Tag: Sunflower Newsletter

What Is the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation?

by David Krieger

A voice of conscience in the Nuclear Age. The Foundation views peace as an imperative of the Nuclear Age, believing that any war fought today has the potential to become a nuclear war of mass annihilation.

An advocate for peace, international law and a world without nuclear weapons. The Foundation not only educates but is a nonpartisan advocate of achieving peace, strengthening international law, and ending the nuclear weapons threat to humanity.

A community of committed global citizens. The Foundation is composed of individuals from all walks of life and all parts of the globe who seek to end the nuclear weapons threat to humanity and to build a more just and peaceful world.

To read more, click here.

Opportunity for Progress

by Mia Gandenberger

Starting on May 2, the open-ended working group (OEWG) to take forward nuclear disarmament negotiations will meet for its second session in Geneva. During the May meetings, it is imperative that states focus their time on discussing elements for a treaty banning nuclear weapons and that they make concrete recommendations to the UN General Assembly in relation to moving forward with negotiations on such a treaty.

After a fruitful discussion in February, where the prohibition of nuclear weapons provided the key framework for debate and where states and civil society interacted in ways far superior to what we are used to seeing in most multilateral forums on disarmament, it is crucial that the next two weeks are used constructively. The purpose of this body is to “substantively address” and make recommendations to the UN General Assembly about “concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions and norms” to achieve and maintain a nuclear weapon free world. With a significantly greater number of non-governmental organisations and academic institution participating this month, the bar for a fruitful and result-focused debate is raised and states will have to make use of this opportunity for a more focused debate defining elements and processes for the way ahead.

To read more, click here.

Take Three Gifts on Your Journey

by David Krieger

Mr. President,

The word is out.

You will visit Hiroshima in May.

In Hiroshima, nuclear weapons become real.

The possibility of destroying civilization
becomes tangible.

Visiting Hiroshima is an opportunity to lead the way back
from the brink.

Take three gifts to the world on your journey: your courage,
your humanity, and a proposal to end the insanity.

To read more, click here.

North Korea Denies It Offered to Stop Nuclear Tests

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong has denied that he offered to stop North Korean nuclear tests in exchange for a halt to U.S.-South Korean military exercises held on the Korean Peninsula.

The United States, South Korea and other countries have expressed concerns that North Korea is preparing for its fifth nuclear test, possibly in advance of its Seventh Party Congress in early May.

Elizabeth Shim, “North Korea Denies It Proposed End to Nuclear Tests,” United Press International, April 26, 2016.

India Takes to the Seas in the Nuclear Arms Race

India’s first nuclear-armed submarine, the INS Arihant, is currently undergoing trials at sea and will likely soon be actively deployed. The 100-member crew has been trained by Russian nuclear submarine specialists. In March 2016, India conducted two test launches of its K-4 submarine launched ballistic missile.

Deployment of a nuclear-armed submarine by India will give the country the third leg in a nuclear triad of land-based missiles, bomber aircraft, and submarines. This escalation in the nuclear arms race will undoubtedly be seen as a threat by India’s nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and China.

“Indian Navy Goes Nuclear: Country’s First Nuke Sub Undergoing Sea Tests,” Sputnik News, April 18, 2016.

Senator Submits “Poison Pill” Amendment in Attempt to Kill Iran Deal

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) attempted to introduce a “poison pill” amendment in the Senate’s FY2017 energy spending bill that would prevent the Obama administration from buying heavy water from Iran’s nuclear program. Under the nuclear deal reached last year between Iran and the “P5+1,” Iran is responsible for reducing its stock of heavy water by selling, diluting or disposing of it.

The legislation required 60 votes to move ahead in the Senate, but it only received 50.

Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle, “Iran Nuclear Deal Fight Threatens Senate Spending Bill,” Reuters, April 27, 2016.

Dutch Parliament Favors a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons

On April 28, the Dutch Parliament held a debate on a national ban on nuclear weapons. The debate came about through a citizens’ initiative by PAX, ASN Bank and the Dutch Red Cross.

