voiced concern over a “new nuclear arms race” between the U.S. and Russia. Both countries are engaging in nuclear weapon “modernization” programs in violation of their legal obligation under Article VI of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate for an end to the nuclear arms race at an early date.

Ewen MacAskill, “Nato to Review Nuclear Weapons Policy as Attitude to Russia Hardens,” The Guardian, June 24, 2015.

Seeking Peace in Ukraine

In a “long and constructive” phone call between US President Obama and Russian President Putin, the two leaders discussed a plethora of issues including the need to counter Islamic State fighters, negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and the situation in the Middle East. President Obama also called on President Putin to remove Russian troops and military equipment from Ukraine.

In an op-ed in TIME magazine, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley outlines five features of a deal that could bring peace in Ukraine. The deal would include a promise from Ukraine never to join NATO, lifting of economic sanctions against Russia, and more.

Toluse Olorunnipa, “Obama Tells Putin Russia Needs to Remove Troops From Ukraine,” Bloomberg, June 25, 2015.

The Golden Rule Sails Again

On June 20, the ship Golden Rule was officially re-launched. Veterans for Peace took on the task of restoring the ship, famous for its attempt in 1958 to stop U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. The ship will sail from its current home in northern California to San Diego in time for the Veterans for Peace national convention in early August, which has the theme of “peace and reconciliation in the Pacific.”

Mark Larson, “Re-Christening the Golden Rule,” North Coast Journal, June 21, 2015.

 

The Rainbow Warrior: 30 Years On

Henk Haazen provides a firsthand account of his experience as a crewmember of the Rainbow Warrior, a vessel that served the campaigns of the global environmental organization Greenpeace. The Rainbow Warrior and its crew were dispatched to relocate Marshall Islanders whose land and livelihood had been affected by U.S. nuclear testing. Upon witnessing the devastating effects of the testing on the islanders and their homeland, the crew of the Rainbow Warrior was compelled to launch their next big campaign: to bring an end to French nuclear testing in French Polynesia.

This plan was thrown off track in 1985 when the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in a New Zealand harbor. This act of terrorism, however, would not thwart the efforts of Greenpeace in the following decades. In the mid-1990s, Greenpeace boats formed a flotilla around the French Polynesian Islands: a chain of boats that served as a symbolic barrier to nuclear testing, pressuring the French to end their testing shortly afterwards.

Hank Haazen, “The Rainbow Warrior: 30 years on,” Stuff.co.nz, June 26, 2015.

Livermore Lab Plutonium Tests Challenged

A series of controversial experiments taking place at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California are being challenged by local and national environmental organizations. The tests consist of zapping tiny samples of the intensely radioactive element plutonium with powerful laser beams. The stated goal of the tests is to ensure that the thousands of nuclear weapons stockpiled in the U.S. nuclear arsenal are still in working condition.

Leaders of NIF insist that the tests are safe and that the program is essential to assure the “safety, security, and reliability” of the warheads in America’s nuclear stockpile. Critics of the plutonium tests, including Livermore-based group Tri-Valley CAREs, have raised concerns about the lack of a containment plan for airborne plutonium particles and the likely contamination of the facility.

David Perlman, “Safety of Warhead-Related Tests at Livermore Lab Challenged,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 2015.

U.S. Mayors Call for “Effective Implementation” of NPT

At the close of its 83rd Annual Meeting, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), adopted a strong resolution in support of Mayors for Peace, calling for the “effective implementation” of the nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty obligations. Also, the USCM expressed its support for the successful conclusion of Iran Nuclear Deal negotiations. With the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki coming up, the USCM urged policymakers to visit the cities to see the reality of the consequences of atomic bombings with their own eyes.

The resolution “calls on the President and Congress to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and to direct those funds to address the pressing needs of cities.”

To read the full resolution, click here.

July’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is Strategic Security, written by Hans Kristensen of Federation of American Scientists. Kristensen is an expert on a vast array of nuclear weapons issues, and writes authoritatively on nuclear modernization programs around the world and the details of the nuclear-armed nations’ nuclear stockpiles.

Recent titles by Kristensen include “Pentagon Report: China Deploys MIRV Missile” and “Obama Administration Releases New Warhead Numbers.”

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 July, including the July 27, 1956 incident in which a U.S. B-47 bomber crashed into a storage bunker holding three Mark 6 nuclear bombs.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

American University Exhibit Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a powerful exhibit at American University in Washington, DC will take place through August. The show will include 20 artifacts collected from the debris of the 1945 atomic bombings as well as six 24-foot folding screens that depict the horrors of the event.

The exhibition is intended to deepen understanding of the damage wrought by nuclear weapons, and to inspire peace in the 21st century. For more information, click here.

Sadako Peace Day is August 6

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will hold its 21st Annual Sadako Peace Day commemoration event on Thursday, August 6. This year’s event, which falls on the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, remembers the victims of the U.S. atomic bombings and all innocent victims of war. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will deliver this year’s keynote address.

The program also includes music, poetry and reflection. Click here to view the invitation.

The event will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria – 800 El Bosque Road, Montecito, California. The event is free and open to the public.

Peace Leadership in Tijuana

Paul K. Chappell, Peace Leadership Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, gave a panel presentation on “Waging Peace Today” to 400 attendees at the Playas de Tijuana inaugural event for the international exhibit, “From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit,” on Thursday, June 18th, at the Casa de Cultura Playas as part of the Municipal Art and Culture Institute of Tijuana, Mexico. Other speakers included Dr. Jorge Astiazaran, the mayor of Tijuana, and Robert Rios, General Director of Soka Gakkai of Mexico.

“Paul’s powerful message, the seeds he planted, resonated strongly in many hearts and minds,” said exhibit coordinator Susan Smith.

To read more about this event, click here.

NAPF President David Krieger to Speak in Maui

David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, will be the featured speaker at an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event will take place on August 6 at 5:30 pm at the University of Hawaii Maui College. It is organized by Maui Peace Action.

For more information, email mauipeaceaction@earthlink.net.

 

“If forced into war by India, Pakistan will respond in a befitting manner; our [nuclear] arms are not meant for decoration.”

— Khwaja Asif, Defense Minister of Pakistan

 

“We must teach an elemental truth: that status and presige belong not to those who possess nuclear weapons, but to those who reject them.”

— Ban Ki-moon, South Korean diplomat and 8th United Nations Secretary-General. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available online in the NAPF Peace Store.

 

“Nuclear weapons are not ordinary munitions and the conditions for eliminating them do not exist in today’s world.”

— Ambassador Adam Scheinman, head of the United States delegation to the 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Click here to read his full op-ed in The Hill.

 

Fiona Hayman

McKenna Jacquemet

David Krieger

Lauren Pak

Carol Warner

Rick Wayman

Grand Bargain Is Not So Grand

by David Krieger

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has two major purposes and together they form a grand bargain. First, the treaty seeks to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries.  Second, the treaty seeks to level the playing field by the pursuit of negotiations in good faith to end the nuclear arms race at an early date and to achieve nuclear disarmament. The goal of the grand bargain, in other words, is a world without nuclear weapons.

It is the disarmament side of the grand bargain, though, where things really break down. The five nuclear-armed countries that are parties to the NPT (US, Russia, UK, France and China) appear more comfortable working together to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals than they do to fulfilling their disarmament obligations under the treaty. Their common strategy appears to be “nuclear weapons forever.”

To read more, click here.

Exclusive Interview With General Lee Butler

by Robert Kazel

Today, General Lee Butler is 75, and he has never stopped believing nuclear arms to be an enormous danger and outrageously immoral. They permit imperfect leaders to play God, he says, and make it all too easy for the planet to be ruined for all future generations in a span of hours. He’s incredulous that scores of U.S. missiles are still kept on hair-trigger alert, poised to be launched in minutes. And he is more disillusioned than ever that defense strategists and politicians keep defending nuclear deterrence: a theory born in the 1950s that asserts nations can prevent nuclear war by keeping nuclear weapons ready for use in retaliation. Butler believed that once, fervently. But he now says deterrence probably never made much sense, and certainly is unbelievable in a world of unstable, unpredictable regional nuclear actors and terrorists who seek to actually use weapons of vast, destructive power.

Now Butler has penned his life story, a project he painstakingly worked on for many years after he and his wife, Dorene, left Omaha and moved to a gated community in Laguna Beach, Calif., in 2001. The self-published memoir, which he expects to be out this summer, recounts his boyhood in Georgia as part of an Army family and his 33-year military career starting with his graduation from the Air Force Academy in 1961. It explains in depth why he ultimately called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and discusses his disillusionment with government officials who, he says, have allowed shortsightedness, petty politics and bellicosity to obstruct the road to world nuclear disarmament.

In a wide-ranging interview at his house recently, Butler spoke with NAPF about the perils of nuclear weapons that arose during and just after the Cold War, and why the dangers continue. The following is an edited version of the conversation.

To read more, click here.

Uprising

by Ray Acheson

A certain restiveness could be felt Friday evening at the United Nations at the close of the 2015 NPT Review Conference. The draft outcome document was not adopted, though it was not this fact that seemed to bother most. The content of the final draft was unacceptably weak on disarmament, as the majority of those taking the floor lamented in their closing remarks, and the process to develop it was extremely problematic. The discontent was rather about why it had been rejected. Three states parties blocked its adoption on behalf of Israel, a non-state party possessing nuclear weapons. If the month-long review of the Treaty’s implementation and attempts to develop actions for moving forward had not already sufficiently underscored the depth of the Treaty’s discriminatory orientation privileging nuclear-armed states, the Conference’s conclusion certainly did.

But the Conference has ended, leaving interested states now with the chance to pursue effective measures for nuclear disarmament. Instead of a text that moves backwards in some areas from previous commitments and threatened to stall progress for another five years, states parties can continue to rely on the outcomes from 1995, 2000, and 2010 to guide their actions in terms of Treaty implementation. And in the meantime, there is also space for what the Washington Post describes as “an uprising” of 107 states and civil society groups. These states are “seeking to reframe the disarmament debate as an urgent matter of safety, morality and humanitarian law,” and have pledged to fill the gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.

To read more, click here.

The Marshall Islands and the NPT

In a recent article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Robert Alvarez writes about the history and impact of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. He also explores the importance of the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits for upholding the disarmament promises of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the momentum of the effort to highlight the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

Alvarez writes, “The humanitarian initiative and the Marshall Islands lawsuits have received a chilly, some might say hostile reception from the nuclear weapons states, for an understandable reason: The nuclear weapons countries are engaged in costly modernization efforts that all but guarantee the continued existence of nuclear weapons for decades, and perhaps beyond. The Marshall’s lawsuits and the humanitarian initiative both seek to make the nuclear states seriously negotiate toward nuclear disarmament.”

