The scientist’s efforts helped create the movement for arms control and disarmament. By Lawrence S. Wittner Although the popular new Netflix film, Einstein and the Bomb, purports to tell the story of the great physicist’s relationship to nuclear weapons, it ignores his vital role in rallying the world against nuclear catastrophe. Aghast at the use of nuclear weapons in August 1945 to obliterate the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Einstein threw himself into efforts to prevent worldwide nuclear annihilation. In September, responding to a letter from Robert Hutchins, Chancellor of the University of Chicago, about nuclear weapons, Einstein contended that, […]
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The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the World’s Future
By Lawrence S. Wittner [Dr. Lawrence S. Wittner (https://www.lawrenceswittner.com/ ) is Professor of History Emeritus at SUNY/Albany and the author of Confronting the Bomb (Stanford University Press).] Late January of this year will mark the first anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This momentous international agreement, the result of a lengthy struggle by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and by many non-nuclear nations, bans developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, and threatening to use nuclear weapons. Adopted by an overwhelming vote of the official representatives of […]
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The Great Evasion
By Guest Contributor, Lawrence Wittner Two related events—the 75th anniversary of the January 24, 1946 UN General Assembly Resolution 1 (which established a commission to plan for the abolition of nuclear weapons) and the January 22, 2021 entry into force of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (designed to finally implement that goal)—should be a cause for worldwide celebration. In fact, however, they are a cause for shame. The nine nuclear powers have refused to sign the treaty and, instead, today continue to engage in a nuclear arms race and to threaten nuclear war—a war capable of […]
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A Historian Reflects on the Return of Fascism
Editor’s Note: The following article, written by historian Lawrence Wittner, presents an important perspective at a time when, it could be argued, our nation is continuing its descent into racism. One of the ten steps any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms – the suspension of the rule of law – has begun, with Trump sending armed Federal police to cities (such as Portland) where they are beating and detaining people with no due process. They are already here in Seattle, and likely on their way to other major cities (to allegedly protect Federal property). May we hear Lawrence […]
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Making America Feared Again: The Trump Administration Considers Resuming Nuclear Weapons Testing
There is no military necessity for nuclear test resumption. by Lawrence Wittner Originally published by Common Dreams on Friday, July 17, 2020 Americans who grew up with nightmares of nuclear weapons explosions should get ready for some terrifying flashbacks, for the Trump administration appears to be preparing to resume U.S. nuclear weapons tests. The U.S. government stopped its atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in 1962, shortly before signing the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. And it halted its underground nuclear tests in 1992, signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996. Overall, it conducted 1,030 nuclear weapons test […]
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