The result of the debate was that a vast majority of the House wants the Netherlands to start working internationally for a nuclear weapons ban. Bert Koenders, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, agreed to adhere to the wishes of the House at the UN’s Open Ended Working Group meeting on nuclear disarmament. This is particularly significant, as the Netherlands is one of five European nations where U.S. nuclear weapons are stationed under the auspices of NATO.

Krista van Velzen, a campaigner with PAX, said, “Up until now the Government didn’t think the time was right to negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons. Today the Minister stated he would now actively pursue this. From now on the Netherlands will plead for start of these negotiations. This is a big step forward.”

Selma van Oostwaard, “Dutch Parliament: The Netherlands Needs to Negotiate an International Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty,” PAX, April 28, 2016.

Cambridge Divests from Nuclear Weapons Producers

On March 21, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, City Council voted unanimously to divest the city’s $1 billion pension fund from companies that finance or produce nuclear weapons. This was a collaborative effort, achieved with the cooperation of NGOs, academics and funders. The resolution is based on the information in the report “Don’t Bank on the Bomb,” produced by the Dutch organization PAX.

Commenting on the importance of this City Council vote, physicist Stephen Hawking said, “If you want to slow the nuclear arms race, then put your money where your mouth is and don’t bank on the bomb!”

Joseph Gerson, “Cambridge City Council Divests from Nuclear Weapons Production,” Truthout, April 11, 2016.

Second Tank May Be Leaking at Hanford

Officials are trying to determine whether a second massive underground tank is leaking at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state. Hanford has long struggled with leaks in underground tanks containing highly radioactive waste. Twenty-eight double-walled tanks were recently installed in the hope that they would prevent more leaks from occurring. However, officials have already discovered that one double-walled tank has leaked thousands of gallons from its primary tank into the annulus. It now appears that at least one additional double-walled tank is experiencing leaks.

Hanford, a sprawling site near Richland, WA, was used for years to produce plutonium for U.S. nuclear weapons. There are millions of gallons of highly-radioactive liquid waste stored in underground tanks. The site is near the Columbia River, a source of drinking water for millions of people in the Pacific Northwest.

While the United States continues to increase its budget for nuclear weapons maintenance, modernization and production, the budget for cleaning up existing environmental disasters at nuclear weapons facilities around the country has stayed flat year after year.

Nicholas K. Geranios, “2nd Hanford Tank May Be Leaking, Officials Say,” Associated Press, April 26, 2016.

Trillion Dollar Trainwreck

Despite lofty rhetoric about a world free of nuclear weapons, President Obama has launched what the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) calls the “Trillion Dollar Trainwreck.” That is the title of ANA’s new report on Obama’s massive plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

Marylia Kelley, co-author of the report and Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs, said, “The United States is initiating a new nuclear arms race, because the other nuclear-armed states, of course, when they look at our modernization program, are now beginning their own. We need this to be rolled back.”

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Director of Programs Rick Wayman and intern Alexis Hill also contributed to the “Trillion Dollar Trainwreck” report. Click here to download a copy.

Amy Goodman, “Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Nuclear-Arms Train Wreck,” Democracy Now, April 15, 2016.

Sen. Feinstein Takes Aim at Nuclear Cruise Missile Funding

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has said that she will seek to stop funding for a Long Range Standoff (LRSO) cruise missile that “is unaffordable, and may well be unnecessary.” The U.S. currently plans to spend approximately $30 billion on this new cruise missile and nuclear warhead, which critics charge would be indistinguishable from a conventionally-armed cruise missile to an adversary.

Sen. Feinstein received an award from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability on April 19 for her outspoken work to stop funding for the LRSO. In accepting the award, she said, “I believe it is unnecessary…But most of all, I’m really concerned that the Defense Department may intend to actually use this particular nuclear cruise missile. In a letter sent two years ago, Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall wrote the following: ‘Beyond deterrence, an LRSO-armed bomber force provides the President with uniquely flexible options in an extreme crisis.’ This suggestion — that nuclear weapons should be a flexible option — is alarming. It is a lowering of the threshold, and we must never do this.”