Robert Alvarez, “The Marshall Islands and the NPT,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 27, 2015.

What the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Seek to Accomplish

by David Krieger

These are important lawsuits.  They have been described as a battle of David versus the nine nuclear Goliaths.  In this case, however, David (the RMI) is using the nonviolent means of the courtroom and the law rather than a slingshot and a rock.  It is worth considering what these lawsuits seek to accomplish.

• To challenge the “good faith” of the nuclear-armed countries, for their failure to initiate negotiations for nuclear disarmament as required by the NPT and customary international law.
• To awaken people everywhere to the magnitude of the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
• To achieve a “conversion of hearts,” recognized by Pope Francis as necessary for effective action in changing the world on this most challenging of threats.

These are high aspirations from a small but courageous country.  If you would like to know more about the Marshall Islands Nuclear Zero lawsuits, and how you can help support them, visit www.nuclearzero.org.

David Krieger, “What the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Seek to Accomplish,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, May 6, 2015.

MOX Gets Golden Hammer Award for Egregious Waste

 

The Washington Times has awarded its Golden Hammer Award to South Carolina’s Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel facility. The MOX program, which is intended to convert 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants, is viewed by many as an egregious example of government waste.

In 2004, the project was expected to cost $1.6 billion, with a completion date of 2007. Now, in 2015, over $4 billion has been spent on the project, which is only 67% completed. Congress appears likely to provide $345 million in funding for MOX in Fiscal Year 2016. At this rate, studies have shown that the lifecycle costs for MOX will reach $114 billion. The MOX plant also lost its only potential customer for the fuel, Duke Energy. No other nuclear utility has been willing to take the risk of using MOX fuel in nuclear reactors.

Kellan Howell, “Congress Keeps Funding Overbudget Plutonium Site with No Real Customers,” Washington Times, May 7, 2015.

UK Whistleblower on Trident Submarine Dangers

 

The safety and security of the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, each carrying more than a dozen Trident nuclear missiles, was called into question when William McNeilly claimed that Britain’s nuclear weapons system was an “accident waiting to happen.” The damning 18-page report includes accusations of lax security, fire hazards, and poor quality food among other things.

The Royal Navy has firmly dismissed these allegations, while some defense experts admitted that there could be elements of truth in some of McNeilly’s claims. Historically, the Ministry of Defense has downplayed incidents involving its submarines, stating that the “technical complexity of running a nuclear submarine is vast.”

Jamie Merrill, “Trident Whistleblower William McNeilly Transferred to Portsmouth Naval Base as Royal Navy Disputes his Claims About the ‘Silent Service,’” The Independent, May 22, 2015.

U.S. Conducts Minuteman Missile Test During NPT Review Conference

 

Three days before the end of the 2015 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the U.S. conducted a test of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The Minuteman III is the United States’ land-based missile that is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the other side of the planet in around 30 minutes.

The test went against the call of dozens of nations at the NPT Review Conference for the U.S. and other nuclear-armed nations to take their nuclear weapons off high-alert status and to pursue negotiations for nuclear disarmament. The Air Force Global Strike Command stated that the ICBM test launch program is to “verify the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapons system.”

Rick Wayman, Director of Programs and Operations at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, commented, “Conducting a nuclear missile test, particularly at this time, sends a clear signal to the international community that the United States believes it can continue to possess nuclear weapons indefinitely and with impunity.”

“U.S. Schedules Yet Another Controversial Minuteman III Test,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, May 19, 2015.

Women Cross Border Between North and South Korea

 

Women Cross DMZ, an international group of female peace activists led by Gloria Steinem, crossed one of the world’s most militarized borders, between North and South Korea, in order to draw attention to the need for a permanent peace treaty. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean peninsula. Other goals of the group were to highlight the suffering of divided families and promoting peace over war.

Mairead Maguire and Medea Benjamin, both members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Advisory Council, took part in the action. Maguire, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, said, “We are here today because we don’t believe in war. You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war.”

“Gloria Steinem and Female Activists Cross Korean Demilitarized Zone,” The Guardian, May 24, 2015.

Transform Now Plowshares Activists Released from Prison

 

On May 8, a federal appeals court ruled that the government had overreached in charging three Transform Now Plowshares activists with sabotage, ordering the release of Sister Megan Rice and her two fellow activists. The group nonviolently broke into the grounds of the Y-12 Highly-Enriched Uranium Manufacturing Facility on July 28, 2012 and conducted a symbolic conversion of the site, spreading human blood and painting peace slogans on the walls.

After so much time in jail, Sister Megan Rice, 85, has no intention of stopping her anti-nuclear activism and is more committed than ever. One threat is that the federal government might challenge the recent ruling and try to have her thrown back in prison. “It would be an honor,” Sister Rice said during the ride. “Good Lord, what would be better than to die in prison for the anti-nuclear cause?”

William J. Broad, “Sister Megan Rice, freed From Prison, Is Unapologetic for Anti-Nuclear Activism,” The New York Times, May 26, 2015.

Las Vegas Mayor Opposes Nuclear Waste Shipments

 

In response to a Department of Energy announcement that it would begin shipping uranium waste from Tennessee for storage in Nevada, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said that she would lie down in the highway to stop the transport vehicles.

“We know what happened in the nuclear testing days,” Goodman said. “We were told at the test site, ‘These things are harmless, go out and take your children to watch these wonderful mushroom clouds.’”

“I know it would bring funds to Nevada,” she added. “Sometimes there’s other, better ways to find funding.”

James Dehaven, “Vegas Mayor Will Lie Down on Highway to Block Nuke Shipments,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, May 5, 2015.

June’s Featured Blog

 

This month’s featured blog is Defusing the Nuclear Threat, written by NAPF Associate Martin Hellman. Hellman is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and an expert in risk analysis.

Recent articles include “Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma,” and “Saber Rattling Works, but Which Way?”

To read the blog, which is updated frequently, go to www.nuclearrisk.org.

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 June, including the June 3, 1980 incident in which the malfunction of a 46-cent computer chip caused U.S. warning systems to falsely display that the Soviet Union had launched 2,200 nuclear missiles at the United States.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat

 

The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) is a network of over 30 groups around the United States, most of which are located in areas that are part of the vast U.S. nuclear weapons complex. ANA recently released a report entitled “The Growing U.S. Nuclear Threat.” The report documents numerous nuclear weapon programs that are part of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration that are vastly over budget, have major oversight and management problems, and a general lack of accountability.

Rick Wayman, NAPF Director of Programs, wrote the executive summary for this report. Wayman wrote, “The Department of Energy’s budget is set to increase this year as in years past. The increased spending will undermine efforts to make the nation more secure. New, provocative investments in weapons programs and infrastructure will undermine non-proliferation efforts and introduce uncertainties into the U.S. stockpile. At the same time, cuts to the cleanup budget and failure to hold DOE and the NNSA accountable leave health risks unaddressed, environmental damage unrepaired, and urgent waste challenges unmet.”

To read the report, click here.

Peace Poetry Awards: Deadline July 1

 

The deadline for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards is July 1. The contest encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The Poetry Awards include three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. Cash prizes of up to $1,000 will be awarded to the winners. For more information on how to enter, click here.

Paul Chappell Selected as CMM Institute Fellow

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Peace Leadership Director, Paul K. Chappell, has been selected as a 2015 CMM (Coordinated Management of Meaning) Institute Fellow and is one of six fellows to present at the 2015 CMM Learning Exchange and Global Integral Competence conference. This event will be held in Munich, Germany, from September 17- 20, 2015.

Chappell’s project title is “Literacy in the Art of Living, the Art of Listening, and the Art of Waging Peace.” One of the Institute’s current priorities is to promote research and interventions on selected topics that take a “communication perspective” and contribute to the common good. Proposals for the 2015 fellowships have focused on issues of conflicts and how these may be resolved or prevented by taking a “communication perspective.”

To read more, click here.

Save the Date: Sadako Peace Day is August 6

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will hold its 21st Annual Sadako Peace Day commemoration event on Thursday, August 6. This year’s event, which falls on the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, remembers the victims of the U.S. atomic bombings and all innocent victims of war. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will deliver this year’s keynote address.

The event will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria – 800 El Bosque Road, Montecito, California. The event is free and open to the public.

 

“Some powerful people make their living with the production of arms. It’s the industry of death.”

— Pope Francis

 

“Why is it that only the security of the five [nuclear-armed members of the NPT] requires nuclear weapons, whilst no one else needs nuclear weapons for their security? If the truth is that no one’s security needs nuclear weapons, then all of our security is enhanced by getting rid of nuclear weapons. If this is indeed the case, what makes it so different for the five that they feel that they have to be exempted from this universal truth?”

— Ambassador Abdul Minty of South Africa. To read his full statement, click here.

 

“No one can keep a straight face and argue that sixteen thousand nuclear weapons are an appropriate threshold for global safety. We are seeing nuclear nations modernize and rebuild when they could use the opportunity to reduce. There is no right to ‘indefinite possession’ to continue to retain nuclear weapons on security grounds.”

— Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. To read his full statement, click here.

 

“Nothing could be worse than fear that one has given up too soon and left one effort unexpended which might have saved the world.”

— Jane Addams (1860-1935), American peace activist and 1931 Nobel Peace Laureate. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available online in the NAPF Peace Store.

 

McKenna Jacquemet
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Hubris Versus Wisdom

by David Krieger

Humankind must not be complacent in the face of the threat posed by nuclear weapons.  The future of humanity and all life depends upon the outcome of the ongoing struggle between hubris and wisdom.

Hubris is an ancient Greek word meaning extreme arrogance. Wisdom is cautionary good sense.

Hubris is at the heart of Greek tragedy – the arrogant belief that one’s power is unassailable.  Wisdom counsels that no human fortress is impregnable.

Hubris says some countries can hold onto nuclear weapons and rely upon them for deterrence.  Wisdom, in the voice of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, says these weapons must be eliminated before they eliminate us.

To read more, click here.

Why Are We Planning to Walk Across the DMZ?

by Mairead Maguire

Almost two years ago, when Christine Ahn proposed international women peacemakers walk across the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) which separates North and South Korea as an important action to help support Korean women and men working for reconciliation and reuniting of Korean families, I couldn’t resist. This was an important first step in establishing a peace process in which women and civil community would be included.

