By Glen Milner & Leonard Eiger The man who saved the world from thermonuclear annihilation in 1962 was born on January 30, 1926. At a time when the probability of nuclear war is as nearly as high as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is crucial that we recall the story of Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet submarine officer who prevented a Soviet nuclear strike against U.S. surface warships during that very crisis in 1962. An attack by a single Soviet submarine using just one nuclear-armed weapon would have caused a major global thermonuclear response. In the fall […]
READ MORETag Archives: Nuclear War
President Biden: Sign the Nuclear Ban Treaty!
Peace campaigners were at the White House at 1:30pm on Sunday, January 22, 2023 to deliver a letter to President Biden on the 2nd anniversary of the Entry into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW or “Nuclear Ban Treaty”). The Biden letter, signed by over one hundred national, state and local organizations, including Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, provides the President with six compelling reasons why he can – and should – sign this treaty now. National organizations signing the letter include Peace Action, Veterans for Peace, CodePink, World Beyond War, Pax Christi USA, […]
READ MORE
Horrifying “Small” Talk about Nuclear Weapons
By John LaForge Editor’s Note: Originally published in CounterPunch.org on November 7, 2022. John is co-director of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental justice group in Wisconsin, and is co-editor with Arianne Peterson of “Nuclear Heartland, Revised: A Guide to the 450 Land-Based Missiles of the United States.” Gideon Rachman reported October 31 in a Financial Times column that, “… senior U.S. officials point out that the smallest tactical nuclear weapons might kill hundreds of people, rather than thousands — and devastate and irradiate just a few square miles.” Rachman’s use of the phrases “might kill hundreds” and “just a few square miles” is outrageous […]
READ MORE
Biden Administration releases aggressive nuclear strategy envisioning “first use” of nuclear weapons in wars like Ukraine
EDITOR’s NOTE: This is a Press Release issued earlier today by Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Working Group Contact: Greg Mello, 505-265-1200 office, 505-577-8563 cell Permalink * Prior press releases Albuquerque, NM — Today the Department of Defense (DoD) released its long-awaited National Defense Strategy (NDS), Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and Missile Defense Review (MDR). In the interest of time, this press release addresses the NPR only. Detailed comparison with past NPRs will also need to come later, as may be warranted. A classified version of the NPR has long been available to Congress and has helped shape this […]
READ MORE
Death by Nationalism
By Robert C. Koehler (originally published in Common Wonders on Wednesday, October 12th, 2022) The game may be almost over. Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies put it this way: “The irresolvable dilemma facing Western leaders is that this is a no-win situation. How can they militarily defeat Russia, when it possesses 6,000 nuclear warheads and its military doctrine explicitly states that it will use them before it will accept an existential military defeat?” Neither side is willing to let go of its commitment: to protect, to expand, a piece of the whole planet, no matter what the cost. The […]
READ MORE