Aaron Mehta, “Feinstein Takes Aim at Nuclear Cruise Missile Funding,” Defense News, April 14, 2016.

Another Kind of Nuclear Security Summit

In an article for Pressenza, Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation, summarized the March 2016 hearings at the International Court of Justice in the Marshall Islands’ nuclear disarmament cases against India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Ms. Cabasso wrote:

“The recent Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Obama in Washington, DC generated a goodly amount of hype, including some well-deserved criticism of its narrow focus on securing civilian highly enriched uranium (HEU) and other modest, voluntary steps aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons-useable nuclear and radiological materials. The Summit was silent on the huge stocks of HEU and plutonium in military programs and the more than 15,000 existing nuclear weapons possessed by States, including the Summit’s host – the only country that has used nuclear weapons in war.

“Another kind of nuclear security summit took place last month in The Hague, as the tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands took on three nuclear-armed giants before the highest court in the world. Hubris and hypocrisy on one side, courage and vision on the other were on global display.”

Jacqueline Cabasso, “Another Kind of Nuclear Security Summit: The Marshall Islands vs. the Nuclear-Armed States,” Pressenza, April 9, 2016.

Urge President Obama to Visit Hiroshima

On April 11, 2016, John Kerry became the first sitting U.S. Secretary of State to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and lay flowers at the memorial cenotaph. Secretary Kerry’s words indicate that he was moved by the experience, calling it “gut wrenching” and “a stark, harsh compelling reminder…of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons.”

However, the United States continues to rely heavily on nuclear weapons and is planning to spend at least $1 trillion over the next 30 years to “modernize” all aspects of its nuclear arsenal, including the warheads, submarines, missiles, bombers, production facilities and command and control infrastructure.

Please encourage President Obama to visit Hiroshima when he is in Japan next month for the G7 Summit. Actions speak louder than words. That’s why we are encouraging President Obama not to come to Hiroshima empty-handed.

Send a message to President Obama today and encourage him to become the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, and to make significant substantive contributions to nuclear disarmament while he is there.

Letters to the Wall

If you have suffered through the Vietnam war, as a military veteran, a resister, a partner of a veteran, a child or a sibling of a veteran, or just as a caring citizen of the U.S., your voice is needed. On Memorial Day, May 30, Veterans for Peace will deliver letters to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) with heartfelt messages to those young men and women whose names are on The Wall.

Your note can be one paragraph long or many paragraphs. It can be written to a specific name on The Wall or just as a general cry out against war. Rest assured that your letter will be treated with the respect and caring it deserves — this ceremony is not a political action. It is an act of remembrance and grief.

You have until May 14 to write your letter and send it either as an email message to rawlings@maine.edu or as a handwritten letter to Doug Rawlings, 13 Soper Road, Chesterville, Maine 04938.

Vote for Youth

For the next few weeks, you have an opportunity to support a dedicated group of young people around the world working for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition met in Hiroshima in August 2015, bringing 300 youth together to learn more about nuclear weapons issues, meet with hibakusha – survivors of the U.S. atomic bombing – and develop collaborative projects to achieve their common goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.

This Youth Summit and pledge has been chosen as one of ten semi-finalists out of over 4.5 million submissions in One Billion Acts for Peace, a United Nations-supported peace initiative organized by Peace Jam. Now through May 12, you can vote once a day for the Youth Summit online. The top five projects will receive a Hero Award in June from Rigoberta Menchu Tum, a Nobel Peace laureate from Guatemala.

Rick Wayman, our Director of Programs, was Co-Chair of the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition, and Josie Parkhouse, a former NAPF summer intern, was a core participant.

Your vote could make the difference in providing encouragement and visibility to this important emerging network of dedicated young people. Please take a moment to vote today, and every day through May 12.

May’s Featured Blog

This month’s featured blog is Wildfire >_. Articles are primarily written by Richard Lennane, Chief Inflammatory Officer for Wildfire. He will be very active, both on the blog and on Twitter, during the May session of the Open Ended Working Group in Geneva.