Many people have asked, “Why are they planning to walk across the DMZ that separates North and South Korea?” Maybe the real question should be, “Why not?”

To read more, click here.

How to Avert a Nuclear War

by James Cartwright and Vladimir Dvorkin

We find ourselves in an increasingly risky strategic environment. The Ukrainian crisis has threatened the stability of relations between Russia and the West, including the nuclear dimension — as became apparent last month when it was reported that Russian defense officials had advised President Vladimir V. Putin to consider placing Russia’s nuclear arsenal on alert during last year’s crisis in Crimea.

Diplomatic efforts have done little to ease the new nuclear tension. This makes it all the more critical for Russia and the United States to talk, to relieve the pressures to “use or lose” nuclear forces during a crisis and minimize the risk of a mistaken launch.

The fact is that we are still living with the nuclear-strike doctrine of the Cold War, which dictated three strategic options: first strike, launch on warning and post-attack retaliation. There is no reason to believe that Russia and the United States have discarded these options, as long as the architecture of “mutually assured destruction” remains intact.

To read more, click here.

Statement of Principle in Support of the Lausanne Agreement

We, the undersigned, encourage and support the ongoing negotiations process that in early April of 2015 resulted in the announcement of a historically significant “framework agreement” in Lausanne, Switzerland. This painfully negotiated initial agreement is between the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and those of the “P5+1″ world powers. Its aim is to resolve peacefully the chronic and dangerous dispute over the peacefulness of Iran’s nuclear energy (and technology) program. While we the undersigned may have different views about other matters, we deem the success of the “Lausanne Agreement” to be a significant and positive step forward (although modest and fragile) toward reduction of tension and violence in our interconnected world.

Nevertheless, we note in profound distress that the long diplomatic process which finally resulted in the Lausanne Agreement has many and diverse opponents, if not determined enemies. These foes (mainly in the U.S., in Israel, and even inside Iran) are trying to prevent the agreement from being finalized by the deadline of June 30, 2015. We believe that their strident and disruptive voices should be opposed nonviolently, by all well-intentioned persons and institutions. Why? Because in our opinion, human history is at a critical juncture in which the dream of a truly peaceful and just world, on our fragile “pale blue dot” (on which life is supposed to be thriving, as opposed to being further harmed every single day) is seriously imperiled. Thus, we, the undersigned, invite all people (and institutions) of good will to lend their support to this modest but significant peace process, in part by signing this petition and spreading its words far and wide.

To read the petition and sign your name, click here.

Marshall Islands to U.S.: Keep Your NPT Promises

On April 9, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) filed its court-ordered Mediation Questionnaire in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the Mediation Questionnaire, the RMI cites a statement made by the U.S. Embassy in the Marshall Islands on February 5, 2015, which asserted that “the U.S. commitment to achieving the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons is unassailable.” Taking the Embassy’s statement at face value, the RMI goes on to say, “If the U.S. were willing to demonstrate that commitment by calling for and convening negotiations for cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament under the NPT (which is the very relief sought by the Marshall Islands), then this case could have strong potential for a successful mediation.”

In subsequent court documents, it became clear that the U.S. did not accept the option for mediation in this appeal. The initial appeal brief from the Marshall Islands is due to the court on July 13, 2015.

“Marshall Islands to U.S. – Keep Your NPT Promises,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, April 9, 2015.

Marshall Islands Delivers Strong Message to NPT Review Conference

 

On April 27, 2015, the first day of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum delivered a strong statement about the current state of nuclear affairs and the urgent need for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide.

De Brum said, “It should be our collective goal to not only stop the spread of nuclear weapons, but also to truly achieve the peace and security of a world without them, and thus end the cycle of broken promises…. After decades of diplomacy, the NPT’s defining purpose remains unfulfilled, and those who are unwilling to negotiate in good faith will be held to wider account.”

Tony de Brum, “Statement of Marshall Islands to the 2015 NPT Review Conference,” April 27, 2015.

Failed Missile Defense Programs Cost $10 Billion

 

Numerous U.S. missile defense programs once portrayed as vital to national security have been mothballed or completely scrapped due to their unworkable nature. Once lauded, the weapon systems were eventually discovered to be ineffective and/or much more expensive than initially promised.

Retired Air Force General Eugene Habiger, former head of the U.S. Strategic Command, criticized the leaders of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for their repeated blunders. “They are totally off in la-la land,” he said.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon were the major contractors involved in the failed missile defense programs.

David Willman, “The Pentagon’s $10-billion Bet Gone Bad,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2015.

Close Call During Cuban Missile Crisis

 

Yet another close encounter with complete annihilation of the human race during the Cuban Missile Crisis has been revealed. U.S. missile officers stationed in Okinawa received a false order to launch nuclear-armed missiles on October 28, 1962. Nearly all of the redundancies and checks imposed upon launching a nuclear strike seemed to have been met and the “three-level confirmation process was taken step-by-step in accordance with a manual by comparing codes in the launch order and codes given to his crew team in advance. All of the codes matched.”

If the officers had followed protocol, they would have launched the missiles, which would have likely resulted in the initiation of a massive nuclear exchange between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Instead, the officer in charge decided to use logic and reason before following orders, leading to the eventual discovery that the order was a mistake.

Masakatsu Ota, “U.S. Veterans Reveal 1962 Nuclear Close Call Dodged in Okinawa,” Kyodo News, March 27, 2015.

Nuclear Weapon Transporter Has Anger Management Issues

 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s top auditor, the commander of a nuclear courier squad allegedly threatened to kill one of his colleagues. Senior officials did not learn about the allegations for five months. This same commander was also involved in physical altercations with other couriers on at least two other occasions.

The couriers are responsible for transporting nuclear weapons and weapons-usable nuclear materials around the United States to various factories, storage sites and military bases.

R. Jeffrey Smith, “He Handles American Nuclear Weapons, Has Anger Issues,” The Daily Beast, April 10, 2015.

U.S. Reveals It Has Known About Israel’s Nuclear Program for Over 50 Years

 

Despite denials for decades, the U.S. has finally declassified information affirming its knowledge of Israel’s nuclear program since 1960. When the United States first learned of Israel’s development, officials expressed immense “annoyance because Israeli officials at all levels repeatedly provided less than credible answers to U.S. questions about Dimona.” Included in the report are a myriad of other documents indicating dubious practices on the part of the U.S., Israel, the UK and even international agencies. Among these are:

• A secret agreement between Israel and Norway for the sale of Norwegian heavy water to Israel (through the United Kingdom), transmitted by Oslo Embassy political officer Richard Kerry (father of current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry).
• Reports that the Israelis had a secret nuclear reactor project that involved experiments with plutonium.
• A telegram reporting on Finance Ministry official Addy Cohen’s statement that “we’ve been misbehaving,” and that the secrecy surrounding Dimona was unjustifiable, “a stupid mistake on the part of Israel.”
• Messages about a role for the International Atomic Energy Agency in inspecting and safeguarding Dimona.

Avner Cohen and William Burr, “The U.S. Discovery of Israel’s Secret Nuclear Project,” The National Security Archive, April 15, 2015.

Pension Fund Blacklists Boeing for Work on Nuclear Weapons

 

Nordea Asset Management, the largest financial services group in Northern Europe, has blacklisted Boeing because of its work producing nuclear weapons. Sasja Beslik, head of corporate governance at Nordea, said, “Boeing is in the process of developing a new nuclear program, [which means] we cannot engage with them. These companies will not change their business models, because [nuclear] is too lucrative.” Beslik continued, “We do not believe that the development of new nuclear weapons is needed and we do not want to contribute to the expansion of this business as the potential use of [nuclear arms] is extremely damaging to mankind.”

Boeing is one of many companies that is listed as a “nuclear weapon producer” in the Don’t Bank on the Bomb report, produced by PAX. To see what companies and financial institutions are included in the report, click here.

“Nordea Blacklists Boeing Over Nuclear Arms,” Financial Times, May 3, 2015.

Women’s Power to Stop War

 

Hundreds of women from 80 countries gathered in The Hague April 27-29 for the Women’s Power to Stop War conference. Organized by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in honor if its 100th anniversary, the conference addressed many important global issues.

One such issue is global military spending, which was estimated to be $1.8 trillion in 2014. Speaking at the conference, Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams said, “We have done things, we have banned landmines, we’ve banned cluster munitions … Anything can happen if we get up off our collective butt and work together. With an overarching goal then, however individuals contribute to that goal, we can change the world.”

Liz Ford, “Peace Activists at The Hague Decry $1.8tn Global Military Spend in 2014,” The Guardian, April 29, 2015.

40th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War

 

Forty years ago, on April 30, 1975, the Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon, known today as Ho Chi Minh City. On May 1-2, a conference was held in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the anniversary and examine lessons learned during that time.

NAPF President David Krieger has written a letter to the Americans who died in the Vietnam War, which is one of many messages that will be delivered by Veterans for Peace to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Memorial Day this year.

“We Are Meeting the Pentagon on Battlefield of Memory,” Democracy Now, April 30, 2015.

NPT News In Review

 

Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, produces a newspaper during each Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The News In Review contains summaries of debates, analysis and opinions, and is an excellent way to stay up to date on the daily proceedings whether you are attending the conference in New York City or not.

To read the News In Review, 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 May, including India’s May 18, 1974 nuclear weapon test, which marked the beginning of a dangerous nuclear arms race in South Asia.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

Filling the Legal Gap

 

Reaching Critical Will and Article 36 have produced a brief report summarizing the gaps in existing treaty law related to nuclear weapons that could be filled by a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The “legal gap” regarding prohibition and elimination arises from various deficits in the regulation of activities involving nuclear weapons, as currently codified. The key legal gap that needs to be filled is the explicit prohibition of nuclear weapons and establishment of a framework for their elimination.

To read the report, click here.

Worldwide Nuclear Modernization Programs

 

Hans Kristensen, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project, delivered an informative presentation at the United Nations on April 28 as part of a side event sponsored by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. Kristensen’s presentation examined in depth the “modernization” programs of Russia and the United States, and provided overviews of the nuclear weapon activities of the other seven nuclear-armed nations (United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea).

To view Kristensen’s presentation, click here.

NAPF at the NPT Review Conference

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation was deeply involved during the first week of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York City. The conference, which began on April 27, continues through May 22. On the first day of the conference, NAPF held a side event in partnership with the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. The event, held during the lunch hour, featured Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum, lead counsel in the U.S. lawsuit Laurie Ashton and NAPF President David Krieger.

In addition, NAPF representatives spoke on many other panels at the United Nations and in other locations around New York City. For example, David Krieger spoke at Soka Gakkai International’s Culture of Peace lecture series, while Rick Wayman spoke about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits following a screening of the documentary Nuclear Savage.

Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest Winners

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has announced the winners of the 2015 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest. The contest, which was open to people around the world, called for videos of up to 90 seconds on “The Imperative of Reaching Nuclear Zero: The Marshall Islands Stands Up for All of Humanity.”

To view the winning videos, click here.

Paul Chappell Speaks at Site of Dayton Peace Accords

 

When Paul K. Chappell, Peace Leadership Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, spoke on “Why World Peace Is Possible” at the annual conference of Southwestern Ohio Rotary District 6670 on April 18  in Dayton, Ohio, he found a willingness among the attendees to reconsider some long-held views.

One Rotarian commented, “I was changed. I went in thinking that peace was impossible. Left thinking there is a way to spread peace. Slow and steady, like curing polio.”

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

Peace Poetry Awards: Deadline July 1

 

The deadline for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards is July 1. The contest encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The Poetry Awards include three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. Cash prizes of up to $1,000 will be awarded to the winners.

 

“Democracy has come to nuclear disarmament.”

— Maritza Chan, Minister Counselor of Costa Rica, speaking at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference on May 4, 2015. To read Costa Rica’s full statement, click here.

 

“Pointing nuclear-tipped missiles at entire nations is an act of unprecedented moral depravity.”

— Bernard Lown, co-founder of the 1985 Nobel Peace Laureate organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. This quote appears in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, which is available in the NAPF Peace Store.

 

“Nuclear arms are weapons of the devil, which will not allow humans to live nor die as humans.”

— Sumitero Taniguchi, an 86-year-old survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, speaking at the Peace and Planet Conference in New York City.

 

“It’s just making sure that if we ever had to use them, they would actually explode.”

— Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, explaining why the United States plans to spend at least $1 trillion over the next 30 years on a “modernization” program for its nuclear weapons, delivery vehicles and production facilities.

 

David Krieger
Grant Stanton
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Nuclear Weapons and Possible Human Extinction: The Heroic Marshall Islanders

by David Krieger

Extinction is a harsh and unforgiving word, a word that should make us shiver. Time moves inexorably in one direction only and, when extinction is complete, there are no further chances for revival. Extinction is a void, a black hole, from which return is forever foreclosed. If we can imagine the terrible void of extinction, then perhaps we can mobilize to forestall its occurrence, even its possibility.

The brilliant American author Jonathan Schell, who wrote The Fate of the Earth and was an ardent nuclear abolitionist, had this insight into the Nuclear Age: “We prepare for our extinction in order to assure our survival.” He refers to the irony and idiocy of reliance upon nuclear weapons to avert nuclear war.

To read more, click here.

Why We Need Peace Heroes

by Paul K. Chappell

The art of living requires us to understand what it means to be human, because the art of living works with the medium of our shared humanity, just as painting works with color and music works with sound. The art of living also requires us to learn the art of waging peace, because peace is the process and product of living well. Instead of saying our society is illiterate in peace, a more accurate phrase is “preliterate in peace.” Three thousand years ago, there were many brilliant Greeks and Trojans who did not understand the importance of becoming literate in reading. And today, there are many brilliant people in our society who do not yet understand the importance of becoming literate in living well, waging peace, and our shared humanity.

Because environmental destruction, nuclear weapons, and war can drive humanity extinct, this new kind of literacy I am describing is necessary for human survival. Just as people today recognize that illiteracy in reading is a serious problem, we must create a future where people recognize that illiteracy in the art of living and the art of waging peace is also a serious problem. To take their society to the next level, a civilization such as the ancient Greeks had to prioritize literacy. To take our global society to the next level, we must prioritize literacy in living well, waging peace, and our shared humanity.

To read more, click here.

Marshall Islands to Appeal to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

The lawsuit brought by the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) against the United States is not going away anytime soon. While the case was dismissed on February 3, 2015 by the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, on April 2, 2015, this small island nation took the important step of formally filing its Notice of Appeal.

Earlier this year, U.S. Federal District Court dismissed the case on the jurisdictional grounds of standing and political question doctrine without getting to the merits of the case. Laurie Ashton, lead attorney for the RMI, expressed strong disagreement with the court’s ruling, saying, “We believe the District Court erred in dismissing the case. The Marshall Islands, like every party to the NPT, is entitled to the United States’ fulfillment of its NPT promise – negotiations for nuclear disarmament. Further, the U.S. President does not enjoy exclusive purview to determine the U.S. breach of its treaty obligations. Instead, the judiciary has an obligation to rule in this treaty dispute.”

“The Marshall Islands Will Not Back Down,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, April 2, 2015.

Marshallese Can Rightfully Claim a Victory

 

In Embassy, one of Canada’s top publications on foreign affairs issues, Cesar Jaramillo and Debbie Grisdale describe the main details of the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits.

Speaking particularly to their Canadian audience, they write, “However the court rules, the effort by the RMI to hold nuclear armed states accountable is worthy of support in Canada and beyond. Canada recognizes the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction and has historically aligned with the rule of law.”

Cesar Jaramillo and Debbie Grisdale, “Marshallese Can Rightfully Claim a Victory,” Embassy, March 25, 2015.

U.S. Pressures Allies to Reject Austrian Pledge

 

The United States has pressured Japan, Norway and likely many other allied countries to reject the Austrian Pledge, which calls for efforts to “stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.” While Japan sponsors a resolution annually at the United Nations General Assembly calling for states to take action towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, the Japanese government felt pressured by the United States to reject the Austrian Pledge.

According to a Japanese government official, Japan’s reliance on the U.S. nuclear “umbrella” is more important than supporting an effort to negotiate a treaty banning and eliminating nuclear weapons.

“Because of U.S. Nuclear Umbrella, Japan Not to Support Austrian Document Seeking Atomic Weapons Ban,” Kyodo, March 13, 2015.

U.S. Finally Admits that Israel Has Nuclear Weapons

 

A report prepared for the Pentagon in the late 1980s has been released under the Freedom of Information Act. The report describes Israel as having nuclear weapon development and production facilities “equivalent to our Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories.”

While it has been widely known for years that Israel possesses nuclear weapons, the United States government has played along with Israel’s position of “strategic ambiguity” for decades. This document’s release marks the first time that the U.S. government has officially disclosed its knowledge of Israeli nuclear weapons programs.

William Greider, “It’s Official: The Pentagon Finally Admitted that Israel Has Nuclear Weapons, Too,” The Nation, March 20, 2015.

GOP Senators Send Letter to Iran in Attempt to Undermine Nuclear Negotiations

 

Forty-seven Republican Senators have sent a letter to Iran’s leadership in an attempt to undermine negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The letter, written by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, states that the signers view any negotiated agreement as an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. It goes on to state that future U.S. Presidents could “revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, “I should bring one important point to the attention of the authors and that is, the world is not the United States, and the conduct of inter-state relations is governed by international law, and not by US domestic law. The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfill the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations.”

“Part II: Iran Responds to GOP Letter,” United States Institute of Peace, March 9, 2015.

Iran Nuclear Negotiations Continue

 

The latest self-imposed deadline of March 31 has passed in the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1. Negotiations have mostly been portrayed as positive, but important points of disagreement remain.

The Americans want to establish quantitative limits: how many centrifuges can spin, how much nuclear fuel can be produced, etc. The Iranians, on the other hand, are focused on maintaining sovereignty and reassuring Iranian citizens that they are standing their ground. Additionally, the pace of sanctions relief is an unresolved issue.

Joe Cirincione, President of the Ploughshares Fund, recently published an article entitled “How to Know if the Iran Deal Is a Good Deal.” Click here to read it.

Michael Gordon, “Iran Nuclear Talks Are Extended for Another Day,” The New York Times, April 1, 2015.

Why Is China Modernizing Its Nuclear Arsenal?

 

China’s nuclear modernization program often receives more attention than the programs of other nuclear-armed nations, even though its nuclear arsenal is far inferior to that of Russia or the United States. Chinese analysts often point to concerns about the United States’ first strike capability as a reason for modernizing. The analysts also say that China believes it must modernize its nuclear arsenal to remain viable against massive U.S. nuclear and conventional weapon modernization.

Chinese analysts also point to the disparity in numbers of nuclear weapons. Despite the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia, which has reduced the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons those two countries can have, the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States are still nearly 20 times larger than China’s. Interestingly, under the definition of “deployed” in the New START Treaty, China would be considered to have zero nuclear weapons.

Gregory Kulacki, “Why Is China Modernizing Its Nuclear Arsenal?” All Things Nuclear, April 1, 2015.

Russia Calls on U.S. to Remove Nuclear Weapons from Europe

 

Russia has called on the United States to remove its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe. Currently, the United States has approximately 180 nuclear weapons in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey under a NATO nuclear sharing agreement. Russia claims that this arrangement is “in direct contradiction to the letter and spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty” because it involves the use of military equipment and personnel of non-nuclear weapon states.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons on the territories of NATO allies “is consistent with the NPT” because the NATO nuclear sharing agreement was in place before the NPT entered into force in 1970.

Tony Halpin, “Russia Calls on U.S. to Remove Its Nuclear Weapons from Europe,” Bloomberg Business, March 24, 2015.

Russia and U.S. Test ICBMs

 

In March, both Russia and the United States conducted tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles – land-based missiles that carry nuclear warheads. Russia tested its SS-26 Rubezh missile on March 18, while the U.S. conducted tests of its Minuteman III missile on March 23 and 27.

Speaking about the March 27 Minuteman III launch, Lt. Col. Daniel Hays, commander of the 341st Missile Wing Task Force, said, “These launches are a visible reminder to both our adversaries and our allies of the readiness and capability of the Minuteman III weapon system.”

To read NAPF President David Krieger’s response to the U.S. tests from Vandenberg Air Force Base, click here.

Brian Everstine, “Missile Crews Complete Two Successful Test Launches in One Week,” Air Force Times, March 27, 2015.

NPT Action Plan Monitoring Report

 

In advance of this month’s Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, Reaching Critical Will has published a new report that examines progress that countries have made toward implementing the 2010 Action Plan agreed to at the 2010 NPT Review Conference. The 64-point action plan was intended to further the implementation of the NPT.