Recent titles include: “Canada’s Accidental Insight”; “A Grand Unified Treaty”; and “Norway Shows Us the Future.”

Keep up to date with news from Wildfire >_ at this link, and follow them on Twitter.

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 the May 17, 2014, “Bent Spear” incident, in which Air Force personnel caused $1.8 million in damage to a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile carrying a nuclear warhead.

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

Creating True Love at Home and Peace on the Planet

Martin and Dorothie Hellman have written a book entitled A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home and Peace on the Planet. The approach combines a concern for global issues with improving one’s marriage or other intimate relationship. The authors write of their own experiences implementing this approach. They found that working on both the personal and global dimensions simultaneously accelerated their progress on each of them.

The full book will likely not be published until June, but the authors have begun releasing chapters of the book in the past few weeks. You can access the first six chapters of the book at this link.

Ghosts of the Cold War

The United States has more than 1,500 nuclear warheads deployed on a “triad” of submarines, bombers, and land-based missiles. These doomsday weapons – the ghosts of the Cold War – were built to fight an enemy that no longer exists. Nonetheless, President Obama has approved plans to rebuild and maintain them all, with a price tag of about $1 trillion over the next 30 years.

One of them is a new nuclear air-launched cruise missile that will cost about $30 billion in taxpayer dollars – yet does nothing to protect us from 21st century threats like terrorism, cyber attacks and global warming.

A new Ploughshares Fund report calls on President Obama to cancel the new nuclear cruise missile, also known as the Long Range Stand-Off weapon or LRSO. It argues that the new missile is strategically unnecessary, extraordinarily expensive, and undermines US security.

To read the report, click here.

Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post

The lead letter to the editor of the Washington Post on April 19 was written by Rick Wayman, NAPF Director of Programs. In the letter, Wayman called on not only President Obama, but the leaders of all nine nuclear-armed nations to visit Hiroshima. He stressed not only the moral obligations to negotiate for nuclear abolition, but also the existing legal obligation to negotiate, and bring to a conclusion, negotiations on nuclear disarmament.

To read the letter, click here.

Peace Leadership in Europe

Peace Museum Vienna will host NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell on Thursday, May 19, for a “Peace Talk Evening” at 6:30 PM at the museum, located in the historic city centre. Recent presentations have included Dr. Mary Shuttleworth, president and founder of Youth for Human Rights International.

At Peace Museum Vienna, Paul Chappell will present his ground-breaking ideas on “Why Peace Is Possible” and “Why Our World Needs Peace Literacy.” Chappell will bring the seven forms of peace literacy to an international audience, to help educate us to solve the root causes of our problems rather than merely dealing with symptoms, and move us closer to ending war and waging peace.

To read more about this event in Vienna, click here.

What Is Your Legacy Going to Be?

What is your legacy going to be? Join us for a special presentation about the importance and the benefits of planning your legacy. Hear from our special guest, attorney Joe Green, on May 24 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm PDT. There are two ways you can participate:

• We would love to see you in person. Please join us for a delicious lunch at our office in Santa Barbara. This will be a chance to meet some of our staff, Board Members, and ask Joe Green questions. Please RSVP by May 18 (space is limited).
• If you are located outside of Santa Barbara or you are unable to come in person, we have a call-in option. Simply dial 641-715-3580, then passcode: 939016#. Please kindly RSVP so we can estimate how many people will join by phone.

To RSVP, please email enicklasson@napf.org or call 805-965-3443.

Video Contest Winners Announced

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation has announced the winners of its 2016 Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest. Dozens of contest entries were received featuring videos about why the United States and other nuclear-armed countries should “Humanize, not Modernize.”

First prize went to Konane Gurfield of San Diego, CA. Second prize went to Elias Reta of Stone Mountain, GA. Third prize went to David Kirk West of Medford, OR. Thanks to all who entered the contest and submitted their ideas about the need to #HumanizeNotModernize.

Winning videos can be viewed here.