Reaching Critical Will’s monitoring report provides a straightforward review and assessment of the Plan’s implementation. In addition to actions on nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the report covers the initiatives related to the Middle East weapons of mass destruction free zone and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

Many of the 64 action points, particularly those relating to nuclear disarmament, continue to receive a failing mark.

To read the report, 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 April, including the April 11, 1950 crash of a B-29 Superfortress strategic bomber in New Mexico, in which 13 crew members died. The plane was carrying a nuclear weapon on board, but the nuclear warhead did not detonate.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

Consequences of Limited and Large-Scale Nuclear War

 

Dr. Ira Helfand, co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, delivered an important overview of the consequences of limited and large-scale nuclear war at a planning meeting for the upcoming World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Atlanta.

Dr. Helfand explained that even in a limited regional nuclear war, the consequences would be global. Soot from burning cities would block sunlight and prevent crops from growing in many parts of the planet, leading to widespread famine that could kill up to two billion people.

To watch the 10-minute video of Ira Helfand’s presentation, click here.

Nuclear Weapons in Your Backyard

 

Physicians for Social Responsibility has created an interactive map showing U.S. nuclear facilities and the locations of many mishaps involving nuclear weapons throughout history. Many readers of The Sunflower may be surprised to discover that a nuclear weapon accident has taken place near their home.

To see the map and read more information about the project, click here.

Global Wave on April 26

 

The Global Wave will involve a simple public action in cities around the world in a timed fashion over 24 hours just before the 2015 NPT Review Conference in New York City. Starting at a major peace rally in New York City on April 26, and then proceeding westward through each time zone every hour, humanity will “Wave Goodbye to Nuclear Weapons” through symbolic Wave events.

The action will engage parliamentarians, mayors, religious leaders, youth, environmentalists, human rights activists, sports clubs, celebrities and other representatives of civil society. The action in some places will be small and symbolic – in other places it will be larger and more celebratory.

Global Wave 2015 is part of Peace and Planet: Mobilization for a Nuclear Free, Just and Sustainable World. To get involved in this exciting global action, click here.

NAPF at Peace and Planet Mobilization

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is involved in many activities around the upcoming Peace and Planet Mobilization in New York City on April 24-26. NAPF is co-sponsoring a workshop at the Peace and Planet conference entitled “Small Islands, Big Threats: The Marshall Islands Tackle Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change.” The Foundation will also have a booth at the Peace Festival from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday, April 26 in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.

If you are in the New York area, please join us for these important events. For more information on the Peace and Planet Mobilization and to register, click here.

Event on Nuclear Zero Lawsuits at the United Nations

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms is co-sponsoring a lunchtime event on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits at the United Nations on April 27, the first day of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Speakers at the event include: Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands; Laurie Ashton, lead counsel for the Marshall Islands in the lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court; and David Krieger, NAPF President and member of the legal team working on the lawsuits at the International Court of Justice.

The event is inside United Nations headquarters and is only open to government and NGO representatives with building passes.

New Booklets Now Available

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has just published two new booklets to raise awareness around the urgent need for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The first booklet is based on NAPF President David Krieger’s list of 15 moral reasons to abolish nuclear weapons. The second booklet, entitled “Nuclear Zero: Believe,” contains quotes from leaders of many different faith traditions that support the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Click here to view the 15 moral reasons booklet. Click here for the “Nuclear Zero: Believe” booklet. To order hard copies of these booklets for distribution in your area, please email rwayman@napf.org.

Peace Leadership and Civil Rights

 

NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell touched a part of civil rights history on March 29 as keynote speaker for the Durr Lecture Series at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. Chappell, who grew up in Huntsville, helped to bring closure to a time period of remembering. Only several days earlier, at the reenactment of the conclusion of the civil rights march from Selma to the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of Governor George Wallace, hugged and held hands in prayer.

Among many topics, Chappell discussed how, from a military perspective, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were strategic geniuses, more brilliant and innovative than any general in history. They were courageous warriors who advanced a more effective method than waging war for providing national and global security. “Gandhi said, ‘I am a soldier, but a solider of peace.’ Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘In the nonviolent army, there is room for everyone who wants to join.’”

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

Upcoming NAPF Lectures

 

In the coming weeks, NAPF representatives will be giving public lectures around the United States. If you are in the area of any of these lectures, we would be pleased to see you there. For more information on these events, please call NAPF at (805) 965-3443.

On April 27 at 7:30 p.m., NAPF President David Krieger will deliver a lecture in New York City as part of the SGI Culture of Peace Lecture Series.

On May 3-4, NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will speak at Kent State University to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the killing of four students by National Guard troops during a protest against the Vietnam War. Paul will be joined by Dick Gregory and many others.

NAPF Peace Poetry Contest

 

The deadline for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards is July 1. The contest encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The Poetry Awards include three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. Cash prizes of up to $1,000 will be awarded to the winners.

April is National Poetry Month, so it is a great time to submit your poems. For full details on the poetry contest, click here.

 

“There’s an increasing urgency on the part of those countries that do not have nuclear weapons to say to the nuclear weapons powers: ‘You need to disarm, you need to fulfill your side of the bargain.’”

— Angela Kane, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Ms. Kane recently announced her decision to step down from her position after serving for three years.

 

“We are robbing America’s future to pay for unneeded weapons of the past.”

— Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), introducing the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act on March 23, 2015.

 

“The hope of humankind is that compassion and compromise may replace the cruel and senseless violence of armed conflicts.”

— Benjamin B. Ferencz, American attorney and prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available from the NAPF Peace Store.

 

Keanna Cohen
David Krieger
Grant Stanton
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Bush-Appointed Judge Dismisses Nuclear Zero Lawsuit; Marshall Islands to Appeal

by David Krieger

On April 24, 2014, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a Pacific Island country of 70,000 inhabitants, took bold action on nuclear disarmament. It brought lawsuits at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court, against the nine nuclear-armed countries, accusing them of violating their obligations under international law to negotiate in good faith to end the nuclear arms race and for total nuclear disarmament. Because of the importance of the US as a nuclear power and the fact that it does not accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ, the Marshall Islands at the same time brought a similar lawsuit against the US in US federal district court in Northern California.

In the US case, rather than engaging in the case in good faith, the US government responded by filing a motion to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds. On February 3, 2015, George W. Bush appointee Judge Jeffrey White granted the US motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the RMI, although a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), lacked standing to bring the case and that the lawsuit is barred by the political question doctrine.

To read more, click here.

Nuclear Nations in the Dock

by Sue Wareham

A little-known court case initiated by an inconspicuous Pacific Island state might not seem very newsworthy, but when there’s a David and Goliath element involving some of the world’s most powerful nations, with implications for Australia, we should take notice.

For Australia, this is anything but a quaint and esoteric legal exercise, and we are anything but an innocent bystander.  Successive Australian governments pay lip service to the goal of a nuclear weapons free world, while simultaneously giving support to US nuclear weapons, under the extraordinarily foolish notion that they protect us. Goliath, with his genocidal weapons, has our unbridled loyalty and complicity. We are in fact part of the problem.

To read more, click here.

Remember Your Humanity

by John Scales Avery

This year, 2015, marks the 60th anniversary of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which contains the following words: “There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise. If you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.”

[The elimination of nuclear weapons] is a life-or-death question. We can see this most clearly when we look far ahead. Suppose that each year there is a certain finite chance of a nuclear catastrophe, let us say 2 percent. Then in a century the chance of survival will be 13.5 percent, and in two centuries, 1.8 percent, in three centuries, 0.25 percent, in 4 centuries, there would only be a 0.034 percent chance of survival and so on. Over many centuries, the chance of survival would shrink almost to zero. Thus by looking at the long-term future, we can clearly see that if nuclear weapons are not entirely eliminated, civilization will not survive.

To read more, click here.

Foreign Minister Tony de Brum Addresses Marshallese Parliament

On February 23, Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, delivered a speech to the Nitijela (parliament) about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits. Mr. de Brum explained many of the key issues in the ruling granting the U.S. government’s Motion to Dismiss and responded to the recent statement by the U.S. embassy in the Marshall Islands.

Importantly, Foreign Minister de Brum made it clear that the Marshall Islands was disappointed in the ruling in U.S. Federal District Court and plans to appeal to a higher court. He stated, “Nuclear weapons are not our friend, nor the friend of the U.S. or any other country. Rather, these weapons are the enemy of all humankind. That is why we will stand up for what we believe in, and we will be appealing the Court’s dismissal of the lawsuit to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the next step in the American judicial process.”

“Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Speaks Out on Dismissal of Lawsuit and Plans to Appeal,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, February 24, 2015.

The Marshall Islands is “In to Win” Nuclear Disarmament Case

 

Laurie Ashton, Lead Counsel for the Marshall Islands in the Nuclear Zero Lawsuit against the United States in U.S. Federal District Court, has indicated that the Marshall Islands is willing to go as far as possible to win the case.

Ashton said, “I think the Marshall Islands are among the bravest people, certainly among the people I know, in terms of siding against nuclear weapons and some of that comes from their tragic and horrible experience with the United States testing there…. it takes a great deal of determination and courage to bring lawsuits against what some people believe are the biggest and strongest countries on the planet, the nuclear-armed countries.

Sally Round, “Marshalls ‘in to win’ nuclear disarmament case,” Radio New Zealand International, February 11, 2015.

Nuclear Zero Profiles

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has launched a series of profiles featuring people from the Marshall Islands who have been significantly impacted by U.S. nuclear weapon tests.

Profiles have already been published of John Anjain, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Lijon Eknilang, Jeban Riklon, Rokko Langinbelik and Tony de Brum.

We encourage you to share these profiles with your friends and colleagues through social media.

More Bucks for the Bang

 

The United States is now paying 500% more per nuclear warhead, on average, than it did in 1985. While the total number of U.S. nuclear warheads has declined from 23,368 in 1985 to 7,300 in 2015, the large infrastructure and bureaucracy remain in place. The average annual cost per warhead in 1985 was $354,000, compared to $1.8 million annually per warhead today.

These costs will rise even further as the U.S. continues to design and build new nuclear warheads, delivery vehicles and production facilities that will allow it to retain nuclear weapons for many decades to come.

Robert Alvarez, “More Bucks for the Bang,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 23, 2015.