Rick Wayman Receives Activist of the Year Award

On April 18, Rick Wayman, Programs Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, received the “Activist of the Year” award from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA). The award was presented at ANA’s “DC Days” on Capitol Hill, honoring Wayman’s “dynamic leadership in bringing the Marshall Islanders’ Nuclear Zero litigation to world attention, activating the next generation of peace leaders, and guiding ANA as board member and tech guru.”

Also honored at the event were Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA); Chuck Montano (whistleblower from Los Alamos National Laboratory); and Kay Cumbow (activist and organizer against nuclear waste in the Great Lakes region).

“War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice.”

— Norman Cousins (1915-1990), American author and peace activist. This quote appears in the book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action, which is available for purchase in the NAPF Peace Store.

“Within a single flash of light, Hiroshima became a place of desolation, with heaps of rubble, grotesquely wounded people and blackened corpses everywhere. The G7 Foreign Ministers walk on the ground where people’s bones are still being found. It is on this ground where thousands of people were instantly melted or vaporized. And yet the same governments continue to build their national security around these inhumane weapons and oppose efforts to prohibit them.”

— Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and member of the NAPF Advisory Council, commenting on the April 2016 visit to Hiroshima by Foreign Ministers of the G7, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better.”

— Daniel Berrigan, a Catholic priest and peace activist, who passed away on April 30 at the age of 94. He played an instrumental role in inspiring the anti-war and anti-draft movement during the late 1960s as well as the anti-nuclear movement. Click here to read Fr. John Dear’s remembrance of Daniel Berrigan.

“In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

— Julia Ward Howe, in her Mother’s Day proclamation of 1870.

“Where are those who will shatter the silence? Or do we wait until the first nuclear missile is fired?”

— John Pilger, a journalist and filmmaker, in a recent essay entitled “A World War Has Begun. Break the Silence.”

Lindsay Apperson
David Krieger
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman

Accountability for the War in Iraq

by David Krieger

The current level of violence in Iraq has a single root: the destabilizing act in 2003 of illegally invading and then occupying Iraq ordered by the George W. Bush administration, with their arrogant claims that US troops would be greeted as liberators. Rather than liberating Iraq, however, our country lost yet another war there, one which left thousands of American soldiers dead, tens of thousands wounded and still more traumatized. We also destabilized the region; slaughtered and displaced Iraqis; left Iraq in a mess; created the conditions for a civil war there; strengthened Iran; created many new advocates of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations; and demonstrated disdain for international law.

The Bush administration led and lied the US into an aggressive war, the kind of war held to be a crime against peace at Nuremberg.  The lying was despicable, an impeachable offense, but it is too late for the impeachment of a president and vice-president who are now out of office.  The initiation of an aggressive war was an act, however, for which there should always be accountability, as there was at Nuremberg.  This, of course, would require having the courage and principle as a country to create policies to hold our own leaders to the same standards that we held those leaders whom we defeated in combat.

To read more, click here.

The Emotional and Psychological Trauma to Our People Can’t Be Measured In Real Terms

by Lia Petridis Maiello

The Republic of the Marshall Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean is not only a breathtakingly beautiful island state, but has recently moved into the public eye by starting a bold initiative that is widely interpreted as a “David against Goliath” undertaking.

The Marshall islands were subjected to dozens of nuclear tests, carried out by the U.S. after 1945. According to the Associated Press, the island group filed suit in late April against each of the nine nuclear-armed powers in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. It also filed a federal lawsuit against the United States in San Francisco.

The Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, explains in an interview the impact the nuclear tests had and still have for the citizens of the Marshall Islands and what he hopes these lawsuits can achieve for the island state and the world community.

To read more, click here.

Stop Calling the Iraq War a Mistake

by Dennis Kucinich

As Iraq descends into chaos again, more than a decade after “Mission Accomplished,” media commentators and politicians have mostly agreed upon calling the war a “mistake.” But the “mistake” rhetoric is the language of denial, not contrition: it minimizes the Iraq War’s disastrous consequences, removes blame, and deprives Americans of any chance to learn from our generation’s foreign policy disaster. The Iraq War was not a “mistake” – it resulted from calculated deception. The painful, unvarnished fact is that we were lied to. Now is the time to have the willingness to say that.

In fact, the truth about Iraq was widely available, but it was ignored. There were no WMD. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. The war wasn’t about liberating the Iraqi people. I said this in Congress in 2002. Millions of people who marched in America in protest of the war knew the truth, but were maligned by members of both parties for opposing the president in a time of war – and even leveled with the spurious charge of “not supporting the troops.”

I’ve written and spoken widely about this topic, so today I offer two ways we can begin to address our role.

To read more, click here.

U.S. Conference of Mayors Pass Sweeping Resolution on Nuclear Disarmament

On June 23, 2014, the U.S Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a sweeping new resolution “Calling for Constructive Good Faith U.S. Participation in International Nuclear Disarmament Forums” at its 82nd annual meeting in Dallas.

The resolution also expresses support for the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits filed by the Marshall Islands. It says, “[USCM] commends the Republic of the Marshall Islands for calling to the world’s attention the failure of the nine nuclear-armed states to comply with their international obligations to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and calls on the U.S. to respond constructively and in good faith to the lawsuits brought by the RMI.”

Responding to the adoption of the resolution, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony de Brum said, “This endorsement is acknowledged with deep gratitude on behalf of the Government and the People of the Marshall Islands, and most especially those who have lost loved ones in the mad race for nuclear superiority, and those who continue to suffer the scourge of nuclear weapons testing in our homeland.”

“U.S. Conference of Mayors Adopts Bold Resolution on Nuclear Disarmament,” Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, June 26, 2014.

NuclearZero.org Now in Japanese

NuclearZero.org, the campaign website for the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, is now available in Japanese. Our friends in the youth division of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) will be launching a Nuclear Zero petition drive in Japan during the first week of July, and the Nuclear Zero website makes a perfect companion for this effort.

The Japanese version of the website is at www.nuclearzero.org/jp. For those of you who do not read Japanese, you can check out the English-language version of the website and sign the petition in support of the Marshall Islands at www.nuclearzero.org.

Air Force Lobbies for New Nuclear Bombers

Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak, the Air Force assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, defended plans to update the U.S. long-range bomber fleet. According to Harencak, the new long-range bombers would have “persistent, long-range strike capabilities that provide practical alternatives for global security.” The Air Force hopes to deploy 100 of the new bombers by 2025.

Amid questions about the necessity of the project and the relevancy of the nation’s bombers, Harencak argued that bombers are still needed to protect American interests and that the current fleet, which includes the 50 year-old B-52, is inadequate.

“Air Force General Presses Case for Future Nuclear Bomber,” Global Security Newswire, June 19, 2014.

Empowering Nuclear Missile Officers

Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, commander of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile force, said that nuclear missile officers have been suffering from low morale in part because they were being “micromanaged.”

“The best way to produce leaders of the future is to make sure that when they are junior you properly educate and train them and you let them make decisions,” he said.

However, Col. Robert Vercher, who stepped down in June as commander of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, disagreed. Vercher said, “You might call it micromanagement, but I would call it oversight – proper oversight. When I hear the word ‘micromanagement,’ I go, ‘It depends.’ How much do you want your tax return micromanaged by your accountant? Exquisitely or just kind of haphazardly?”

Robert Burns, “AP Interview: AF Should Empower Young Nuke Leaders,” Associated Press, June 25, 2014.

U.S. and UK to Renew Nuclear Weapon Partnership

Britain is increasing its partnership with the United States to design new nuclear warheads, according to documents released in the UK under the freedom of information act. The Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA) was originally signed by the two countries in 1958. It is expected to be renewed within the next few weeks.

One document describes the MDA as an agreement that enables Britain and the U.S. “nuclear warhead communities to collaborate on all aspects of nuclear deterrence including nuclear warhead design and manufacture.”

Peter Burt of Nuclear Information Service, who obtained the papers, said, “The UK and U.S. are setting a dreadful example to the rest of the world by renewing the MDA, and are seriously undermining the credibility of international efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”

He added: “If Iran and North Korea had signed a similar agreement for the transfer of nuclear weapons technology, the UK and U.S. would be branding them pariah nations and screaming for the toughest of international sanctions to be imposed.”

Richard Norton-Taylor, “Exclusive: UK to Step Up Collaboration with US Over Nuclear Warheads,” The Guardian, June 12, 2014.

U.S. Jets Intercept Russian Nuclear Bombers

On June 9, U.S. military jets intercepted four Russian bombers as they flew close to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as well as the coast of Northern California. The Russian Tu-95 Bear H bombers, which can be equipped with nuclear-armed cruise missiles, appear to have been participating in a training exercise.

While it is not unusual for such long-range practice runs to occur, the timing of the training exercise came during a particularly contentious time as Russia and the U.S. square off over the crisis in Ukraine. The U.S. has deployed nuclear-capable bombers to Europe to participate in training exercises with NATO.

“U.S. Jets Intercept Russian Bombers Near Alaska,” Global Security Newswire, June 12, 2014.

China Complains About Japanese Plutonium

China has complained that Japan failed to disclose 640 kilograms of plutonium in its possession to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Japan has a duty to report its plutonium to the IAEA and questioned whether this failure to report was “an unintentional omission or a deliberate concealment.” The Japan Atomic Energy Commission acknowledged that the plutonium, stored in an offline reactor at Genkai nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture, was omitted from its report out of a belief that the material was “exempt from IAEA reporting requirements.”

Japan’s storage of nuclear material has often raised concerns in China, including the worry that Japan may eventually break away from its policy of refraining from nuclear weapon development. With a plutonium supply of more than 44 tons, Japan maintains the largest plutonium stockpile of any country without nuclear weapons. It takes approximately 4 kilograms of plutonium to make a nuclear weapon.

Austin Ramzy, “China Complains About Plutonium in Japan,” The New York Times, June 10, 2014.

New Method for Detecting Nuclear Warheads

Scientists from Princeton University and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have invented a new method for inspectors to detect nuclear warheads without access to classified information. Inspectors would beam high-energy neutrons though a warhead and use a detector on the other side to measure the number of neutrons that pass through. They would then compare this result to the number that typically pass through a non-nuclear target.

Physicist Andrew Glaser, first author of the study, said that the method would allow inspectors to determine “true nuclear warheads” while “learning nothing about the materials and design of the warhead itself.” If this “zero-knowledge protocol” proves effective, it could help advance the inspections process as part of the New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia. Both countries have agreed to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,550 weapons each by 2018.

Mary-Ann Russon, “Scientists Invent New Way to Spot Nuclear Warheads Using Physics,” International Business Times, June 25, 2014.

U.S. Rejects Draft Treaty Banning Space Weapons

A new draft treaty designed to limit the weaponization of space was introduced by China and Russia into the United Nations and met with opposition from the United States. The proposal, an update of the 2008 draft, would place “legally binding curbs on weapons in space.” The U.S., citing the lack of an effective verification system to monitor compliance in the UN draft, instead favors a less formal “code of conduct” being pushed by the European Union.

Bill Gertz, “U.S. Opposes New Draft Treaty from China and Russia Banning Space Weapons,” The Washington Free Beacon, June 19, 2014.

Article 9 Protest in Japan

A man set himself on fire in protest of the Japanese government’s attempts to reinterpret Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to allow the military to be used against other nations. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe believes that Article 9 unfairly restricts Japan from exercising its right to self-defense. Article 9 currently outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes.

The Article 9 decision is extremely controversial in Japan, with proponents of the pacifist constitution saying that reinterpreting the Constitution will more easily allow wars to take place. Japan is currently embroiled in a serious territorial dispute with China over the islands known to the Japanese as the Senkakus and to the Chinese as the Diaoyus.

“Japanese Man Self-Immolates in Pro-Pacifist Constitution Protest,” RT, June 29, 2014.

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 first U.S. atmospheric nuclear weapon test in the Marshall Islands (July 1, 1946) and U.S. Strategic Command’s “Waging [Nuclear] Deterrence in the 21st Century” conference (July 29-30, 2009).

To read Mason’s full article, click here.

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

Plan Your Action for Nuclear Abolition Day

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is coordinating a worldwide day of action against nuclear weapons on September 26, 2014. The United Nations General Assembly has declared September 26 the “International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.”

ICAN is asking people around the world to organize actions in their own countries to highlight the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and to call for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. For ideas and resources to help you plan your activity, visit the ICAN website.

Against the Tide

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has published a new report entitled “Against the Tide: Why the Trident Commission’s Views Are Outdated and Out of Touch.” In the report, CND argues that the Trident Commission should have listened to the majority of the British people who oppose Trident replacement and the overwhelming majority internationally who want to see a world free of these monstrous and outdated weapons. Instead the Commission has produced a rehash of Cold War thinking that fails to acknowledge that the world has moved on.

CND argues that cancelling the program to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system is a pragmatic and realistic alternative.

To download a copy of CND’s report, click here.

Paul Chappell Gives Keynote Address at Model UN in Germany

With the conference title “World Peace, Our Present Task, Our Future Aim,” the Oldenburg Model United Nations/OLMUN 2014 took place June 24-27, 2014 in Oldenburg, Germany. NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell was keynote speaker on the opening night of the conference. Chappell spoke to over 700 high school students from Germany and other European countries on “Why World Peace Is Possible.”

Paul argued that politicians manipulate soldiers by dehumanizing opponents in order to make them fight in war. He concludes that human beings are naturally peaceful and afraid of war and physical and psychological violence. This leads to his opinion that we can all have realistic hope for a peaceful future.

For more information on this event, click here.

Remembering the U.S. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On August 6, 2014, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will participate in three events commemorating the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.

NAPF’s 21st Annual Sadako Peace Day will be held at La Casa de Maria in Montecito, California, at 6:00 p.m. This year’s featured speaker is NAPF Board member Robert Laney. The event is free and open to the public.

NAPF Director of Programs Rick Wayman will attend a commemoration event at the gates of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where many U.S. nuclear weapons have been designed and developed. A whopping 89% of LLNL’s budget request for 2015 is for nuclear weapon activities.  The theme of this year’s Bay Area commemoration event is “Failure to Disarm.” Rick has been invited to speak about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, which directly address the failure of all nine nuclear-armed nations to disarm. For more information on the Bay Area event, click here.

Rick will also participate in a webinar hosted by Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) on August 6 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. He will be discussing the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits, and will be joined by a woman from the Marshall Islands who has suffered the effects of the U.S. nuclear weapons tests. The webinar is free and open to the public. More information and a registration link will be provided in the August issue of The Sunflower.

Youth Video Contest Announced

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is working with Tri-Valley CAREs, a non-profit organization based in Livermore, California, on a new youth video contest. Contestants will address the topic: “Six Decades of Nuclear Bombs at Livermore Lab: Tell Us Why a Clean Environment Is Important to You.”

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is one of the two main nuclear weapons design and research laboratories in the United States. Every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal was designed at either Livermore or Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico. Operating this lab in Livermore, California for six decades has taken a serious toll on the local environment. In fact, the lab has released over 1 million curies of radiation into the local environment.

The contest is open to people around the world. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2014.

For more information about the contest, click here.

“Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?”

— The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which was issued on July 9, 1955. This quote is featured in the NAPF book Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action.

“This isn’t about your job. It’s about materials with the power to taint land, air and water — to poison and kill living things — for tens of thousands of years. PR baby-talk can’t alter that deadly serious fact.”

— Sasha Pyle and Joni Arends, in an op-ed opposing the proposed rushed re-opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. A serious radiation leak at WIPP in February 2014 has shut down the facility. Investigators are still unsure as to the exact cause of the radiation leak, which exposed at least 21 workers to elevated radiation levels.

“Once again this year, the nuclear weapon-possessing states took little action to indicate a genuine willingness to work toward complete dismantlement of their nuclear arsenals.”

— Shannon Kile and Phillip Patton Schell, referencing the new annual nuclear forces data report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

David Krieger
Rose Mertens
Elliot Serbin
Carol Warner
Rick Wayman