Over 10 Percent Increase for Nuclear Weapons in Budget Request

 

The Obama administration has requested a 10.5% increase, to $8.85 billion, in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget request for the nuclear weapon programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The budget increase was requested to accommodate the United States’ 30-year nuclear weapon modernization plan. In contrast, funding for cleaning up radioactive contamination remains the same as previous years, even as the estimated cost for cleaning up this contamination rises. Similarly, the budget request contains only $48 million for dismantlement of retired nuclear warheads.

“DOE Nuclear Weapons Budget Up 10%, Equals Cold War Record,” Nuclear Watch New Mexico, February 11, 2015.

U.S. Missile Officer Ran Violent Street Gang

 

A U.S. Air Force nuclear missileer stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, was tried for a plethora of crimes committed while leading a violent street gang. Capt. Leon Brown IV was eventually convicted of “two counts of sexual assault of a child younger than 16; distribution of marijuana and psilocybin; use of psilocybin; willful dereliction of duty; conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman; pandering; unlawful entry; and four specifications of communicating threats.” He was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison and dishonorably discharged.

Kristin Davis, “AF: Missileer Who Ran ‘Violent Street Gang’ Gets 25 Years,” Air Force Times, February 2, 2015.

Prescribed Burn Canceled at Rocky Flats Plutonium Site

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has canceled a prescribed burn at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge due to public opposition. From 1952-89, the United States produced plutonium cores for nuclear weapons at Rocky Flats. The site was raided by the FBI in 1989 and was shut down due to extreme environmental contamination.

Activists argue that a prescribed burn would cause plutonium particles to be released into the air, carried by the wind and, ultimately, inhaled by people. Plutonium is extremely harmful to humans, even in minute quantities.

LeRoy Moore, “Burn Canceled; What’s Next?,” Boulder Daily Camera, February 20, 2015.

Iran Nuclear Negotiations Progress

 

Following another round of high-level negotiations, both sides are mulling over a proposal that would see Iran’s nuclear production severely limited for 10 years, with another 5 years of diminished restrictions. The United States has insisted that Iran’s breakout capacity be constrained for “double-digit years.” The speed at which Iran might make a nuclear bomb is a paramount U.S. interest, one that forms the crux of these negotiations. With the March 31 deadline approaching, both sides are keenly aware that a framework for the final June 30 deadline is essential for a permanent deal.

Michael Gordon and David Sanger, “Negotiators Weigh Plan to Phase Out Nuclear Limits on Iran,” The New York Times, February 23, 2015.

Latin American and Caribbean Countries Commit to Austrian Pledge

 

At the third annual summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), all 33 heads of state restated their commitment to a world without nuclear weapons. They also gave their unanimous support to the Austrian Pledge to address the “legal gap” between the commitment to nuclear disarmament and its legal manifestations. According to Daniel Högsta of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, “The Austrian Pledge is a rallying call for states to demand action to fill an unacceptable legal gap. The momentum generated by the humanitarian initiative is paving the way for the commencement of a process to ban nuclear weapons. CELAC states have added their voices to the call. We expect other regions to do the same.”

“33 Latin American and Caribbean States Endorse Austrian Pledge and Call for Negotiations on a Ban Treaty,” International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, January 30, 2015.

Fiji Compensates Nuclear Test Victims as UK Stalls

 

The Fijian government recently compensated the remaining survivors of British nuclear tests done on Christmas Island in 1957-58. The payments came after decades of campaigning by veterans and their children for recognition of the serious health problems they suffered. After waiting for British compensation to no avail, the Fijian prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, said,  “The Pacific nation could wait no longer.” The personnel known to have suffered from conditions such as cancer, leukemia and other blood disorders were each given the equivalent of $4,788 U.S. dollars in payment for their suffering.

“Fiji Compensates Its Veterans of British Nuclear Tests in the Pacific,” Agence France Presse, January 30, 2015.

Recommended Reading on the Dangerous Situation in Ukraine

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has compiled a short list of recommended reading about the current dangerous situation in Ukraine. The list includes articles by Andy Lichterman of Western States Legal Foundation, Martin Hellman of Stanford University and Robert Parry, an author and investigative journalist.

To see the list of recommended reading, 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 March, including the March 10, 1956 crash  of a U.S. Air Force B-47 bomber, carrying two capsules of payload pits for nuclear warheads. The bomber was lost at sea while flying from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, to a NATO base in Morocco.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

SGI Peace Proposal

 

Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International, has published his 2015 Peace Proposal. Regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons, a consistent theme of Ikeda’s proposals, he applauds the fact that, in October 2014, a total of 155 countries and territories signed the Joint Statement on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons. Over 80% of UN member states have now clearly stated that nuclear weapons should be never used under any circumstances.

Ikeda asserts that, while the gulf between the nuclear-weapon states and those calling for nuclear abolition appears great, there is common ground in the desire to avoid the horrific outcome of any use of nuclear weapons. He urges heads of government to attend the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and calls on them to voice there the pledges of their governments to eliminate the danger posed by nuclear weapons.

To read a full copy of the 2015 Peace Proposal, click here.

Nuclear Disarmament: The Road Ahead

 

The International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms has published a new paper entitled “Nuclear Disarmament: The Road Ahead.” The paper recommends that states seek agreement on commencement of negotiations on a comprehensive convention prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons at the upcoming Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and beyond. It explains the mandate for such negotiations arising out of General Assembly resolutions, the NPT, and the 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice,  as well as the illegality of nuclear weapons under international humanitarian law.

To read a copy of the paper, click here.

14th Annual Kelly Lecture Features Dr. Helen Caldicott

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 14th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future will feature Dr. Helen Caldicott, an Australian physician and renowned anti-nuclear advocate. Her lecture, entitled “Preserving Humanity’s Future,” will take place on March 5, 2015 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California.

Tickets start at $10 and are on sale at the Lobero Theatre box office online or by phone at (805) 963-0761.

Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest Now Underway

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest is now underway. The contest is open to people of all ages around the world. Contestants must make a video of 90 seconds or less on the topic “The Imperative of Reaching Nuclear Zero: The Marshall Islands Stands Up for All Humanity.”

Entries are due by April 1, and the top videos will receive cash prizes. For more information and a complete set of rules, click here. You can also “like” the contest’s Facebook page and see the videos as contestants post them.

New Book by NAPF President David Krieger

 

Wake Up! is the latest poetry book by David Krieger, in which he continues on his path of writing piercing and thought-provoking peace poetry. His poems are often poems of remembrance, as well as warnings about the dangers of the nuclear age. Wake Up! is divided into six sections: Truth Is Beauty; War; Remembering Bush II; Global Hiroshima; Peace; Portraits; and Imperfection.

The book has received much praise. Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, “There is haunting beauty and truth in this poetry.” Doug Rawlings, poet and Vietnam War veteran, said of Wake Up! that “…it reads like a series of eloquent telegrams sent directly to the heart of a culture, ours…”  Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and author of A Coney Island of the Mind, wrote:  “Wake Up! is accessible and moving writing, setting itself against the dominant murderous culture of our time. Every poem hits home.”

Click here to order a copy of the book.

From Peace Leaders to Peace Heroes

 

When Paul K. Chappell, Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, visited the Dayton International Peace Museum in Dayton, Ohio, for a week’s worth of events, the museum made a request. Could Paul put down his thoughts about peace heroes that they could use in the spring campaign for their first annual peace heroes walk?

Paul wrote a 2,500 word essay entitled “The Little Book of Peace Heroes,” which is published on the museum’s website and will soon be available as a pamphlet to be distributed nationwide to schools and concerned organizations.

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

 

“It is time for States, and all those of us in a position to influence them, to act with urgency and determination to bring the era of nuclear weapons to an end.”

— Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, in a speech to diplomats in Geneva.

 

“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.”

— Physicist Stephen Hawking.

 

“It is my firm belief that the infinite and uncontrollable fury of nuclear weapons should never be held in the hands of any mere mortal ever again, for any reason.”

— Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the USSR and 1990 Nobel Peace Laureate. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available from the NAPF Peace Store.

 

“The experience of the Bravo explosion on March 1st, 1954 was a jolt on my soul that never left me.”

— Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, describing his memory of the U.S. Castle Bravo nuclear test, the largest ever conducted by the United States.

 

Shervin Ghaffari
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

The 2015 State of the Union Address: A Major Omission

by David Krieger

When President Obama first took office he was deeply concerned about nuclear disarmament. We might well ask not only what happened to “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” but what happened to President Obama’s commitment?

Mr. President, we live in an unpredictable world, but it is predictable based on history that nuclear weapons and human fallibility are a dangerous and highly flammable mix. Nuclear weapons, including our own, threaten all Americans and all humanity. Don’t give up on the essential quest for a Nuclear Zero world, which you seemed so eager to achieve upon assuming office.

To read more, click here.

Three Minutes to Midnight

by Bob Dodge

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has just announced its latest nuclear Doomsday Clock moving ahead the minute hand to three minutes till midnight. The clock represents the count down to zero in minutes to nuclear apocalypse – midnight. This significant move of TWO minutes is the 22nd time since its inception in 1947 that the time has been changed.

In moving the hand to 3 minutes to midnight, Kennette Benedict the Executive Director of the Bulletin, identified in her comments: “the probability of global catastrophe is very high”… “the choice is ours and the clock is ticking”…”we feel the need to warn the world” …”the decision was based on a very strong feeling of urgency”. She spoke to the dangers of both nuclear weapons and climate change saying, “they are both very difficult and we are ignoring them” and emphasized “this is about doomsday, this is about the end of civilization as we know it”.

To read more, click here.

The Marshall Islands Versus the World’s Nuclear Weapons States

by Peter Weiss

Last April, in an extraordinary and commendable act of chutzpah, RMI sued all nine states currently possessing nuclear weapons – the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – accusing them of violating their duty to negotiate in good faith for the elimination of those horrific weapons.

One effect of the RMI initiative is to throw a spotlight on the policies of the nuclear weapons states, which claim to be committed to a nuclear weapons-free world while showing not the slightest willingness to reach that goal. Reduction, which can go on forever, is fundamentally different from elimination, which reaches an end point. The legal obligation to conclude negotiations for complete nuclear disarmament is not met by shrinking a nation’s nuclear arsenal from 600 to 300 weapons, as France has done, nor by the agreement between the United States and Russia to reduce the stockpile of deployed long-range nuclear warheads each to 1,550 by 2018, as was done in the New START Treaty negotiated in 2010.

To read more, click here.

Nuclear Zero Lawsuits Featured on Australian Morning News

A story about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits aired on “Sunrise,” Australia’s largest morning TV show. Dr. Keith Suter, Foreign Editor for the program, discussed the lawsuits and the important issues that the Marshall Islands is raising.

To see many of the media stories published since the Marshall Islands filed the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits in April 2014, click here.

“Decades Since U.S. Nuclear Tests,” Sunrise, January 18, 2015.

Oral Arguments in U.S. Federal District Court Lawsuit

 

On January 16, Judge Jeffrey White heard oral arguments in the lawsuit filed by the Marshall Islands against the United States in U.S. Federal District Court. The hearing focused on the U.S. Motion to Dismiss.

Laurie Ashton, representing the Marshall Islands from the firm Keller Rohrback, said at the hearing that there is “an increased risk of nuclear detonation every time the U.S. refuses to negotiate disarmament.”

Prior to the hearing, Judge White issued a tentative ruling granting the Motion to Dismiss. However, he has taken the matter under advisement after the oral arguments and has not yet delivered a final ruling.

Katherine Proctor, “Marshall Islands, Feds Argue Disarmament,” Courthouse News Service, January 16, 2015.

Nuclear Zero Profiles

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has launched a series of profiles featuring people from the Marshall Islands who have been significantly impacted by U.S. nuclear weapon tests. A new profile will be published each Friday for the next few weeks on the NAPF Facebook page.

Profiles have already been published of John Anjain, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Lijon Eknilang.

Air Force Piles on Requests

 

The United States is preparing to develop and build a new generation of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) for the Air Force. ICBMs are the land-based leg of the “nuclear triad,” which many experts believe to be unnecessary and highly dangerous.

The Air Force’s ICBM force is largely designed to be a sponge to absorb part of a massive hypothetical Cold War-style Soviet nuclear attack. “An adversary would have to fire hundreds, if not thousands, of missiles to eliminate that leg of the triad,” said Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association. The only potential adversary capable of doing so is Russia.

Dave Majumdar, “$348 Billion in Nukes Ain’t Enough. The Air Force Wants New ICBMs Too,” The Daily Beast, January 28, 2015.

Doomsday Planes to Be Updated

 

The United States will update its four E-4B flying command posts that would be used by its leaders to manage military operations in a nuclear war. The planes will receive communications upgrades to enhance their ‘connectivity’ during a nuclear conflict.

Currently, at least one of the four “doomsday planes” is kept on alert at all times. The planes are capable of staying airborne as long as a week with aerial refueling.  The on-board equipment is hardened against nuclear effects. In a nuclear crisis, the heavily modified Boeing 747s could each carry a crew of over 100 specialists attempting to manage the conflict.

Loren Thompson, “A Doomsday Plane Reminder: Nuclear Weapons Haven’t Gone Away,” Forbes, January 13, 2015.

Congressional Budget Office Estimates Nuclear Modernization Costs

 

The Congressional Budget Office has released a new report that estimates the U.S. will spend $348 billion on nuclear weapons over the next 10 years, and possibly $1 trillion over the next 30 years. Planned spending includes rebuilding all three legs of the nuclear “triad” and their associated warheads.

Although Congress mandated reductions in planned military spending and President Obama’s military advisors have determined that the U.S. has more nuclear weapons than it needs for national security, the current spending plans would allow the U.S. to deploy far more weapons than deemed “necessary.”

Kingston Reif, “CBO: Nuclear Weapons Still Expensive,” Arms Control Association, January 22, 2015.

U.S. Rejects North Korean Offer to Suspend Nuclear Tests

 

On January 10, North Korea offered to suspend its nuclear tests in exchange for the U.S. cancelling its annual military drills with South Korea. The U.S. almost immediately rejected the offer, calling it a veiled threat that inappropriately linked nuclear tests and the U.S.-South Korea military drills that have been carried out for decades.

“By refusing to accept our proposal…the United States has shown once again that they will continue to increase attack military capabilities in South Korea while requesting us not to have our own national defence capabilities. This is absolutely unacceptable and cannot be justified by anything,” said An Myong Hun, North Korea’s Deputy UN Ambassador.

Michelle Nichols, “North Korea Offers to Meet U.S. on Rejected Nuclear Test Proposal,” Reuters, January 13, 2015.

Russia Ends Cooperative Threat Reduction Program

 

Russian officials informed their U.S. counterparts that they will no longer be seeking the United States’ help in securing Russia’s massive weapons-grade uranium stockpile. In accordance with deals struck between the two powers following the Cold War, the Untied States was helping Russia protect its HEU stockpile from finding its way onto the black market.

Since the cooperative agreement began two decades ago, U.S. experts have helped destroy hundreds of weapons and nuclear-powered submarines, pay workers’ salaries, install security measures at myriad facilities containing weapons material across Russia and the former Soviet Union, and conduct training programs for their personnel.

Bryan Bender, “Russia Ends US Nuclear Security Alliance,” The Boston Globe, January 19, 2015.

President Obama Continues to Seek Iranian Nuclear Deal

 

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, President Obama said that he continues to seek a good deal with Iran on its nuclear program. Referring to the desire of some members of Congress to implement additional sanctions against Iran at this time, Obama said, “For us to undermine diplomacy at this critical time for no good reason is a mistake and that what we need to do is to finish up this round of negotiations, put the pressure on Iran to say yes to what the international community is calling for.”

President Obama continued, “I’ve said before that we will take no deal over a bad deal….Why would we reject [a good] deal and prefer a potential military option that would be less effective in constraining Iran’s nuclear program and would have extraordinary ramifications at a time when we’ve already got too many conflicts in the Middle East?”

“Obama: Netanyahu’s Visit Too Close to Election for Meeting,” Fareed Zakaria GPS, January 28, 2015.

The Chaplain Who Blessed the Hiroshima Bombers

 

Sixty-nine years ago, as a Catholic Air Force chaplain, Father George Zabelka blessed the men who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over the next twenty years, he gradually came to believe that he had been terribly wrong, that he had denied the very foundations of his faith by lending moral and religious support to the bombing. Zabelka, who died in 1992, gave a speech on the 40th anniversary of the bombings. He said:

“The destruction of civilians in war was always forbidden by the Church, and if a soldier came to me and asked if he could put a bullet through a child’s head, I would have told him, absolutely not. That would be mortally sinful.  But in 1945 Tinian Island was the largest airfield in the world. Three planes a minute could take off from it around the clock. Many of these planes went to Japan with the express purpose of killing not one child or one civilian but of slaughtering hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of children and civilians – and I said nothing.”

To read Zabelka’s full speech, 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 February, including the February 13, 1950 crash of a U.S. bomber that was simulating a nuclear attack against San Francisco.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

The World’s Nuclear Weapons in Graphic Form

 

The Nagasaki Council for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, (PCU-NC) in cooperation with the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (RECNA), Nagasaki University, have produced a poster about the number and type of nuclear warheads in the world.

To view and download a copy of the poster, click here.

Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest Now Underway

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s annual Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest is now underway. The contest is open to people of all ages around the world. Contestants must make a video of 90 seconds or less on the topic “The Imperative of Reaching Nuclear Zero: The Marshall Islands Stands Up for All Humanity.”

Entries are due by April 1, and the top videos will receive cash prizes. For more information and a complete set of rules, click here. You can also “like” the contest’s Facebook page and see the videos as contestants post them.

14th Annual Kelly Lecture Features Dr. Helen Caldicott

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 14th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future will feature Dr. Helen Caldicott, an Australian physician and renowned anti-nuclear advocate. Her lecture, entitled “Preserving Humanity’s Future,” will take place on March 5, 2015, at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California.

Tickets start at $10 and are on sale at the Lobero Theatre box office online or by phone at (805) 963-0761.

The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction

 

The Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear Free Future will hold a two-day symposium at the New York Academy of Medicine on February 28 – March 1, 2015. The symposium will address the dynamics of possible nuclear extinction.

NAPF President David Krieger is among a distinguished group of panelists for this event. In last month’s edition of the Sunflower, we indicated that the symposium is free. This was an error; there is a modest cost associated with the event. For more information and to register, click here.

This event will be live-streamed. Check the link above for updates on the exact details of the live-streaming.

New Book by NAPF President David Krieger

 

Wake Up! is the latest poetry book by David Krieger, in which he continues on his path of writing piercing and thought-provoking peace poetry. His poems are often poems of remembrance, as well as warnings about the dangers of the nuclear age. Wake Up! is divided into six sections: Truth Is Beauty; War; Remembering Bush II; Global Hiroshima; Peace; Portraits; and Imperfection.

The book has received much praise. Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, “There is haunting beauty and truth in this poetry.” Doug Rawlings, poet and Vietnam War veteran said of Wake Up! that “…it reads like a series of eloquent telegrams sent directly to the heart of a culture, ours…”  Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and author of A Coney Island of the Mind, wrote:  “Wake Up! is accessible and moving writing, setting itself against the dominant murderous culture of our time. Every poem hits home.”

Click here to order a copy of the book. NAPF is offering a 20% discount if you order by March 1.

 

“There are a lot of hard decisions we’ve got to make out there, but this isn’t one of them. We want them (our children and grandchildren) to win: 100 to nothing, not 51 to 49. We can afford this, and it’s desperately needed so the United States Air Force continues to be what it always has been – the force that allows alternatives and options for our president to defend America.”

— Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, Air Force assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, arguing for a massive budget to build new nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles.

 

“Many people feel powerless and suffer in cynicism, selfishness, and apathy. There is a cure: when individuals commit to caring for others with kindness and compassion, they change and they are able to make changes for peace in the world.”

— An excerpt from the statement “Living Peace,” issued at the conclusion of the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

 

“In an all-out nuclear war, more destructive power than in all of World War II would be unleashed every second during the long afternoon it would take for all the missiles and bombs to fall. A World War II every second – more people killed in the first few hours than all the wars of history put together. The survivors, if any, would live in despair amid the poisoned ruins of a civilization that had committed suicide.”

— Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States. The U.S. observes Presidents Day on February 16, 2015. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available from the NAPF Peace Store.

 

“Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of…peaceful coexistence among peoples and states.”

— Pope Francis, in a message to the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons.

 

Shervin Ghaffari
David Krieger
Kate Mazzera
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

The Nuclear Zero Lawsuits

by David Krieger

The Nuclear Zero lawsuits, initiated by the Marshall Islands, are about the law, but they are about much more than the law.  They are also about saving humanity from its most destructive capabilities.  They are about saving humanity from itself and about preserving civilization for future generations.

Nuclear weapons do not so much threaten our amazing planet itself, as they threaten the future of humanity and all the creatures, which are subject, for better or worse, to our stewardship.  Over geological time with the passing of hundreds of thousands of years, the Earth will recover from the worst we can do to it.  It is ourselves and civilization that we put at risk with our nuclear arsenals.

To read more, click here.

This Generation Will Ban Nuclear Weapons

by Jen Maman

Participants in a Civil Society Forum organized by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) before the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons called on governments to urgently start negotiating a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The US and other nuclear-armed states may remain strongly opposed, but they can no longer ignore the emerging momentum to jump-start the efforts to reduce nuclear dangers so the world can live safely.

A powerful video shown at the conference by ICAN on behalf of civil society concluded: “Every generation has a chance to change the world. This generation will ban nuclear weapons.”

To read more, click here.

Pope Breaks Ground in Seeking Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

by Douglas Roche

Pope Francis, who has already broken new ground in his outreach to a suffering humanity, has put the weight of the Catholic Church behind a new humanitarian movement to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

In his message, delivered by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, a leading Holy See diplomat, Pope Francis stripped away any lingering moral acceptance of the military doctrine of nuclear deterrence: “Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence.”

To read more, click here.

A Former Ground Zero Goes to Court Against the World’s Nuclear Arsenals

The New York Times published a substantial article about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits in its Sunday, December 28 edition. The article opens by describing the experiences of Tony de Brum, now the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, as he witnessed many U.S. nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands as a child.

Explaining the Marshall Islands’ reasoning for pursuing the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, Marlise Simons writes, “By turning to the world’s highest tribunal, a civil court that addresses disputes between nations, he [Mr. de Brum] wants to use his own land’s painful history to rekindle global concern about the nuclear arms race.”

Marlise Simons, “A Former Ground Zero Goes to Court Against the World’s Nuclear Arsenals,” The New York Times, December 28, 2014.

Five Million Signatures in Support of Nuclear Zero

In a remarkable show of strength and unity, the Youth Division of Soka Gakkai in Japan presented to Tony de Brum, Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, more than 5,000,000 signatures in support of the Nuclear Zero campaign. The presentation took place in Vienna at the Civil Society Forum sponsored by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

Soka Gakkai Youth Leader, Taro Hashimoto, stated, “We are deeply grateful to the efforts of many youth members and their friends who have helped us gather millions of signatures endorsing the Nuclear Zero campaign…Soka Gakkai International President, Daisaku Ikeda, has repeatedly called for a world youth summit for nuclear abolition. We look forward to connecting with young people around the world committed to abolishing nuclear weapons and making sure that the voices of those who will shoulder the future will be heard by the international community.”

The petition is still open for signatures at www.nuclearzero.org.

“Five Million Voices for Nuclear Zero,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, December 17, 2014.

Opinion Column on Lawsuits in the Boston Globe

 

Boston Globe columnist James Carroll has published an article about the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits. In a piece that was published in the Globe‘s January 5 edition, Carroll wrote, “One of the smallest nations on the planet, yet speaking with the unrivaled moral authority that comes of having been blasted and contaminated, is demanding that the new nuclear threshold not be crossed. The Marshall Islands pose, once again, a challenge to the conscience of humankind.”

James Carroll, “Tiny Pacific Nation Aims to Stop New Nuclear Arms Race,” Boston Globe, January 5, 2015.

Hearing in U.S. Court Scheduled for January 16

A hearing is scheduled in U.S. Federal District Court on January 16 on the U.S. Motion to Dismiss in the Nuclear Zero lawsuit filed by the Marshall Islands. The hearing will take place at 9:00 a.m. at the Oakland Courthouse, Courtroom 5, Second Floor, 1301 Clay St., in Oakland, California.

We will update the NAPF Facebook and Twitter page as soon as we hear any news about the Motion to Dismiss. You can read all of the relevant court documents in the case at this link.

Video and Transcripts of Marshall Islands Events in Vienna

In December, numerous events took place in Vienna relating to the Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Zero Lawsuits. Video and written transcripts of two of the events are below:

Public Forum on the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits: Video 1, Video 2, Transcript of Tony de Brum’s speech, Transcript of David Krieger’s speech.

Sean MacBride Peace Prize Ceremony: Video, Transcript of Tony de Brum’s speech.

U.S. Government Deems Cleanup Too Expensive

 

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed court documents indicating that cleanup deadlines imposed by the state of Washington at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation are too costly and should be rejected. According to the government, the cleanup deadlines at the United States’ most polluted nuclear weapons production site would cost an additional $18 billion over the next 14 years. For decades, Hanford produced plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is on track to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to modernize its nuclear weapons and delivery systems.

“Feds: Nuke Site Cleanup Request is Too Expensive,” Associated Press, December 9, 2014.

Throwing Good Billions After Bad

 

In a recent report on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow reported on U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s plan to spend billions of dollars to upgrade nuclear weapon systems, “because there’s nothing like pouring good billions after bad billions to fix a disastrously nonsensical and dangerous system.”

Click the link below to watch Maddow’s full report.

The Rachel Maddow Show, “New Pentagon Head Faces Nuclear Crisis, Wars and More,” MSNBC, December 2, 2014.

Russia Says It Has a Right to Put Nuclear Weapons in Crimea

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has asserted his country’s “right” to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. He said, “In accordance with international law, Russia has every reason to dispose of its nuclear arsenal … to suit its interests and international legal obligations.”

Alexander Golts, a Russian defense and political analyst, said that there is no military reason for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. Golts said, “Lavrov has brought up this nuclear weapons issue to demonstrate that the Kremlin considers Crimea such an inalienable part of Russia that it may choose to do with it whatever it wants, including the deployment of nukes.”

Russia, along with the other eight nuclear-armed nations, is obligated under international law to end the nuclear arms race and negotiate in good faith for nuclear disarmament.

Sergei Loiko, “Russia Says It Has a Right to Put Nuclear Weapons in Crimea,” Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2014.

French Polynesia to Sue France Over Nuclear Tests

 

The French Polynesia Assembly is preparing to sue the French government for nearly $1 billion in compensation for damage caused to the islands by nuclear weapons tests.

The Tahoera’a Huiraatira party committee, acting independently of Polynesian President Edouard Fritch, seeks $930 million for environmental damage caused by 210 French nuclear tests conducted from 1966 to 1996 off secluded atolls in the South Pacific.

Rose Troup Buchanan, “South Pacific Islands Prepare to Sue French Government for $1 Billion Over Nuclear Tests,” The Independent, November 24, 2014.

North Korea Threatens Fourth Nuclear Test

 

Reacting to “political provocation” from the United Nations, North Korean officials said that the country had no option but to consider an additional nuclear test so that their “war deterrent will be strengthened infinitely in the face of the United States’ plot for armed interference and invasion.” North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests since 2006, all of which were factors in the UN committee vote urging the Security Council to refer North Korean leaders to the International Criminal Court.

Choe Sang-Hun, “North Korea Threatens to Conduct Nuclear Test,” The New York Times, Nov. 20, 2014.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Speaks About Nuclear Weapons

 

NAPF Advisor Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent a video message of support to the ICAN Civil Society Forum in Vienna.

Archbishop Tutu said, “Although I could not be with you in Vienna for this important gathering, rest assured that I am right by your side in this noble effort to free the world from nuclear arms. Our task, of course, is not an easy one. But nor was ending Apartheid in South Africa. Through perseverance, conviction and determination, we defeated the forces of injustice and hatred. We won because we stood on the right side of history; we stood for a just and moral cause. And you, too, stand on the right side of history.”

Click here to watch the full video.

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 January, including U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announcing in 1954 the U.S. policy of massive nuclear retaliation “in response to communist aggression anywhere in the world…applied at places and with means of [our] own choosing.”

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

New From Easton Studio Press

 

Easton Studio Press, publisher of the first four books by NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell, will publish Chappell’s fifth book, “The Cosmic Ocean,” in 2015. You can learn more about Chappell’s first four books (Will War Ever End?; The End of War; Peaceful Revolution; and The Art of Waging Peace) at this link.

Prospecta Press, part of Easton Studio Press, has also just published a new book by Lionel Delevingne entitled “To the Village Square.” The author stated, “This book is about power. Not just nuclear power but, as I have witnessed, the power of community to force action and make a change.”

Prospecta Press is offering Sunflower readers a special offer of 25% off plus free shipping on Delevingne’s book. Click here for more information.

NAPF Peace Leadership Program: 2014 Highlights and 2015 Preview

 

As part of a busy year with more than 50 separate events, the NAPF Peace Leadership Program in 2014 expanded globally, across the country, and into the American heartland, with special keynotes, trainings, and lectures that brought new inspiration to high school and college students, veterans, activists, college professors, and concerned citizens.

Plans are underway for an even busier 2015. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell will be returning to the Dayton International Peace Museum for a number of events. Museum co-founder Christine Dull said, “Paul Chappell is a prophet for our times. Would that all thoughtful young people could experience his wisdom, whether from his interactive talks or his beautifully expressed books. Through his fine mind and great heart, Paul shows us that peacemaking requires as much discipline as war, but the motivation is the opposite. It comes from the recognition that we are all one human family.”

To read the full article about the NAPF Peace Leadership Program, click here.

14th Annual Kelly Lecture Features Dr. Helen Caldicott

 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 14th Annual Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future will feature Dr. Helen Caldicott, an Australian physician and renowned anti-nuclear advocate. Her lecture, entitled “Preserving Humanity’s Future,” will take place on March 5, 2015, at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California.

Tickets start at $10 and will go on sale soon at the Lobero Theatre box office. For more information, call (805) 965-3443.

The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction

 

The Helen Caldicott Foundation for a Nuclear Free Future will hold a two-day symposium at the New York Academy of Medicine on February 28 – March 1, 2015. The symposium will address the dynamics of possible nuclear extinction.

NAPF President David Krieger is among a distinguished group of panelists for this event, which is open to the public. For more information and to pre-register online, click here.

 

“Law stands on hollow ground where a solid moral conviction is absent….a gap in law is often just a mirror through which we are impelled to gaze into our own ambivalent souls. And so it is the case with nuclear weapons.”

— Nobuo Hayashi of the University of Oslo, speaking at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. Click here to read his speech.

 

“It underscores the senselessness of pouring funds into modernizing the means for our mutual destruction while we are failing to meet the challenges posed by poverty, climate change, extremism and the destabilizing accumulation of conventional arms.”

— UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message to the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. Click here to read his full message.

 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

— Martin Luther King, Jr. This quote is featured in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, available from the NAPF Peace Store.

 

David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman