tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52020685839370488182024-03-05T20:07:31.950-08:00Waging Peace TodayWaging Peace Today is the official blog of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, an organization committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons.Rick Waymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17325336172676810274noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-10000319186745270422013-09-17T14:05:00.003-07:002013-09-17T14:40:56.767-07:00 A Propensity for Violence is Not Our Biological Fate<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDqJdNjuoRYZJKO03UefA5pe_PRqQ4A6eDiAsr1iPpa9qzcaH_ycPuIVPGbLNqQZ1BiT3bWB22uBBGXRKIL9TGUDabW55VjbUCEiMLTAKFlGR__L0fVixcqHzpyg3AKhyyOZtZCClHyQh/s1600/bluemarble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDqJdNjuoRYZJKO03UefA5pe_PRqQ4A6eDiAsr1iPpa9qzcaH_ycPuIVPGbLNqQZ1BiT3bWB22uBBGXRKIL9TGUDabW55VjbUCEiMLTAKFlGR__L0fVixcqHzpyg3AKhyyOZtZCClHyQh/s320/bluemarble.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>To truly be activists, advocates, and peacemakers—to create a just and sustainable and peaceful world— we must learn to question our assumptions and challenge what we are told when it becomes clear that the truth is not immediately evident.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been told throughout my life, by the news and in various aspects of my education, that humans are inherently violent. The people who have assured me that war is simply the natural way of things have broken the news to me in a multitude of ways-- by scoffing at my naivete, or unleashing a barrage of historical and scientific “evidence,” or by simply sighing about the inevitability of violent conflict as if it is something entirely commonplace. Those who maintain that humans are inherently violent cite three primary reasons for this belief: that we have inherited a tendency towards violence from our animal ancestors, that war and violent or destructive behavior is programmed into our genes, and that war is instinctual or caused by some innate human drive towards violent behavior. When I put the pieces together, these claims are easily discredited. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In terms of ancestry, our primate ancestors were not violent. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unless the term “violence” includes killing to eat, predatory feeding on other species is not an example of the roots of human aggression. Any aggression that does exist comes about only as a result of the species’ environment being altered by outside influences. In addition, no animal has ever been found to craft tools to be used as weapons of organized violence against another animal. Violence is not something that we have inherited-- it is a product of culture, as evidenced by its evolution over time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The claim that violence is in our genes can be thrown out with the simple matter of lack of any scientific evidence. As UNESCO’s Seville Statement on Violence so eloquently puts it, “While genes are co-involved in establishing our behavioral capacities, they do not themselves specify the outcome.” Think about it this way: just because cultures have been known to make pottery, that does not mean that that there is a specific pottery-making gene. The same can be said for waging war.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The third claim is particularly ludicrous. We cannot presume that war is caused by some innate human instinct for violence. War is engineered using a strict institution of manipulation created on the basis that humans can be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">trained</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be violent. Violence is the consequence, not the cause of, military training. Although humans are able to act violently, this capability for violent behavior is shaped by how we have been socialized and conditioned and is in almost all cases able to be filtered before it is acted upon. Indeed, if violence was a human instinct, aggression and war would be universal. This is not the case-- throughout the world and historically there exist myriad peaceful societies in which violence is believed to be an unnatural phenomenon.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With all of this being said, we can conclude without hesitation that a propensity for violence is not our biological fate. When we view it as such it tends to become a highly destructive self-fulfilling prophesy. Instead, we must go forth into our uncertain future with the strong belief that we who created war can also create peace. We must live what we believe-- a just, sustainable, and peaceful world will be born out of constant questioning of our outmoded ways of thinking.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sources</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UNESCO, </span><a href="http://www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/declarations/seville.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Seville Statement on Violence</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 1986</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alfie Kohn, </span><a href="http://www.salsa.net/peace/conv/8weekconv1-4.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human Nature Isn't Inherently Violent</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Detroit Free Press, 1988</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Louisa (Lulu) Dewey is an incoming undergraduate student at UC Berkeley and an intern at NAPF.</span></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-14094545613335916242013-09-04T12:23:00.001-07:002013-09-04T12:31:08.703-07:00A Quaker Perspective on the Possibility of U.S. Strikes in Syria<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Every Sunday I gather together with a group of children to discuss the Quaker testimonies-- simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. These testimonies arise out of a deep, inner conviction and often challenge our usual ways of living. In our First Day School classroom we search for the ways in which the testimonies can become true for ourselves. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />The Sunday following President Barack Obama’s announcement to seek congressional approval for a strike on Syria, I brought the children into the main meeting just as somebody had risen to speak about the current situation. It struck me that as a Quaker, living these testimonies often becomes political. When one of the children asked me about Syria after meeting, I told her that there had been an extreme civil conflict going for more than two years and that many people were losing their homes and being killed. She asked me, “Why would America choose to destroy even more instead of trying to help?”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />This simple question is one that our government is failing to ask themselves. The brutal chemical attack that took place in Syria should be unequivocally condemned for the same reason that we need to condemn the use of military strikes. These strikes would merely serve to continue the indiscriminate killing of civilians in addition to becoming yet another violation of international humanitarian law. A military response would only perpetuate further hatred and division in Syria.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />It is essential for all who align themselves with a commitment to peace and justice, Quakers and non-Quakers alike, to be true to our principals as we strive to seek a non-violent resolution to the conflict in Syria. In this way I see the Quaker peace testimony inherently supporting a political settlement rather than an increase in military violence. A non-violent solution that fosters local diplomatic efforts will not be easy by any means but outside forces cannot be permitted to impose their own agendas. The path to long-term reconciliation lies in international humanitarian support for a nonviolent effort led by Syrians themselves to achieve freedom, equality, and peaceful co-existence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />This concept could easily be dismissed as overly-idealistic but I propose it out of the same deep, inner conviction that living the Quaker peace testimony in my daily life brings out in me. The children who sit with me on Sundays, seeking the answers to the myriad complications of our world, have wisdom far beyond their years. For them, the idea of U.S. military intervention to provide help for rebel forces in Syria is entirely nonsensical. It draws a blank stare. Why would we choose to destroy even more? </span><br />
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<i style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; line-height: 1.15;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Louisa (Lulu) Dewey is an incoming undergraduate student at UC Berkeley and an intern at NAPF.</span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-83214928600947024812013-08-30T16:37:00.001-07:002013-08-30T16:57:49.527-07:00Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Must Be Unconditional<span id="docs-internal-guid-33c1bf76-d188-b762-e0fb-952ad6138257"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On August 20, 2013 the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, issued the CELAC Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament. This declaration will be distributed as an official document at the September 26 High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament and covers numerous aspects of nuclear disarmament. Among the most notable aspects of the CELAC Declaration is its treatment of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In three simple resolutions within the declaration, CELAC expressed their steadfast rejection of the enhancement of existing nuclear weapons and the development of new types of nuclear weapons and called on all states to cease nuclear weapon testing, nuclear explosions, and relevant non-explosive experiments for the purpose of nuclear weapons development. They also reiterated demands for a true comprehensive nuclear test ban. Alternative methods of nuclear testing were described as “contrary to the object and purpose of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), its spirit, if not the letter, undermining its desired impact as a nuclear disarmament measure.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One particular phrase within the CELAC Declaration stuck out to me: that failure to properly adhere to the CTBT is “inconsistent with the obligation of complete nuclear disarmament.” Worldwide treatment of the CTBT continues to undermine its intended role as a measure towards complete disarmament. As of 2013, China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States have signed but not ratified the Treaty. India, North Korea and Pakistan have not signed it. A variety of nuclear tests and a huge range of nuclear development continue to plague our world, compromising even further the fragile line that we tread between calm and calamity.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBfAMV_Kd_F9vjqw2INcUQvvxEDpWig5pbhC-GAwSWwZiqSsHvZA05_sZzyna8yBeRx-fVJRbwznsXqPbce3IipiOxF2OwhBteiNhvqQY_6kb5pvcMU5Mp7zORCEGgNKz1li_XEHw66mc/s1600/ctbt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBfAMV_Kd_F9vjqw2INcUQvvxEDpWig5pbhC-GAwSWwZiqSsHvZA05_sZzyna8yBeRx-fVJRbwznsXqPbce3IipiOxF2OwhBteiNhvqQY_6kb5pvcMU5Mp7zORCEGgNKz1li_XEHw66mc/s320/ctbt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CTBT around the world</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a country with one of the largest stockpiles and continuing nuclear weapons programs in the world, the United States’s treatment of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is particularly deplorable. We have signed but not ratified this document on the grounds that we wish to continue experimenting with our stockpile in the name of “safety and reliability.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A recently updated page regarding the CTBT found on the U.S. Department of State website states that the primary rationale behind any possible ratification of the treaty by the United States is that “the CTBT will hinder states that do not have nuclear weapons expertise and experience from advancing their nuclear weapons capabilities, while not affecting the ability of the United States to maintain its own nuclear deterrent force.” As a young person who has only recently realized how much power the United States holds in terms of worldwide disarmament, I cannot help but feel despair at the U.S. failure to ratify and adhere to the CTBT. Even the continuing and maintenance and updates to our current nuclear stockpile are unnecessary and only serve to perpetuate the myth of nuclear deterrence.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This, as described by CELAC, is precisely the sort of backwards thinking that is leading us away from full nuclear disarmament. The purpose of the CTBT is by no means to make it possible for a nuclear deterrent to be maintained and the U.S. delay in ratifying the treaty should not come at the cost of the safety of billions of innocent people. The United States has made it clear that in order for the treaty to be ratified, certain conditions must be met. Only then, it seems, will the U.S. be willing to move towards cooperating with the treaty. These conditions exist in complete disagreement of the very nature of the CTBT: stockpile security, subcritical and laser testing, and further development of nuclear technology go against all that the CTBT intends to bring about.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CELAC Declaration is definitely a step in the right direction towards revealing the discrepancies in CTBT adherence. It is my hope that this declaration’s thought-provoking presence as an official document at the upcoming UN General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament could hold the key to further negotiations on not only the test-ban but on the eradication of nuclear weapons as a whole. In the meantime, the struggle for nuclear disarmament will continue at all levels.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><i style="background-color: #fefdfa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Louisa (Lulu) Dewey is an incoming undergraduate student at UC Berkeley and an intern at NAPF.</span></i><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-33c1bf76-d196-d8ea-42a1-2e87f436966c"><a href="http://www.state.gov/t/avc/c42328.htm" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> U.S. Department of State</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.cubaminrex.cu/es/node/17392" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CELAC Declaration on Nuclear Disarmament</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 20, 2013</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-26313018278120443052013-08-26T16:13:00.001-07:002013-08-26T16:17:14.041-07:00Moral ObscenitiesU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/08/213503.htm" target="_blank">statement</a> earlier today about the apparent chemical weapons attack that took place last week in Syria. I agree with him 100% that an attack with chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children is a "moral obscenity." In fact, I would go much further than Mr. Kerry to say that any attack (regardless of the weapon used) against innocent men, women and children is a moral obscenity.<br />
<br />
However, in calling chemical weapons "the world's most heinous weapons," I must unfortunately disagree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOec3JYr6dvfJ1xY5Efif8cO7V-0OrP1ALEBGDtQsNbS8lB__n4Wdb6fMgFnFXvc5mc2QTCprojr16grlsLNyAA8azjH4vpinTs_ku2FFjEXiwgL4wAWjJIJPDL9qwUSpyZsFLRy-gQut/s1600/state_tweet.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOec3JYr6dvfJ1xY5Efif8cO7V-0OrP1ALEBGDtQsNbS8lB__n4Wdb6fMgFnFXvc5mc2QTCprojr16grlsLNyAA8azjH4vpinTs_ku2FFjEXiwgL4wAWjJIJPDL9qwUSpyZsFLRy-gQut/s320/state_tweet.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is no doubt that chemical weapons are heinous, should not exist and must never be used again. There is no doubt that - whatever weapons were used on August 21 in Ghouta - the attack was cowardly, shocking and horribly killed hundreds or even thousands of people. But chemical weapons are not the world's most heinous weapons. That dubious distinction belongs to a class of weapons in the arsenal of the United States itself, along with eight other countries around the world: nuclear weapons.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
Here are a few of Secretary Kerry's quotes from today along with my thoughts as they relate to nuclear weapons:<br />
<br />
<b>1. Kerry: "Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing
of women and children and innocent bystanders, by chemical weapons is a
moral obscenity."</b><br />
<br />
The indiscriminate slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on them 68 years ago was unlike anything the world had ever seen. Today, the U.S. maintains a total of around 8,000 nuclear weapons (including those classed as "awaiting dismantlement"), most of which are much more powerful than the bombs used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Current U.S. nuclear policy allows for these weapons to be used first in a conflict (not merely in retaliation for a nuclear attack against it).<br />
<br />
I can't shake the images that I have seen over the past few days of the victims of the attack in Syria. But I also carry with me each day the images shared by brave <i>hibakusha</i> (survivors of the atomic bombings) like my friend <a href="http://hibakushastories.org/shigeko-sasamori.html" target="_blank">Shigeko Sasamori</a>. The use of nuclear weapons is a moral obscenity and is a crime against our humanity. Continuing to threaten to use these weapons is also a moral obscenity. There is no excuse.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Kerry: "</b><b>There is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of
chemical weapons. There is a reason the international community has set a
clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to
eradicate these weapons."</b><br />
<br />
There is a clear reason why many countries are seeking to ban nuclear weapons: the <a href="http://www.ippnw.org/pdf/nuclear-famine-ippnw-0412.pdf" target="_blank">catastrophic humanitarian consequences</a> are severe and well-documented. What is not clear is why some countries continue to cling to nuclear weapons while demanding that no other nations be permitted to acquire them. What is not clear is why, 43 years after the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty entered into force, the United States and the other nuclear weapon states (P5) continue to fail to even come close to fulfilling their Article VI obligations to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."<b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<b> 3. Kerry: "</b><b>All peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common
humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the
use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again."</b><br />
<br />
Similarly, we must assure that nuclear weapons are never used again. The only way to do that is by abolishing them in a verifiable, irreversible and transparent manner. What does it say for the cause of our common humanity that the P5 are capable of collaborating to <i>boycott</i> the Oslo conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, but are incapable of collaborating to eliminate the most obscene weapons ever created?Rick Waymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17325336172676810274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-34548164481498900442013-07-31T11:28:00.000-07:002013-08-02T09:21:35.031-07:00Behind the Scenes of the Russian Nuclear Policy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa;">Discussing the role of nuclear weapons in global politics and maintaining
Russia’s security </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa;">at the International Summer School on Global Security in
the beginning of July in Abramtsevo, Russia, Eugene Miasnikov, </span>Director of the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.armscontrol.ru/">Center for
Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies</a><span class="MsoHyperlink">, </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext;">presented the analysis of the </span></span>trends in the development of
strategic forces of Russia, which can help understand why Russian senior
officials reacted so coldly to the US President Obama’s suggestion of further
reductions in the nuclear arsenals. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Miasnikov notes that the Russian
view of the role of nuclear weapons is essentially conservative. Though some
believe that nuclear weapons have lost their significance and that nuclear
deterrence is not more than just a myth, in practice these ideas do not really
affect the state nuclear policy. Miasnikov points out, that unlike the USA, the
discussion of the role of nuclear weapons among the Russian expert community
oftentimes takes place behind the scene, and it is difficult to say in what way
it affects the official policy of the Russian Federation. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In general there is a consensus
among Russian experts, Miasnikov says, that the nuclear weapon is (i) the key
element of strategic deterrence system; (ii) a guarantor of the Russian
national security from an extensive aggression of another state or a group of
states; (iii) a guarantor of sovereignty; (iv) an agency that ensures Russia’s
high status among other states; in the nuclear area, equal to the one of the
USA. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The views of Russian experts differ
mainly in regard to the way Russia should respond to the US suggestions for
further bilateral cutting of nuclear arsenals.
The views differ, Miasnikov explains, because specialists differentially
assess threats and dangers for the Russian Federation as well as prospects of
the Russian economy. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The liberal wing of the expert
community underscores the necessity of concerted reduction of American and
Russian nuclear arsenals. They criticize the Russian position for being
unconstructive with regard to defense systems, non-strategic nuclear weapons,
and involving other nuclear states into the cutting process. As we know, this
has become a stumbling block to further US-Russian dialogue concerning the
nuclear reductions. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The conservatives, to the
contrary, think that Russia should not make any concessions: any arrangements
with the USA are deleterious for Russia. Conservative experts believe Russia
must build its own independent and self-reliant nuclear policy. As Miasnikov
remarks, this position reflects the view prevailing among the Russian military-political
leaders.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, to understand the
Russian nuclear policy it is also important to consider the prospects of the
countries strategic forces.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To demonstrate and discuss the
prevailing trends in the development of strategic forces of the U.S and Russia,
Miasnikov uses the following graph: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvKtV9IoLf1qVdL7DBL-aC7x9RbWPszggSBxcPIDbE6y5vk9Z9yqVooMM1YPw4g_bGFLiRJYnsFEDdcYmH1vmIHtD8YbpP_7B__ZFpTM4FPk97HBGDtFhyAnSVGt9BOwKS44Tc6U2_iw8/s1600/armscontrol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvKtV9IoLf1qVdL7DBL-aC7x9RbWPszggSBxcPIDbE6y5vk9Z9yqVooMM1YPw4g_bGFLiRJYnsFEDdcYmH1vmIHtD8YbpP_7B__ZFpTM4FPk97HBGDtFhyAnSVGt9BOwKS44Tc6U2_iw8/s1600/armscontrol.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“The graph shows the forecast for
strategic delivery systems development for the next 18 years,” Miasnikov comments,
“provided that both parties adhere to the START treaty over this period of
time. The numbers were calculated in accordance with the rules provided by the
START treaty currently in force. Blue curves represent U.S. strategic systems,
and the red ones - Russian systems. Dotted curves show aggregate numbers for
deployed and non-deployed ICBM launchers, deployed and non-deployed SLBM
launchers, and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. Solid curves show the
number of deployed ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy bombers. Two solid red curves shown
for Russian missiles and bombers represent two extreme scenarios of strategic
forces development - the most optimistic and the most pessimistic ones.” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Unlike the U.S.,” Miasnikov
says, “Russia has long been replacing its nuclear triad. The process of phasing
out old delivery systems (currently about 80% of total deployed delivery
systems) will likely continue till mid-2020s. At the moment this process
proceeds with a pace that is still faster than the new missiles are built.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“The lower solid red curve
represents a hypothetic scenario that starting this year Russia stops
production of new ICBMs, but the Navy will still get the three SSBNs that are
on final phases of production. The upper solid red curve represents a scenario
when the Strategic Rocket Forces will receive 18 ICBMs yearly until 2025, and
the Navy will commission one 955A Project SSBN each year (8 submarines
altogether in accordance with the State Program for Armaments till 2020).”
Recently the period for realization of the State Program for Armaments- 2020
has been extended. Hence it is clear that the optimistic scenario is not
feasible. The most likely there will be an intermediate variant meaning that Russia may have no more than 400 deployed
ICBMs, SLBMs and heavy bombers over the next decade. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In view of the above, Miasnikov
comes to the conclusion that the next round of reductions will affect only the
U.S. strategic offensive arms. Therefore, the lack of enthusiasm, with which Russia responded to the US suggestion to further cut the countries’
nuclear arsenals by one third, becomes quite understandable.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Ekaterina
Kuzmina is a graduate student at California State University, Fullerton
and an intern at NAPF.</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sources:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.armscontrol.ru/pubs/em070313.html"><b><span style="background-color: #fafafa; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: navy;">The Role of
Nuclear Weapons in Global Politics and Maintaining Russia’s Security</span></b></a><span style="background-color: #fafafa;">, (<i>in
Russian</i>), by Eugene Miasnikov, remarks at the International Summer School
on Global Security, organised by PIR-Center, Abramtsevo, Russia, July 3, 2013</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafafa;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.armscontrol.ru/pubs/en/em051613.html"><b><span style="background: #FAFAFA; color: navy;">Strategic Nuclear Forces: Goals and
Possible New Arms Control Measures</span></b></a><span style="background-color: #fafafa;"><span style="font-size: small;">, -</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> <i>(</i></span><i>in English)</i><i>,</i><span style="font-size: small;"> by
Eugene Miasnikov, remarks at the CENESS-ACA-BASIC-IFSH workshop on prospects
for Russia-US arms control, Moscow, May 29, 2013</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00161084060333832217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-41951052273402518682013-07-25T16:26:00.000-07:002013-07-25T16:26:30.442-07:00Libyan Disarmament: A Model for Current Nuclear Weapon States?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Libya, a
country struggling to maintain stability and order in its post-revolutionary
phase, is renowned in the international community for its disarmament efforts in
2003 and its ratification of the <span style="background: white;">Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEMextFEnI-VyPsOJ-ScmUYUnNxK1zfhyphenhyphendxT9igkab5E0iHxiUTaBJIzBzL51v3mDUI2Xw4tlt_B-gUvBX2caBOW4KBj-TDzYQZutn4nfBSWsRfkVjUZVoXwFoDpB725lc2IRIZwoQfI/s1600/Libyan-Revolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUEMextFEnI-VyPsOJ-ScmUYUnNxK1zfhyphenhyphendxT9igkab5E0iHxiUTaBJIzBzL51v3mDUI2Xw4tlt_B-gUvBX2caBOW4KBj-TDzYQZutn4nfBSWsRfkVjUZVoXwFoDpB725lc2IRIZwoQfI/s320/Libyan-Revolution.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">March of 2003, former President Muammar Qaddafi renounced Libya’s
weapons of mass destruction programs and allowed IAEA inspectors into the
country to verify that Libya was in fact making significant steps towards
nuclear disarmament.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Libya, along
with South Africa, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine are among the few states
that formerly had nuclear weapons stockpiles but disarmed and became
non-nuclear weapon parties to the NPT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Qaddafi’s
decision to renounce Libya’s nuclear weapons programs is viewed as an international
success because it set a model for current nuclear weapons states to follow
suit. The decision to disarm demonstrates to the international community that
“it is never too late to </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">make the decision to
become a fully compliant NPT state,” as Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for Arms Control, stated during the NPT Review Conference in
May 2005.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">It
is not known exactly what caused President Muammar Qaddafi to renounce Libya’s
nuclear weapons programs but one theory is that Qaddafi acted out of fear of US
invasion following the invasion of Iraq. The events that occurred in Iraq sent
a message to nuclear weapon states that the cost of pursuing WMDs is very high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">How,
then, did Qaddafi’s decision to renounce nuclear weapons affect the country? Most
notably, Libyan-Western relations were dramatically improved, with the Security
Council lifting former sanctions imposed on Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxKe0mWvmJJRaGVRdXnuxMayYfPFpSCH9CdpCUrVaTPSWdqSYtIltHf9E-B1ruxyckKIsjBV1rulj8Ed7Sp6If-XkLvQw9PMgUGgD57Ew8-663nErYp_KD-6nRuDXGp-oDPmIReLU_VQ/s1600/2013-07-08_18-08-10_170.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxKe0mWvmJJRaGVRdXnuxMayYfPFpSCH9CdpCUrVaTPSWdqSYtIltHf9E-B1ruxyckKIsjBV1rulj8Ed7Sp6If-XkLvQw9PMgUGgD57Ew8-663nErYp_KD-6nRuDXGp-oDPmIReLU_VQ/s320/2013-07-08_18-08-10_170.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">During
the 2011 civil war, disarmament efforts in Libya were halted as the rebel
militias fought against forces loyal to Qaddafi. However, the country is now
resuming their efforts to rid of all remaining chemical weapons and programs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">When
chemical weapons were found in Libya in late 2011, former Prime Minister
Mahmoud Jibril<span class="apple-converted-space"> announced the discovery
of the weapons and that foreign inspectors would be in the country to further
investigate. Jibril stated, </span>“By making this announcement, we reaffirm
that the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">new Libya</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span style="background: white;">is
a peaceful Libya, a Libya that abides by international law, a Libya that aims
for development before anything else for the good of its people.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In
a recent trip to Tripoli in July 2013, I spoke to a number of people about
their opinions on the current state of the country, their feelings on NATO’s
intervention, and their hopes for Libya’s future. What I discovered during
these conversations was that, despite the perceived anti-Western sentiment in
Libya by Americans, average Libyan citizens actually spoke very highly of many
Western countries such as the US who supported them during the revolution. In
fact, a 2012 Gallup poll reported that 75% of Libyans aged 15 and over favored
NATO’s military intervention in 2011. What this shows us is that improved
relations between Libya and the West have led to benefits for all parties. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">During
NATO’s intervention, there was a fear that without the “safeguard” provided by
nuclear weapons, Libya would not be able to protect itself against a foreign
occupation. However, no such thing happened and NATO retreated shortly after
the overthrow of Qaddafi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">More
than ever, Libyans are reaching out to the West for development. Construction
can be seen all over as Western companies begin opening branches in Tripoli.
However, the true outcome of the revolution will be determined by the policies
set out by the new government so it may be too soon to speak about the hope for
a thriving democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The
future of Libya is uncertain at this point and many Libyans express contempt
for the slow and stalled rebirth of their country due to the failures of the
General National Congress. However, Libya is a party to the NPT, the country
has improved relations with the West, they have overthrown a dictator of 42
years, they are extremely oil-rich, and there is the possibility for growth of
democracy. Libya’s future is looking brighter than ever before. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3w34CGe9SMd3kjvxpYTqCS1WE7F-p-4iylOI4S6XmxRpxn53v60UdX7l1yHase5isyQ6zidIjo23F8zTZBE-n-rrp4fp2Jlua32AjiS38YECg-PQXqlGSj_hlJyTCFmNPBap_tTNmog/s1600/Libya-IMG-0384-Fountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3w34CGe9SMd3kjvxpYTqCS1WE7F-p-4iylOI4S6XmxRpxn53v60UdX7l1yHase5isyQ6zidIjo23F8zTZBE-n-rrp4fp2Jlua32AjiS38YECg-PQXqlGSj_hlJyTCFmNPBap_tTNmog/s400/Libya-IMG-0384-Fountain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">In
2003, Libya made the decision to comply with international law and abide by the
NPT by renouncing nuclear weapons. Since then, Libya has taken other
significant steps to strengthen ties with the West and now, although they are
still in the very early stages of development, it seems as though the country
has a promising future. Libyans are finally free and happier than they have
been in years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We
can only hope that Libya’s decision will provide an incentive for other nuclear
weapon states to follow suit in their efforts towards disarmament in order to
create a safer world for future generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background: #FEFDFA; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Amber
Giallo is an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Barbara and
an intern at NAPF.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-9345445437756271012013-07-17T15:43:00.000-07:002013-07-18T13:07:30.966-07:00The CTBT and the US<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.embassymon.at/news/images/ctbto1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.embassymon.at/news/images/ctbto1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week, the CTBTO is holding a weeklong conference on the
CTBTO and the progress being made to ratify the CTBT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simultaneously, there is an education program being held
both in Geneva and online.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
one of the participants, and already I have learned so much about the CTBTO and
the delegation processes. Part of the course is a simulation of the Executive
Council Deliberations over an On-site Inspection Request.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was selected to be a part of the
representative team for Columbia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The CTBT is the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on September 10, 1996<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, but it has not entered into force because eight Annex-2 states have not ratified the treaty. They are the United States, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel, North Korea, China, and Iran.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Once the CTBT is
ratified and becomes part of international law, the UN will be able to monitor
the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a state violates the
CTBT the executive council has been set up for a democratic process to order on
site inspections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It is the interest
of the United States to ratify the CTBT because the United States has already
ceased nuclear testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US now
uses computers to run calculations and virtual tests that are just as effective
as actual tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the US took a
leading role in getting the rest of the other states to ratify the treaty, the
risk of other states gaining nuclear weapons would be eliminated almost
entirely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States also
has even more reason to ratify the CTBT since Russia has already done so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russia has the second most nuclear
weapons in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russia tested
the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated called the Tsar Bomba in 1961.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.tsarbomba.org/images/tsar%20bom%20explosion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.tsarbomba.org/images/tsar%20bom%20explosion.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This is the most
supported nuclear treaty in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The US and others continue to obstruct it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US needs to begin working with the international
community instead of opposing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
the rest of the week, I will be learning more about how the CTBT is practically
carried out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will also be taking
part in the Executive Council simulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hope to learn a lot this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Around a hundred other participants from around the world will be
joining me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps through
education and awareness, support can spread for this important treaty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216266686215860883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-34967502950289843582013-07-11T10:10:00.001-07:002013-07-11T10:10:31.041-07:00Nuclear Weapons in the Cyber Era<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
For the last 50 years, an
outside force has never threatened the United States’ nuclear weapons
safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States has
always employed large security forces, secure/remote facilities, and strict
protocols.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, in recent
years, and especially recent months, the U.S. and its allies have come under
increased cyber attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
example, in the summer of 2012, alleged Iranian hackers destroyed 30,000
computers of the Saudi Aramco Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chinese hackers have stolen information on important defense projects
from defense contractors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">The designs include the PAC-3,
THAAD, and the Navy’s Aegis ballistic-missile defense system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also schematics on the F/A-18 fighter
jet, the V-22 Osprey, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and the Navy’s new
Littoral Combat Ship were stolen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If these systems were compromised, how long until the U.S. nuclear
weapons complex is compromised?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps it already has been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Many analysts are worried about the American banking system
or the power grids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I
can’t think of a worse situation than if our nuclear weapons were hacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A nuclear power plant’s controls could
be compromised and next thing we know the US has its own Chernobyl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US infected the Iranian nuclear
industry with a virus called Stuxnet that severely hindered their progress in
2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is the US immune to this
type of attack?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this age of Internet
attacks, any country or group can theoretically attack the United States from a
laptop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These recent escalations
in Internet attacks should signal world governments that the need for nuclear
disarmament is even more imperative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If a terrorist organization can’t build their own device, then they can
just use one that already exists by hacking the controls or falsifying reports
of an attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Studies done have
shown that the US nuclear arsenal is indeed vulnerable to a cyber attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/04/cyber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/04/cyber.jpg" height="170" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Technology advances at an incredible rate in this age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Defense systems cannot keep up with the
evolving capabilities of offensive tools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Simply making the US arsenal no longer fire ready would prevent hackers
from firing one of our nuclear warheads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Cold War is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Shifting the US’s nuclear arsenal to be able to address the threats of
this age is imperative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do not
need to be ready for an impending attack from the USSR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those days are gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must now be wary that our security
systems are all vulnerable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
must protect ourselves from our own systems as much as from foreign attackers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it seems nuclear weapons and power
plants are liabilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deterrence
will not work in the Internet age.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><i>Brooks Troiani is an intern at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.</i></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sources: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/world/middleeast/us-helps-allies-trying-to-battle-iranian-hackers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/world/middleeast/us-helps-allies-trying-to-battle-iranian-hackers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/hackers-lay-claim-to-saudi-aramco-cyberattack/">http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/hackers-lay-claim-to-saudi-aramco-cyberattack/</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/confidential-report-lists-us-weapons-system-designs-compromised-by-chinese-cyberspies/2013/05/27/a42c3e1c-c2dd-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/confidential-report-lists-us-weapons-system-designs-compromised-by-chinese-cyberspies/2013/05/27/a42c3e1c-c2dd-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEUQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Ficnnd.org%2FDocuments%2FJason_Fritz_Hacking_NC2.doc&ei=Ok3cUfnEI8GyiQLcioDQCA&usg=AFQjCNFAs4EbcxYDGaPj0AszFzb0w2ev3g">https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEUQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Ficnnd.org%2FDocuments%2FJason_Fritz_Hacking_NC2.doc&ei=Ok3cUfnEI8GyiQLcioDQCA&usg=AFQjCNFAs4EbcxYDGaPj0AszFzb0w2ev3g</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216266686215860883noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-5187497566048871772013-07-09T11:28:00.000-07:002013-07-09T11:28:50.649-07:00Science and Religion Reconciliation Center is opening on the basis of Russian Federal Nuclear Center – Seriously?<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">‘Wait a minute. That can’t be serious, can it?’ immediately popped
up in my head when I was reading the following news: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As the </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/3073423.html">Moscow Patriarchate</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> website reports, on 29 June
2013 the orthodox clergy, representatives of the Department of Economic
Development, Department of Agriculture, the administration of the city Sarov, as
well as RFNC representatives discussed the opening of a <i>Science and Religion Reconciliation Center</i> (Russian: </span><span lang="RU" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">научно</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">-</span><span lang="RU" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">духовный</span><span lang="RU" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="RU" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">центр</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">) which
will be based on </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.vniief.ru/wps/wcm/connect/vniief/siteeng/nuclearcentre/">Russian Federal Nuclear Center</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> and the Monastery of the Holy Dormition of Sarov hermitage. The Center,
which has received the blessing of Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Kirill, will
host conferences and other events aimed to build up the dialogue between representatives
of science and the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The question arises how are they going to find common grounds to
achieve understanding and build friendly relations? Can the views of Nuclear Center,*
which developed the first Soviet atomic and H-bombs, and the Church be compatible
with one another? What can the Institute that has developed weapons of mass
destruction and is working towards their higher performance possibly have
anything to do with the Church that is supposed to advocate common values and
teach people to appreciate and protect life and the world bestowed on us by God?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">For me the idea of a Science and Religion Reconciliation Center is
as oxymoronic as the world peace keeping function of nuclear weapons. Let us
think about it. If the Church was intending to appeal to the conscious of
nuclear scientists, it would probably support organizations fighting for the
abolition of nuclear weapons rather than initiate discussions how to reconcile
religion and science. As for the funding, why is federal money being spent on
the opening of the Center instead of helping out anti-nuclear campaigns?</span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Maybe
I am too skeptical and the Church will indeed help to promote the idea that
science should work for the good of humanity and not jeopardize it with such
deadly inventions as nuclear weapons. Maybe it will. But the Moscow
Patriarchate is ambiguous about the direction in which the further talks will
be going. Will the Church try to persuade the Nuclear Center specialists that
their work is unethical, immoral, and antihuman? Or will the nuclear experts be
able to prove their view to the Church that nuclear weapons serve the only ‘honorable’
purpose of maintaining peace and security for the Russian people and the whole
world thus getting the approval of the Church? It is difficult to say based on
what information about the new Center’s work is available. We will find out in
November when the first conference is scheduled to take place at the Center. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="text" style="background: white; line-height: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>*Russian
Federal Nuclear Center - The All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental
Physics (RFNC - VNIIEF) - is a Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) of the
State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom”. The Institute was founded in 1946 to
implement the Soviet Atomic Project. Now the Institute is intensively working
towards higher nuclear weapons performance, improving their efficiency, safety
and reliability. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>More
information about the Institute and its work can be found at <a href="http://www.vniief.ru/wps/wcm/connect/vniief/siteeng/nuclearcentre/">http://www.vniief.ru/wps/wcm/connect/vniief/siteeng/nuclearcentre/</a></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background-color: #fefdfa; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ekaterina
Kuzmina is a graduate student at California State University, Fullerton and an intern at NAPF. </span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00161084060333832217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-83230833240324135382013-07-03T16:08:00.001-07:002013-07-11T10:11:44.880-07:00Why Current Deterrence Theory is Wrong<div class="MsoNormal">
The main argument given against the idea of nuclear
abolition is that the “genie is out of the bottle,” and the only thing that
keeps more countries from getting nuclear weapons is threatening them with
nuclear weapons. However, Iran and North
Korea stand as stark evidence that this is simply not true. Nation-states will develop nuclear weapons in
response to being threatened by nuclear weapons. In an age where the nuclear armed states can
invade any non-nuclear country without drastic consequences, threatened states
see that in this mindset, it only makes sense to arm oneself. The US was able to invade Vietnam, Iraq, and
Afghanistan. I would argue the only
reason why the US hasn’t invaded Iran is because Russia and China have
threatened retaliation. Russia invaded
Afghanistan in the 80s. China took over
Tibet. The message the nuclear powers
have been sending the rest of the world over the last 50 years is that if you
do something we don’t like, and you don’t have a nuclear arsenal, then we can
invade you. Therefore, the logical
conclusion is that in reality deterrence leads to proliferation because it
creates a mindset in which nuclear weapons are the source of power and
therefore necessary. This is disastrous
in an age where terrorists are no longer bound by national barriers. It is dangerous in a world that is currently
fraught with instability and popular unrest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Currently, President Obama and President Putin have agreed
to lower their arsenals by a third more.
While this looks like a step in the right direction, it is not really
progress. Let me tell you why. Both Russia and the US are modernizing their
nuclear arsenals. They are spending
billions of dollars on making the nuclear weapons more deadly (as if blowing up
an entire city-sized area isn’t deadly enough), more difficult to shoot down
with missiles, and faster (missiles that can hit a target in 4 minutes rather
than ten). So really while they lower
the number of overall warheads, all they are really doing is retiring the old
warheads and actually creating a new stockpile of deadlier ones. I must ask why the US needs to spend billions
of dollars on making the deadliest weapons in human history deadlier. It is almost laughable. I mean how accurate does a nuclear missile
need to be? If you get within a mile of
your target you will still vaporize it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, the old
WWII nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are 80 times weaker than
our smallest nuclear warhead now. Our
smallest nuclear warhead completely annihilates a 1.7 mile radius around the
detonation spot. Most buildings and all
living things in this area are wiped out instantly. They get off lucky. Then within a 2.7 mile radius from the blast
(or 1 mile outside of the instant death area) all buildings except for steel
structure are gone, fifty percent of living things are instantly killed, the
other fifty percent is mortally burned
or wounded and will die within the coming minutes, hours, or days after the
blast. At a 4.7 mile radius from the
blast center (or 2 miles outside of the last damage radius), all houses are
destroyed by the blast wave, an estimated five percent of the population is
instantly killed, forty-five percent are injured, all have been exposed to
toxic levels of radiation. They will
most likely die slowly and painfully of radiation poisoning. At a 7.4 mile radius (or roughly 3 miles from
the last damage radius) there is still blast damage but only twenty-five
percent of the population is injured.
After this point there is less damage from the blast itself, however
every living thing within thirty miles from the blast center has been exposed
to lethal doses of radiation. They will
die within days, and that area will be uninhabitable for ten years. Within ninety miles, all living persons will
die of radiation poisoning, also within days.
Within 160 miles, people will show symptoms of radiation poisoning: hair
loss, white blood loss, nerve damage.
The elderly, the young, and the sick will die. Finally within 250 miles from the blast
center, radiation poisoning will occur, though most will live. Also, the land will be safe to inhabit within
three years. This is the effect of both
the US and Russia’s smallest nuclear warhead.
In another report, this time on a terrorist nuclear attack on New York
City estimates that there would be 800,000 people killed, and 900,000 people
injured. Those are the effects of the
smallest warheads. If anything bigger is
used the results are dramatically worse.
The fact remains if ever a nuclear attack were to occur on any city the
results would be horrifying. While
deterrence may have prevented a nuclear attack from another country, no amount
of nuclear weapons can prevent a terrorist from acquiring a nuclear
weapon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How do you prevent a terrorist from getting a nuclear
warhead? Well one way is to keep nuclear
weapons in secure facilities. However,
countries like Pakistan and India have questionable security, and the US can’t
regulate their security. Also, in
Pakistan’s case, if government rule was to break down, nothing would stop
terrorist groups from gaining access to those weapons. However, if the nuclear powers come to an
agreement to set a date for virtual disarmament, boost the power of the IAEA to
regularly inspect and regulate nuclear programs in all countries, and agree to
support the enforcement of the agreement through UN military force and
sanctions then the disarmament could be permanent. This is quite a lot to ask
from most of the nuclear powers.
However, I believe that security from nuclear attack should trump
sovereignty in this instance. If there
is no enforcement, then there is no punishment for failing to make good on
disarmament. Once countries disarm, it
would be very easy to make sure no country starts arming again because creating
weapon’s grade plutonium is a lengthy, expensive, and fairly obvious
endeavor. Think about it; no terrorist
organization has been able to make one because doing so requires building huge
facilities and employing experts who are under surveillance. Even North Korea, the most secretive country
in the world, didn’t keep their nuclear weapons development a secret. As long as the IAEA and various intelligence
agencies do their jobs, no country could get away with making a nuclear
weapon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why is it likely that this idea won’t come to
fruition? First of all, the belief in
nuclear deterrence is accepted as fact by both parties in Washington and
Moscow. Second, there is still little
trust for the Russians in Washington DC.
The good news is that Russia is not our enemy anymore, and this
mentality could be changed through effort.
For some reason, many politicians in America and Europe still see Russia
as a country to fear instead of work with.
The truth is the moment America takes off its Cold War goggles and views
Russia in a new way is the moment in which nuclear disarmament talks will
actually bear fruit. If the two
countries with the largest nuclear arsenals and worst nuclear track records
start transparently and honestly disarming, is when the rest of the world will
see that a commitment to a nuclear-free world is actually possible. Current deterrence ideology has failed. However, I believe that if the world is
transparently disarmed and then honestly regulated, nuclear weapons development
can be deterred.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sources:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nuclear affects estimations come from: http://www.nationalterroralert.com/nuclear/<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
New York City scenario:
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Example/Example1.shtml<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Brooks Troiani is an intern at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation</i>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11216266686215860883noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-52938122994863277512013-07-02T14:37:00.000-07:002013-07-02T14:37:24.290-07:00We Must Rely on Common Human Values not Nuclear Arsenals as Our Strength, or the Need for a Bold Initiative at the State Level<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the light
of the recent events regarding the currently most discussed whistleblower
Edward Snowden, it is impossible not think about the importance of having a moral
compass that guides you and motivates you for bold actions. Having realized that he was "part of
something that was doing far more harm than good," Edward Snowden decided
to disclose NSA unethical activities. Driven by the desire to serve his people and
humanity Snowden urges, <b>'You can't wait
around for someone else to act.' </b>Snowden’s courage and his willingness to sacrifice
his comfortable life and take a bold risk to change the system that works
against humanity rather than for it deserves admiration. And it is this what global
leaders lack in regards to nuclear weapon discourse. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If
world leaders really care about the global community, the common good, the
future generations, why have they failed to avoid emergence of new nuclear
states and to prevent states from obtaining, possessing, and developing nuclear
weapons (not to mention to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons
altogether)? The answer is unfortunately that we are stuck at the stage when we
do not trust each other. We do not
believe that we are able to reach an agreement on important issues through
negotiations, and we still need something frightening (like military arsenal)
to back up our position and our intentions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On
June 19 in Berlin, American President Barack Obama reminded us of the words of
John F. Kennedy asking to “look to the day of peace with justice, beyond
yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.” These words “call upon us to care
more about things than just our own self-comfort, about our own city, about our
own country. They demand that we embrace the common endeavor of all
humanity.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Obama
urged to pursue the security of a world without nuclear weapons because “we may
no longer live in fear of global annihilation, but so long as nuclear weapons
exist, we are not truly safe.” He also mentioned that American and
Russian deployed nuclear warheads had been cut to their lowest levels since the
1950s but pretermitted that new, more precise, and more sophisticated nuclear
weapons are being developed. We have heard enough loud words about good
intentions of our leaders to abolish nuclear weapons. What we need to solve
this problem is that somebody decides to make the first step and set an example.
<b>Success is gained by resolving on acting
not speaking.</b> During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet
Union/Russia demonstrated the whole world that the power rests on nuclear
arsenal, and as long they procrastinate and put off total nuclear disarmament
they continue sending this message and more states will want to become nuclear.
The USA and Russia opened the Nuclear Age and it is their responsibility to put
it to an end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately,
neither the US nor Russia is willing to take a risk and just do it. </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“We cannot afford to disrupt the balance of the
system of strategic deterrence,” Russian President Vladimir Putin replied to
Obama’s suggestion to</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals by one third.
We still think in terms of deterrence. We are still afraid that if one of us
has military predominance, it would use it to its advantage and try to take
control over the other. And probably Russian authorities have good grounds for
such apprehensions taking into account decisions made by the US unilaterally in
the past that affected the global community.
We do not trust each other. And we are to blame because we never gave
each other a reason to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We still live in the world (created by
ourselves) where nuclear weapons equal power. Nuclear weapons guarantee that
your voice will be heard and your opinion will be counted. It reveals the
injustice, inequality, and weaknesses of the global community. It reveals that some
states do not have the same say in global decision making and their opinion is valued
less than those of “mighty” states. It reveals that we distrust each other,
fearing that those who have military might can dictate their will and impose
their rules. It reveals our ignorance, our inability to negotiate and
understand each other, our incapability to build amicable, open, trustful
relations with each other. We are obsessed with power. That is human nature.
But we are not greedy, arrogant, ignorant, and bloodthirsty creatures. We are
human beings and we must remind ourselves what it means to be human. It means
showing such qualities as kindness, sensitivity, and compassion, among others. I
repeatedly use ‘we’ implying people, appealing to everybody, to all people on
earth because we are all the same.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For centuries we have been
dehumanizing and even demonizing each other, focusing on what differentiates us
from one another such as color of the skin, language, culture, religion, way of
life, and beliefs rather than what unites us. We have been creating monsters of
each other, justifying inequality, injustice, and wars, rather than trying to
find common grounds for peaceful coexistence on the planet that has resources
sufficient for everyone to have a decent and comfortable life. Those of us who have power have been trying
to impose their way of life, their ideals on others, to reduce difference to
make it comfortable for them, to make it more understandable, to make it safer.
We are afraid of differences. We are scared of those who differ from us and we
try to make them more like us instead of trying to understand them. If we put
aside all external attributes that frighten us off, we will be able to see that
we are not that different after all. All people want and pursue the same
things: peace and security, a dignified life, and the right to be different. Let us start here. Let us be different and not
be afraid of it, but appreciate and celebrate the diversity and beauty of life.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Barack Obama’s suggestion to reduce
and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons was met with skepticism not only by
Russian politicians concerned about the shift in strategic balance it may cause,
but also by American officials like Senator Sessions who said that it is a
dangerous policy and it is “driven by an ideological vision of the president,
of the world without nuclear weapons,” stressing that the security of America
and its allies depends on strong deterrence that includes maintaining a nuclear
arsenal. In other words, the Senator believes
that it is</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">impossible to have a secure world without nuclear
weapons. Maybe he is right. Maybe it is an ideological vision and even an
idealistic one especially for those who were born in the Nuclear Age and who do
not know what it is like to live without fear of nuclear holocaust. But
everything begins with an idea and faith. Even the invention of an A-bomb
started with an idea that occurred to a curious mind. The world free of this “miraculous
inventiveness” is a dream of billions, a dream that we hope will come true. We
actively use our minds to solve problems, create new inventions, and build an
environment in which we feel safe and comfortable. We hope that we will also
apply our hearts to what we do. We hope that we will stop relying on
technologies and begin to trust each other. We hope that we will stop working
on technological progress and start working diligently on human relations. We must stop drifting along in the direction
heading nowhere but extinction of all life. We need to be bold like Edward
Snowden to resist the system that works against our humanity and we need bold
leaders to change the course of history. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It would be reasonable to expect a
bold initiative from the US government. For the United States exercises its
power globally on an unprecedented level. For decades the United States assumes
the role of “leader of the free world” to spread and protect democratic values,
ideals, and freedoms. However, the past has revealed the hypocrisy of the US
benevolent leadership: the undemocratic character of methods used to establish
the rule of law and liberal order in the world. America’s intervention in other
nations’ affairs is often seen as an attempt to enforce its order and build
societies that are compatible with its vision of the world rather than “assist
people to work out their own way” as Truman declared in his famous 1947
doctrine. America has shown that it can
be aggressive and even violent. It has also demonstrated its inclination to
control and set its rules. Such policies and strategies make other states to want
to possess nuclear weapons to deter the United States from undue intrusion in their
affairs, to protect their way of life, to defend their right to be different.
At the same time the continuous reliance of the United States on its nuclear
arsenal sends the message that its power and leadership are based on its
military might, not common human values and democratic principles it claims to
be a faithful advocate of. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We
urge the US leader to have the courage to finally take “a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>bold<span class="apple-converted-space"><b> </b></span>initiative
consistent with America’s moral heritage,” requested by Kissinger,
Nunn, Shultz and Perry in 2007. We encourage him to abolish the US nuclear
arsenal and thus set an example worthy to admire and follow. We ask him to be strong
enough not to be afraid of becoming weak. We ask him to trust his allies who
would back up America if required. We encourage him and the rest of the world
to see the power in the values shared by all people and not in the weapons. We
urge the US President and other global leaders to stop promising and act. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background: #FEFDFA; color: #333333;">Ekaterina
Kuzmina is a graduate student at California State University, Fullerton and an intern at NAPF. </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00161084060333832217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-58570604493318533032013-06-19T17:03:00.001-07:002013-06-20T09:31:02.810-07:00President Obama in Berlin: "So long as nuclear weapons exist, we are not truly safe.”<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqx1qWmd6j86qae7Hu6p5Rwbyl97NAkM-T4QzVYUSHULJrvNcZ3HXfX1AuAQ2xgCu0UAdR4I-hXExtTpGthUs14sb-NFutYs_JhuJ0qPLiTPxwbV_Qh4ed_IkPn1MhplpcTmulCh0RKo/s1600/US-president-Barack-Obama-010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqx1qWmd6j86qae7Hu6p5Rwbyl97NAkM-T4QzVYUSHULJrvNcZ3HXfX1AuAQ2xgCu0UAdR4I-hXExtTpGthUs14sb-NFutYs_JhuJ0qPLiTPxwbV_Qh4ed_IkPn1MhplpcTmulCh0RKo/s320/US-president-Barack-Obama-010.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Barack Obama at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Today, in front of the historic Brandenburg Gate, US President
Barack Obama stood where Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy before him also
stood. He uttered the words now made
famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” to a cheering crowd waving German and American
flags together. President Obama
addressed the issue of nuclear weapons and proliferation in his speech. Perhaps more importantly, Obama said, “We may
no longer live in fear of global annihilation, but so long as nuclear weapons
exist, we are not truly safe.” While
most likely rhetoric, Mr. Obama was correct when he said this; for as long as
weapons exist that can take out entire cities and regions, no country or people
are safe if war breaks out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">President Obama championed the New START Treaty in his speech
saying, “I intend to seek negotiated cuts with Russia to move beyond Cold War
nuclear postures.” However, unless Mr.
Obama has had some great change of heart, his actions during his Presidency
regarding nuclear weapons have yet to meet the expectations laid out in his
grandiose speeches. The New START Treaty
is made to sound ambitious and groundbreaking, it is however very conservative
in its changes and unimaginative. The
new treaty sets the deployed weapon limit at 1550 warheads for each
country. The estimate of the US
stockpile is estimated at 4,650 warheads, of which around 2,150 are deployed. Russian nuclear stockpile is estimated at
4,500 weapons. Only 1,800 of those
warheads are deployed. So the limit of
1550 really isn’t that drastic of a change.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">While the number of warheads is decreasing (ever so slightly), both
countries are actively modernizing the weapons they do have deployed, making
them more powerful and deadlier, which directly contradicts the point of the
nuclear talks in the first place.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
language in the New START is vague about the numbers of launchers.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Officially the maximum number of nuclear
warhead launchers is limited at 700 for each country.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, this term launcher can vary from a
single ballistic missile that fires a single nuclear warhead to a submarine or
bomber that can launch multiple warheads.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Therefore the number of 700 is misleading and sounds small but is in
reality arbitrary and meaningless.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">While the New START Treaty is indeed better than nothing, it fails
to address the current problems of continued Cold War mentalities plaguing the
US and Russian nuclear weapons forces. Instead
of merely downsizing our stockpile, President Obama and Putin should consider
eliminating some of the most egregious Cold War policies that continue today,
including maintaining hundreds of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert. Steps
like this would foster trust between Russia and the US.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">President Obama also stated that America will host a Nuclear
Security Summit in 2016 “to continue our efforts to secure nuclear materials
around the world,” and that we plan to work to build support in the United
States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty which, if
successfully ratified, will call on all nations to end the production of
fissile materials for nuclear weapons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">The treaty, which will significantly reduce the global nuclear
threat if implemented, has been signed and ratified by 159 states but the eight
states that need to take further action before the treaty can enter into force
are the United States, <span style="background: #F9F9F9;">China, Egypt, India,
Iran, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan. The </span>ratification of this treaty
by the United States would be a breakthrough in the struggle towards global
nuclear disarmament because a first move on the part of the US would gain
international support for the treaty, and provide an incentive for the
remaining states that have not yet ratified to follow suit. Without the support
of the seven other states, the treaty cannot enter into force, which is why it
is necessary for the US to take the initiative and <span style="background: white;">launch a diplomatic effort to bring on board other states whose
ratification is required for the implementation of the treaty. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty would prohibit nuclear explosive tests for all of its parties. Its
enforcement would be in the best interest of every party involved and would
serve as a catalyst in solving other key nonproliferation issues. If President
Obama holds true to his word, and he pushes other states to ratify, nuclear
proliferation will be greatly constrained by nations’ inability to test and
advance nuclear weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">So, although the New START treaty has not proven to be as ambitious
as we had originally hoped when it was ratified into force in 2011 due to its
rather small and insignificant reductions in arms with a lack of actual policy
change, the treaty has at least been successful in maintaining US-Russian
relations and in reducing our nuclear stockpile which, though only a small
breakthrough, is an accomplishment to pride ourselves on. However, the price
paid for ratification of New START ($180 billion+ to modernize nuclear warheads
and facilities) was steep. It is important that CTBT ratification not include
such “deals.” Despite the failures of the New START treaty, there is hope for
the US ratification of the <span style="background: white;">Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty which will provide an incentive for nations around the world to
follow in the application of a treaty which has the potential to create better
conditions for our entire planet and all its inhabitants.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Brooks Troiani
is a recent graduate of Westmont College and an intern at NAPF. Amber Giallo is
an undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Barbara and an intern
at NAPF.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-26341597128707992832012-11-08T10:57:00.000-08:002012-11-08T10:57:40.626-08:00Leave Him Alone?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtTYBVn9de6daYnAehq2p_Zp4ey-zJn4Dp80aNMHPo-da8HNIqcpGf0C2IvpdazbptZoQ4l7JDhlMVCW03dUPnApC55cJdlL08hr4KWy1Vd77sNb2vDqKpa9mkVxv_vV_44VHEpv-ggHN/s1600/Obama-Re-Election.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtTYBVn9de6daYnAehq2p_Zp4ey-zJn4Dp80aNMHPo-da8HNIqcpGf0C2IvpdazbptZoQ4l7JDhlMVCW03dUPnApC55cJdlL08hr4KWy1Vd77sNb2vDqKpa9mkVxv_vV_44VHEpv-ggHN/s200/Obama-Re-Election.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Yesterday, I sent out an <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6357/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12082" target="_blank">action alert</a> asking our members to write to President Obama and ask him to cancel next week’s test of a Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Thousands of people immediately took action, asking him not only to cancel next week’s test, but also to work quickly in his second term to decommission land-based ICBMs.<br /><br />As always, I am deeply grateful to our thousands of dedicated members who take action to support the elimination of nuclear weapons. This wide support from around the United States gives us the public voice we need to be able to get our foot in the door in Washington, DC.<br /><br />I got a couple of replies from people to the effect of, “Come on, give the guy [Obama] a break. He just won re-election. Let’s savor this victory for a while.”<br /><br />Here’s why I disagree with that assessment:<br />
<ul>
<li>The Air Force isn’t planning to give us, or the Marshall Islanders (the target of the November 14 test), a break by postponing the test. </li>
<li>Conducting this test would be a terrible message to send to the world immediately after the President’s re-election. We’re talking about a missile that carries thermonuclear warheads at least eight times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.</li>
<li>We are trying to hold President Obama to his 2008 campaign promise to “renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”</li>
</ul>
<br />
To read more about why the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation believes that the United States should decommission its land-based Minuteman III missiles, <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/db_article.php?article_id=351" target="_blank">see this article</a> in the <i>Christian Science Monitor</i> by NAPF President David Krieger and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.<br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->Rick Waymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17325336172676810274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-60312736795815487972012-09-12T15:44:00.003-07:002012-09-12T16:00:57.932-07:00What Does Your Political Party Say About Nuclear Weapons?<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 2012 U.S. Presidential election season is well underway, and among the most important political issues that America faces is determining a policy on nuclear weapons. T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">he following passages are the official stances on nuclear weapons from the Democratic, Republican, and Green Party platform.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> Each party platform addresses the issue of nuclear weapons proliferation and disarmament, in regards to both the U.S.'s nuclear program and nuclear programs abroad. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">THE 2012 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL PLATFORM</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Preventing the Spread and Use of Nuclear Weapons. </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In our continuing efforts to keep America safe, President Obama and the Democratic Party believe we must address the threat that nuclear weapons pose to our security and to peace in the world. Despite the two decades that have passed since the end of the Cold War, large stockpiles of nuclear weapons persist, and more nations are interested in acquiring them. Nuclear testing and black-market trade in sensitive nuclear materials continue. And terrorists remain determined to buy, build, or steal the ultimate weapon.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons and to eventually ridding the planet of these catastrophic weapons. This goal will not be achieved overnight. It will require patience, perseverance, and the steady accumulation of concrete actions. But real progress has already been made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reducing Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles</b>. The Obama administration has moved away from Cold War thinking by reducing the prominence of nuclear weapons in America’s national security strategy, and it has urged others to do the same. As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal to deter any adversary and guarantee the defense of our allies. But President Obama has taken important steps to decrease America’s nuclear arsenal and is committed to further responsible reductions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To reduce our warheads and stockpile, lower the threat of a nuclear exchange, and lay the foundation for future progress, President Obama negotiated and signed the landmark New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, producing cuts in each side’s deployed nuclear stockpiles and launchers and allowing us to monitor and verify Russia’s arsenal. Yet despite bipartisan consensus among former National Security Advisors, Secretaries of Defense, and Secretaries of State that New START makes America safer, Mitt Romney strongly objected to the treaty. Moving forward, the President will work with Russia to achieve additional reductions in stockpiles and nuclear delivery vehicles, including tactical and non-deployed nuclear weapons. We will also work to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and seek a new Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty that prohibits the production of fissile materials intended for use in nuclear weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Preventing Nuclear Proliferation</b>. President Obama and the Democratic Party are also committed to strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the bedrock of international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries. As we work to uphold our obligations under the treaty by reducing stockpiles and recognizing the rights of all rule-abiding states to peaceful nuclear energy, we will insist that countries without nuclear weapons comply with their obligations not to develop them, and we will ensure that violators face real consequences. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Iran</b>. President Obama, working closely with our international partners and Congress, has put in place unprecedented sanctions against Iran. Iran has yet to build a nuclear weapon, but has continually failed to meet its obligations under the NPT and several United Nations Security Council resolutions, and it cannot demonstrate with any credibility that its program is peaceful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The President is committed to using all instruments of national power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. When President Obama took office, Iran was ascendant in the region, and the international community was divided over how to address Iran’s nuclear violations. The President’s early offer of engagement with Iran – quickly rebuffed by the regime – allowed the United States to expose Iranian intransigence and rally the international community as never before. Working with our European allies and with Russia and China, the administration gained unprecedented agreement for the toughest ever UN sanctions against Iran, laying the foundation for additional national financial and energy sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations. As a result, Iran is now increasingly isolated and the regime faces crippling economic pressure – pressure that will only build over time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Obama believes that a diplomatic outcome remains the best and most enduring solution. At the same time, he has also made clear that the window for diplomacy will not remain open indefinitely and that all options – including military force – remain on the table. But we have an obligation to use the time and space that exists now to put increasing pressure on the Iranian regime to live up to its obligations and rejoin the community of nations, or face the consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>North Korea</b>. President Obama will also continue to confront North Korea, another regime that ignores its international obligations by developing nuclear weapons and missile technology, with a stark choice: take verifiable steps toward denuclearization or face increasing isolation and costs from the United States and the international community. That is why the administration worked with international partners to impose the harshest multilateral sanctions on North Korea in history. And it is why the President has made clear that the transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and our allies, and we would hold North Korea accountable for the consequences of such action.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Securing Loose Nuclear Materials</b>. The President has led a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world, hosting a nuclear security summit in Washington, and making concrete progress in locking these materials down. This is an important goal because the prospect that al-Qaeda or another terrorist organization might acquire a nuclear device represents an immediate and extreme threat to global security. At the same time, the United States will continue to work with international partners to break up black markets, detect and intercept nuclear materials in transit, and use financial tools to disrupt this dangerous trade. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Russia.</b> Crucial to achieving all of these objectives has been, and will remain, expanded cooperation with <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Russia. The Cold War mentality represented by Mitt Romney’s identification of Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe” ignores the very real common interest we share with Russia in reducing nuclear stockpiles, stopping additional proliferation by countries such as Iran and North Korea, and preventing nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. The President’s “reset” policy toward Russia has produced significant cooperation in these areas, as well as in Russian support for the Northern Distribution Network that supplies our troops in Afghanistan. We support establishing permanent, normal trade relations with Russia because it would be good for the U.S. economy, for U.S. businesses, and for U.S. workers if we do. And securing Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization is an important step toward encouraging Russia to follow a rules-based system, and to protecting the rights of American workers, farmers, ranchers, and firms. At the same time, we are candid with the Russians when we disagree. The administration will not put aside our differences but will raise them directly with the Russian government. And we will continue to strongly criticize Russian actions that we oppose, such as their support for the Assad regime in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The complete Democratic platform:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform">http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">THE 2012 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL PLATFORM </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Current Administration’s Failure: Leading From Behind. </b>The Republican Party is the advocate for a strong national defense as the pathway to peace, economic prosperity, and the protection of those yearning to be free. Since the end of World War II, American military superiority has been the cornerstone of a strategy that seeks to deter aggression or defeat those who threaten our national security interests. In 1981, President Reagan came to office with an agenda of strong American leadership, beginning with a restoration of our country’s military strength. The rest is history, written in the rubble of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. We face a similar challenge today. The current Administration has responded with weakness to some of the gravest threats to our national security this country has faced, including the proliferation of transnational terrorism, continued belligerence by a nuclear-armed North Korea, an Iran in pursuit of nuclear weapons, rising Chinese hegemony in the Asia Pacific region, Russian activism, and threats from cyber espionage and terrorism. In response to these growing threats, President Obama has reduced the defense budget by over $487 billion over the next decade and fought Republican efforts to avoid another $500 billion in automatic budget cuts through a sequestration in early 2013 that will take a meat ax to all major defense programs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Failed National Security Strategy. </b>The current Administration’s most recent National Security Strategy reflects the extreme elements in its liberal domestic coalition. It is a budget-constrained blueprint that, if fully implemented, will diminish the capabilities of our Armed Forces. The strategy significantly increases the risk of future conflict by declaring to our adversaries that we will no longer maintain the forces necessary to fight and win more than one conflict at a time. It relies on the good intentions and capabilities of international organizations to justify constraining American military readiness. Finally, the strategy subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy, and international health issues, and elevates “climate change” to the level of a “severe threat” equivalent to foreign aggression. The word “climate,” in fact, appears in the current President’s strategy more often than Al Qaeda, nuclear proliferation, radical Islam, or weapons of mass destruction. The phrase “global war on terror” does not appear at all, and has been purposely avoided and changed by his Administration to “overseas contingency operations.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nuclear Forces and Missile Defense Imperiled. </b>We recognize that the gravest terror threat we face—a nuclear attack made possible by nuclear proliferation—requires a comprehensive strategy for reducing the world’s nuclear stockpiles and preventing the spread of those armaments. But the U.S. can lead that effort only if it maintains an effective strategic arsenal at a level sufficient to fulfill its deterrent purposes, a notable failure of the current Administration. The United States is the only nuclear power not modernizing its nuclear stockpile. It took the current Administration just one year to renege on the President’s commitment to modernize the neglected infrastructure of the nuclear weapons complex—a commitment made in exchange for approval of the New START treaty. In tandem with this, the current Administration has systematically undermined America’s missile defense, abandoning the missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, reducing the number of planned interceptors in Alaska, and cutting the budget for missile defense. In an embarrassing open microphone discussion with former Russian President Medvedev, the current President made clear that, if he wins a second term, he intends to exercise “more flexibility” to appease Russia, which means further undermining our missile defense capabilities. A Republican President will be honest and forthright with the American people about his policies and plans and not whisper promises to authoritarian leaders. A strong and effective strategic arsenal is still necessary as a deterrent against competitors like Russia or China. But the danger in this age of asymmetric or non-traditional warfare comes from other quarters as well. With unstable regimes in Iran and North Korea determined to develop nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States, with the possibility that a terrorist group could gain control of a nuclear weapon, it is folly to abandon a missile shield for the country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>U.S. Leadership in the Asian-Pacific Community. </b>We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim, from Australia, the Philippines, and our Freely Associated States in the Pacific Islands to Japan and the Republic of Korea. With them, we look toward the restoration of human rights to the suffering people of North Korea and the fulfillment of their wish to be one in peace and freedom. The U.S. will continue to demand the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs with a full accounting of its proliferation activities.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Challenges of a Changing Middle East. </b>Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability threatens America, Israel, and the world. That threat has only become worse during the current Administration. A continuation of its failed engagement policy with Iran will lead to nuclear cascade. In solidarity with the international community, America must lead the effort to prevent Iran from building and possessing nuclear weapons capability. We express our respect for the people of Iran, who seek peace and aspire to freedom. Their current regime is unworthy of them. It exports terror and provided weapons that killed our troops in Iraq. We affirm the unanimous resolution of the U.S. Senate calling for “elections that are free, fair, and meet international standards” and “a representative and responsive democratic government that respects human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law.” We urge the next Republican President to unequivocally assert his support for the Iranian people as they protest their despotic regime. We must retain all options in dealing with a situation that gravely threatens our security, our interests, and the safety of our friends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The complete Republican platform: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012GOPPlatform.pdf"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012GOPPlatform.pdf</span></a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">THE 2012 GREEN PARTY NATIONAL PLATFORM</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Foreign Policy – Peace and Disarmament. </b>Our government should establish a policy to abolish nuclear weapons. It should set the conditions and schedule for fulfilling that goal by taking the following steps:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Declare a no-first-strike policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Declare a no-pre-emptive strike policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Declare that the U.S. will never threaten or use a nuclear weapon, regardless of size, on a non-nuclear nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Our pledge to end testing will open the way for non-nuclear states to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which has been held up by our refusal to sign the CTBT. Honor the conditions set in the NPT for nuclear nations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Reverse our withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and honor its stipulations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-End the research, testing and stockpiling of all nuclear weapons of any size.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Dismantle all nuclear warheads from their missiles.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We urge our government to end all stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons and all research, use, and sale of such weapons; and sign the convention that will establish the decrease and inspection of all nations’ stockpiles of such weapons, which the U.S. abandoned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Nuclear Issues. </b>We oppose the development and use of new nuclear reactors, plutonium (MOX) fuel, nuclear fuel reprocessing, nuclear fusion, uranium enrichment, and the manufacturing of new plutonium pits for a new generation of nuclear weapons.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Advanced Technology and Defense Conversion. </b>The Green Party supports defense technology transfer towards a peacetime technology-based economy, particularly new industrial applications and developments in the areas of advanced communications, alternative energy, non-toxic battery technology and waste management.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Consolidation of the nuclear weapons complex should move toward alternative civilian technologies and non-proliferation work, not toward a new generation of nuclear weapon design and production.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. We recognize the need for de-escalating the continuing arms race, and we strongly oppose putting nuclear weapons, lasers and other weapons in space in a new militarization policy that is in clear violation of international law.<br />
<br />
The complete Green Party platform:<br />
<o:p></o:p><a href="http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2012/Platform-2012.html">http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/2012/Platform-2012.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Mona Saghrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15294810676386698651noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-66374833549906861802012-09-04T10:31:00.000-07:002012-09-04T10:31:17.264-07:00My Letter in the Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal published a letter to the editor from me on Sunday, September 2. It appears as if the Journal is no longer archiving letters to the editor online, so the full text of the letter appears below.<br />
<br />
The letters to the editor page is the second-most widely read page of a newspaper after the front page. It is a great way to get your message across to readers, especially in a publication known for coming down on the other side of your issue of interest.<br />
<br />
I encourage everyone to write letters to the editor on issues they care about - both local papers and national ones. You can read my suggested guidelines for writing a letter to the editor <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/09/06_napf_in_wsj.php" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Here's the text of my letter, which refers to an <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577615331538288616.html" target="_blank">op-ed that had been published by the Wall Street Journal earlier that week</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="times" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">Mr. Kozak certainly places a lot of faith in the idea that "rational actors" with their finger on the nuclear trigger will act rationally at all times, even under extreme stress during times of war. This dangerous assumption overlooks the fact that one irrational decision with nuclear weapons could set off a chain of events that could kill hundreds of millions of people around the world through nuclear famine.</div><div class="times" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;">Furthering the gap between nuclear "haves" and "have-nots" through military action, as Mr. Kozak not so subtly infers, will only increase the incentive for other countries to develop nuclear weapons quickly. Negotiations for a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone, which would include both Iran and Israel, are supposed to take place in the coming months. This is a sensible way to halt real and possible nuclear proliferation in this volatile region of the world.</div><div class="times" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;"><b>Rick Wayman</b> </div><div class="times" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;"><i>Nuclear Age Peace Foundation</i> </div><div class="times" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;"><i>Santa Barbara, Calif.</i> </div>Rick Waymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17325336172676810274noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-469446499026640132012-08-28T11:52:00.002-07:002012-08-28T11:53:29.196-07:00Iran Call for Nuclear Abolition by 2025 is Unreported by New York Times<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQUdcS0rBc36JuFz1xG64pm4HrRYh2m0SSCoFisVpof8SOX_hyphenhyphenRT-YT-GNPvZw5slx8OJJYfjvzYXMUgQXBTvJiP8pLLbnGjRREXXg4d09HGcfLWe31gBYD9f_fNtpSwyG8I8FSKNgaxe/s1600/220px-Logo_NAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQUdcS0rBc36JuFz1xG64pm4HrRYh2m0SSCoFisVpof8SOX_hyphenhyphenRT-YT-GNPvZw5slx8OJJYfjvzYXMUgQXBTvJiP8pLLbnGjRREXXg4d09HGcfLWe31gBYD9f_fNtpSwyG8I8FSKNgaxe/s200/220px-Logo_NAM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Logo of the Non-Aligned Movement<br />
(photo: Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><i>This guest blog was written by Alice Slater.</i><br />
<br />
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), formed in 1961 during the Cold War, is a group of 120 states and 17 observer states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The NAM held its opening 2012 session yesterday under the new chairmanship of Iran, which succeeded Egypt as the Chair.<br />
<br />
Significantly, an <i>Associated Press</i> story in the <i>Washington Post</i> headlined, “<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-opens-nonaligned-summit-with-calls-for-nuclear-arms-ban/2012/08/26/4c363ec2-ef63-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend" target="_blank"><i><b>Iran opens nonaligned summit with calls for nuclear arms ban</b></i></a>”, reported that “Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi opened the gathering by noting commitment to a previous goal from the nonaligned group, known as NAM, to remove the world’s nuclear arsenals within 13 years. ‘We believe that the timetable for ultimate removal of nuclear weapons by 2025, which was proposed by NAM, will only be realized if we follow it up decisively,’ he told delegates.”<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Yet the <i>New York Times</i>, which has been beating the drums for war with Iran, just as it played a disgraceful role in the deceptive reporting during the lead-up to the Iraq War, never mentioned Iran’s proposal for nuclear abolition. The Times carried the bland headline on its front page, “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/world/middleeast/iran-uses-nonaligned-meeting-to-push-its-message.html?_r=3&ref=world" target="_blank"><i><b>At Summit Meeting, Iran Has a Message for the World</b></i></a>”, and then went on to state, “the message is clear. As Iran plays host to the biggest international conference …it wants to tell its side of the long standoff with the Western powers which are increasingly convinced that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons,” without ever reporting Iran’s offer to support the NAM proposal for the abolition of nuclear weapons by 2025.<br />
<br />
Surely the most sensible way to deal with Iran’s nascent nuclear weapons capacity is to call all the nations to the table to negotiate a treaty to ban the bomb. That would mean abolishing the 20,000 nuclear bombs on the planet—in the US, UK, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel—with 19,000 of them in the US and Russia. In order to get Russia and China to the table, the US will also have to give up its dreams of dominating the earth with missile “defenses” which, driven by corrupt military contractors and a corporate- owned Congress, are currently being planted and based in provocative rings around Russia and China. <br />
<br />
The ball is in the U.S. court to make good faith efforts for nuclear abolition. That would be the only principled way to deal with fears of nuclear proliferation. The US must start with a genuine offer for negotiations to finally ban the bomb in all countries, including a freeze on further missile development. It should stop beating up on Iran and North Korea while it hypocritically continues to improve and expand the US arsenal, with tens of billions of dollars for new weapons laboratories and bomb delivery systems, and fails failing to speak out against the nuclear activities of other nations such as the enrichment of uranium in Japan and Brazil and the nuclear arsenal of Israel. Rick Waymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17325336172676810274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-17672859459917084692012-08-10T13:00:00.000-07:002012-08-10T13:00:00.565-07:00Prisoner's Dilemma Applied to International Treaty Interpretation<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaC5fwiA-X-ny2lu97k-GJ2n2iUBpTXDNg7OphltIAg8WDiB8FG_k218nUNDdwUl_6_QY9rHDLr731tnGnbNJzTpeVwD0cvtkn_rronS4jIjR-TNmoTAuqHlUdOZsOB99GEI0VREodCsyA/s1600/prisoner_s-dilemma.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaC5fwiA-X-ny2lu97k-GJ2n2iUBpTXDNg7OphltIAg8WDiB8FG_k218nUNDdwUl_6_QY9rHDLr731tnGnbNJzTpeVwD0cvtkn_rronS4jIjR-TNmoTAuqHlUdOZsOB99GEI0VREodCsyA/s320/prisoner_s-dilemma.png" width="310" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two
prisoners are brought into a precinct.
Separately, the individuals are approached by an attorney to negotiate a
‘deal’ for prison length. These
prisoners are presented with options: defect or cooperate. In defecting, prisoner A rats out
prisoner B. In cooperating,
prisoner A does not rat out prisoner B, in assumption (or hope) that prisoner B
will also cooperate. Prisoner B is
given mirrored options. The
payoffs depend on the option the prisoners choose. If prisoner A betrays B while B cooperates, prisoner A comes
out on top; if both prisoners cooperate, they both win- a mutual benefit; when
both rat out each other, both lose; and, when prisoner A cooperates, but B
betrays, prisoner A loses. If this
sounds familiar, it is because it is a popularized international relations (IR)
theory coined as the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and stems from rational choice-Game
Theory in political science academia.
In recent, however, this dilemma has found scholarship in explaining
international law of treaties. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because
there is no domineering international legislature or centralized lawmakers, it
remains very difficult to implement international law. Thus, treaties become monumental in
maintaining international harmony and cooperation. They can be thought of as an international public
service/good. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
mentioned, treaties are designed to encourage international relations among
nations. Therefore, when nations
became signatory to a treaty (and upon ratification of a treaty), they make a
public commitment to abide by its rules/articles. </div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
How
to implement a treaty once a country goes rogue becomes a focus of debate.
Dating back to the Vienna Convention, Article 60 governs ‘rules of release’-
put simply, when it is acceptable for a member state to remove itself from
treaty obligations. Largely, this
depends on a concept very familiar in contract law- ‘material breach.’ A material breach in the context of the
Vienna Convention and treaty interpretation is defined as a violation of a
provision <b>essential </b>to the accomplishment
of the object or purpose of the treaty.
For example, if a treaty between nations was written with the main
objective being not to proliferate weapons, and then nation A contracts with an
organization to acquire weapons, nation B (or others directly affected) has
fallen victim to a ‘material breach’ and has met the necessary means to remove
itself (themselves) from the treaty.
Although the likelihood of being released from treaty obligation is much
more complicated and in depth than the example I have provided, the salient
features are present. Personally,
I am in agreement that treaties can be assessed as contracts. In contracts, just as in treaties, a
party evaluates the costs avoided by committing a breach, and the deprivation
of benefits because of the breach.
This article 60 ‘release’ is very important to keep in mind when
assessing treaties and applying a theory such as the one discussed above.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When putting the prisoner’s dilemma
in application to international agreements, it seems that the most advantageous
choice would be for all to cooperate with each other, that way, as the example
in the preceding paragraphs explain, both (all) win. Below, I have mapped out the options between the nuclear
weapon states and the non nuclear weapon states party to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty.</div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; margin-left: 9.45pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 441px;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 93.0pt;">
<td style="border: none; height: 93.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 441.0pt;" valign="top" width="441"><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="left" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: margin; mso-table-anchor-vertical: margin; mso-table-left: left; mso-table-lspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-overlap: never; mso-table-rspace: 9.0pt; mso-table-top: -8.4in;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Player A: Nuclear Weapon States<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Player B: Non Nuclear Weapon States<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Predicted Outcome<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Cooperate via abiding by treaty terms<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Cooperate via abiding by treaty terms<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Win-win: treaty enforced<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Cooperate<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Betray via acquire weapons <o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Player B wins the most <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Betray via continue proliferation or use weapons for
non-peaceful measures, etc…<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Cooperate via not acquire any weapons for non peaceful
measures<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext .5pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext .5pt; border-top: none; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Player A wins the most<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 143.15pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal">
Betray via proliferate<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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Betray via acquire weapons<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lose-lose<o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, nothing is as simple as
the table illustrates above, but a loose idea of what could happen is still
valuable insight. The above table
depicts a situation that when one party betrays while the other cooperates, the
betraying party wins much, just as in the traditional prisoner’s dilemma. However, I want to comment on two
points. First, that both parties
have the possibility to win much, and both have the opportunity to betray the
other, leaving neither party a winner in this particular context due to the
grave severity of nuclear proliferation.
Second, if a nuclear weapon state betrays while a non-nuclear weapon
state cooperates, it does not necessarily mean that the nuclear weapon state
‘wins’ because the non-nuclear weapon state now has the prospect to legally
repudiate its treaty obligations, giving that state the option or incentive to
acquire nuclear weapons also. </div>
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Pay-off
scenarios such as the prisoner’s dilemma become much more complex when there
are more than two parties: either a group of people or a multi-party treaty,
such as the NPT. The reason for
this illustration above is to remind all of us and our leaders that nothing in
international relations is black and white, win or lose, or yes/no- there are
always confounding variables, making it all the more imperative that weapon
states and non-weapon states stop flirting the line of catastrophic nuclear
disaster by indulging in pride games all for short-term gains and pay-off
probabilities, and instead begin to take treaty obligations such as the NPT seriously. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-32308888415784670902012-08-07T04:00:00.000-07:002012-08-08T09:29:56.212-07:00Call for Peace from Hiroshima and Nagasaki<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nagasaki Peace Bell</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At 8:15 am,
on August 6, the Peace Bell at the Hiroshima Peace Park begins ringing, and
people closing their eyes start praying for the victims of atomic bombings as
well as for world peace without nuclear weapons. Another bell rings in Nagasaki
at 11:02 am on August 9. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last
summer, I visited Nagasaki and attended the peace ceremony for the first time.
Despite hot and humid weather of summer in Nagasaki, many people came to the
Peace Memorial Park, including <i>hibakusha</i>
(A-bomb survivors), politicians, students, children, and people from other
countries. I was outside of the main place when I heard the peace bell ringing.
With complete silence in the park, the deep sounds of the bell were only resonating
as if it was carrying all the memories of the A-bomb victims and our prayers
for world peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nagasaki Peace Statue</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Right after
the silent prayer, a number of white pigeons flied off to the sky which the
right hand of the peace statue pointed out. The peace statue was established in
1955 as a symbol of the Nagasaki Peace Park. The right hand pointing out to the
sky means “a threat of an atomic bomb,” the lift hand holding out horizontally
means “equality” and “peace,” and the slightly opened eyes mean “a prayer for
A-bomb victims.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">The path near to the entrance of the ceremony was adorned with hundreds of thousand colorful paper cranes, each of which would be made with a prayer for world peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the
ceremony, I went to the Nagasaki Peace Museum. The museum exhibits a number of
collections which show the effect of the atomic bomb, including several glass bottles melted and becoming together, tiles partially melted, and a wall with a
human shadow. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a melted tile</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-DbCkCBpvZN65UvxtD-vi_EFMzKyiOIEy0vdg2AP_LjKZtT4ougz4uXF-lgcuW4DmmV_XCElX7GzbZzqqhLUtK2ENcbDqKL1ToKYwL7sKtLqQ9CzdSPlwthm7-gYoXmaELXUpltgOGc/s1600/bins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-DbCkCBpvZN65UvxtD-vi_EFMzKyiOIEy0vdg2AP_LjKZtT4ougz4uXF-lgcuW4DmmV_XCElX7GzbZzqqhLUtK2ENcbDqKL1ToKYwL7sKtLqQ9CzdSPlwthm7-gYoXmaELXUpltgOGc/s200/bins.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">melted glass bottles</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a lunch box</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Moreover, I was more shocked when I saw the collections which A-bomb
survivors and victims’ relatives donated to the museum, for example daughter’s
clothes, husband’s grasses, a child’s lunch box filled with carbonized rice, a
watch that stopped at the time of the bombing, and so on. The explanations of
such collections told that because the severe damage on their bodies made it extremely
hard to tell who they were, people who tried to find the persons were able to do
so only by their belongings. Each of the collections I saw at the museum
silently but eloquently demonstrated how terrible and inhuman damage a single nuclear
weapon can create.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the
peace museum, I was able to find the strength of the hibakusha as peace
activists. When I saw pictures of wounded bodies of hibakusha, a woman
volunteering to explain exhibitions told me that it was extremely hard for
hibakusha to provide such pictures to the museum. She said that they did not
want to show their identity as hibakusha because misunderstanding of
radioactivity caused discrimination against hibakusha in Japan. According to
her, some hibakusha still do not want to share their stories because it reminds
them of the memory of the atomic bombing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Taking into consideration both physical
and mental sufferings hibakusha went through, it is not so surprising to me if they would commit suicide to escape their sufferings. Rather, I think it is still
remarkable if they die without committing suicide. In spite of such difficult situations,
hibakusha decided to show their pictures, share their experiences, and provide
personal belongings to the museum. This is because their desire for world peace
without nuclear weapons is much stronger than that for their own sakes. That is
why I think that hibakusha reveal the strengths of human beings. Hibakusha are “peace
fighters” instead of simply being “A-bomb victims.”</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nagasaki city</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.5pt;">Walking around
beautiful Nagasaki city, I found several signs that showed how the places were
affected by the bombing. Those signs reminded me of the atomic bomb was
actually exploded in the sky right above my head. I felt as though this city
itself were giving messages for peace.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Based on
the experience in Nagasaki, I believe that none of arguments is more convincing
and stronger than the voice of the hibakusha in order to rid the world of
nuclear weapons because their voices can directly appeal to people’s
conscience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This year, 67<sup>th</sup>
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony was held on August 6 in Japan, where
representatives from 71 countries including Britain and France for the first
time. Moreover, Clifton Daniel, a grandson of then-president Henry S. Truman,
also attended the ceremony. Daniel was
inspired by a story of Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year-old girl who died from cancer
caused by radiation from Hiroshima atomic bombing. Later, he met Sadako’s brother
Masahiro Sasaki, and he invited Daniel to Hiroshima.<sup>1</sup> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During an
interview after the ceremony, Clifton Daniel said, “</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: メイリオ;">I'm two generations down the line, it's now my responsibility to do all
I can to make sure we never use nuclear weapons again.”<sup>2<o:p></o:p></sup></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yesterday on
August 6, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation held the 18<sup>th</sup> annual <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/public-events/sadako-peace-day/2012/">Sadako Peace Day</a>, to commemorate atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where
approximately 90 people attended and listened to songs, poems, and experience
by Kikuko Otake, a survivor of Hiroshima atomic bombing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I believe
that when the voice of the hibakusha keeps resonating with people around the
world, nuclear weapons will be eliminated and will not be created again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">1 </span></sup><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">“Truman’s grandson unapologetic for WWII US nuke bombing of
Japan,” <i><a href="http://www.rt.com/news/truman-nagasaki-hiroshima-wwii-atomic-bomb-795/">RT</a>,
</i>August 3, 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2 </span></sup><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">“</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hiroshima appeals for nuke-free
world, help for aging survivors,” <i><a href="http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120806p2g00m0dm036000c.html">Mainich
Japan,</a> </i>August 6, 2012.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-7686274395685965092012-08-06T09:32:00.000-07:002012-10-14T14:13:04.271-07:00The Unnecessary Bombing of Hiroshima: 67 Years LaterToday marks the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. August 6<sup>th</sup>, 1945 is day in which violence, hate, and patriarchic posturing led to the unnecessary death of hundreds of thousands of people. While the actions of the American government are often described as regrettable, unfortunate, and horrific, we also celebrate these bombings either through claiming their necessity or in the indoctrination of false history for our children within their schools.<br />
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Are bombs really an answer to our problems? This blog will describe two scenarios, one fictional and one historical, which prove nuclear weapons are not a solution to international conflict.</div>
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<b>Nuclear Weapons Were Not Needed in Japan</b></div>
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Growing up in school I was always taught the Japanese war effort was still strong going into the summer of 1945; that a full land invasion of Tokyo would be required for the allies to cause Japan to submit. It is this logic that is used to justify the intolerable use of nuclear weapons on the civilians of Japan. This could not be further from the truth. Admiral William D. Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff, wrote in his memoir that, “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.”<sup>1</sup></div>
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<a name='more'></a>One person’s opinion though doesn’t make something fact, how about a second opinion? In a speech in October 1945 the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, stated, “The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima.”<sup>1</sup> There was no need to use atomic weaponry because Japan had already tried to surrender to the United States. In fact in June William Leary wrote, “It is my opinion at the present time that a surrender of Japan can be arranged with terms that can be accepted by Japan and that will make fully satisfactory provisions for America's defense against future trans-Pacific aggression.”<sup> 1</sup> One of the terms he is referring to is the protection of the Japanese Emperor, something the United States accepted only after dropping the two bombs. Still don’t buy it? Let’s ask the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Pacific General Douglass MacArthur;</div>
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General MacArthur is as high up on the chain of command as one could be in the military when it comes to the war with Japan. MacArthur did not feel there was a need for the atomic bombing of Japan, and even more shocking is that he was not even consulted on the matter. The overwhelming statement that the bomb was not needed by high ranking military officials (more of which can be read <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/atomicdec.htm">here</a>) and the fact that the input of the military was not consulted over the use of the bomb shows that the use of the atomic bomb in Japan was not about securing victory or security; the US could have had both by simply accepting the Japanese surrender, but rather made a sickening demonstration to improve America’s geopolitical standing at the expense of the non-military men, women, and children of Japan. One should never allow people to use the military strength of Japan, or any country, as justification for the direct murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians. One of the major steps we can make toward changing people’s perception of nuclear weapons is to change the collective understanding of this historical fact. </div>
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<b>The Consequences of the Use of a Nuclear Weapon are Superior to Any Benefit</b></div>
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If nuclear weapons are a solution to international conflict then in theory they should be used more often. For example, if an individual is defending the use of atomic weapons in Japan, logically it would follow that nuclear weapons would have brought peace in Germany had they been ready while Germany was still engaged in the war. </div>
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Take that in for a moment; think about how the world would be different today if two nuclear weapons were used in Europe. It is unfathomable how the face of Europe and the relations of western nations currently would be different if this happened. The Vietnam War dragged on for well over a decade, if the justification that the use of a nuclear weapon would lead to peace by preventing the casualties and the monetary cost of a full scale land invasion, why wasn’t one used?</div>
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The answer is simple. Nuclear weapons do not solve military problems, but only complicate situations. Nuclear Weapons create political turmoil and blowback, destroy the infrastructure which is key toward lasting stability and security, and strips the basic rights of the targeted human beings. As one survivor described it, “The atomic bomb completely deprived us of ordinary daily lives for human beings.”<sup>2</sup></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My father managed to come to the school to find me. On my way home, carried on my father’s back, I witnessed hell on earth. I saw a man with burned and peeled skin dangling from his body. A mother was carrying a baby, which was burned-black and looked like charcoal. She herself was heavily burned all over her body and was trying to flee from the place, almost crawling on the ground. Others lost their sight, their eyeballs popped out, or ran around trying to escape, while holding their protruding intestines in their hands. More and more people tried to cling on to us, saying, “Give me water, water, water…”</i><sup>2</sup></div>
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That ‘hell on earth’ is not a sign of peace, and a nuclear weapon is not a tool of peace. Martin Luther King Jr. once said;</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.”</i><sup>3</sup></div>
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On top of the destruction a nuclear weapon leaves behind and the great number of lives it takes, a nuclear weapon will always leave a scar. This is not the scar that comes after horrific burns heal or the scar of a surgery to remove the cancer from an individual decades after the war, a war they were not even participating in. This is a scar on the future, a scar that leaves a rough edge on the path forward, a scar that blinds our eyes to a truth where peace is not only possible but rather could be the very reality of life.</div>
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Nuclear weapons do not bring peace, but only death. Nuclear weapons do not solve conflicts but rather mask the continued tensions that come from unaddressed inequality and injustice.</div>
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If nuclear weapons are not a tool which ends conflict and brings peace why do we tolerate them?</div>
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In the same way we must not tolerate the false values and beliefs which are accepted in our society as a means of nuclear justification.</div>
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<sup>1</sup> “American Military Leaders Urge President Truman not to Drop the Atomic Bomb,” <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/atomicdec.htm">University of Colorado</a>. 2010.</div>
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2 Michiko, Kodama, “For a World Without Wars or Nuclear Weapons,” <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/db_article.php?article_id=383">Nuclear Age Peace Foundation</a>. August 3, 2012.</div>
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<sup>3</sup> King Jr., Martin Luther, “Christmas Sermon,” <a href="http://mlk-pp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/king_quotes_on_war_and_peace/">Stanford University</a>. December 24, 1967.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-87972482109681487042012-08-01T16:41:00.004-07:002012-08-02T09:35:07.932-07:00The Story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">August is a bittersweet
month. <span style="background-color: white;">It is the month in which we mournfully remember the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9 during the final
stages of World War II. The nuclear weapons, developed and deployed by the
United States, brought complete obliteration to the two cities and killed approximately
200,000 Japanese from both immediate and long-term effects. Most of the
Japanese who fell victim to the nuclear weapons were innocent civilians. </span>The laws of war and ethical standards were
shattered, and the United States set a precedent of nuclear proliferation. <span style="background-color: white;">Yet, although
August is the month in which we reflect on the horrors of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, it is also the month in which worldwide peace efforts that stemmed
from such tragedy are celebrated. The story of Sadako Sasaki is one story that
has inspired generations to pursue a peaceful and just world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Sadako Sasaki was two-years-old when the world’s first atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima, about two miles away from her home. Although many of
her neighbors were killed instantaneously, Sadako survived the explosion,
seemingly unscathed. However, below the surface and over the course of the next
ten years, Sadako developed leukemia. Many other children who were exposed to
radiation from the atomic bombs developed leukemia as well. In Japan, leukemia
was known as “the A-bomb disease.” While hospitalized, Sadako began to make origami
cranes. Ancient Japanese legend holds that anyone who folds </span><b>one thousand paper cranes</b><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><i>senbazuru</i><span style="background-color: white;">, will be granted a wish.
Inspired by the Senbazuru legend, Sadako set out to fold one thousand cranes.
She wrote, <i>“I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the
world.”</i> Sadako continued faithfully and persistently to create these symbolic
birds until the disease claimed her life at age 12 on October 25, 1955.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sadako’s story, however, remains very much alive. After her
death, Sadako’s schoolmates began to fold paper cranes so as to continue her
legacy, and Japanese school children raised funds to build the Children’s Peace
Monument in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park; on top of a three-legged pedestal
stands the bronze figure of Sadako. With outstretched arms, Sadako holds a majestic,
golden crane. At the base of the monument, on a black marble slab, a wish is
inscribed, <i>“This is our cry. This our prayer. Building peace in the world.”</i> The
monument not only commemorates Sadako and the thousands of other children who
were victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, but symbolizes the hope for a brighter
future. To this day, children from around the world send hand-folded paper
cranes to be placed beneath Sadako and her golden crane. The crane is now internationally-recognized
as a symbol of peace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To commemorate the 67<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will be
hosting The 18<sup>th</sup> Annual <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/public-events/sadako-peace-day/2012/">Sadako Peace Day</a> on Monday, August 6, 2012
at 6:00 pm. The ceremony will take place in the Sadako Peace Garden at the La
Casa de Maria Retreat Center in Montecito, California and is free and open to
the public. The featured speaker at the commemoration will be Kikuko Otake, who
like Sadako, was a young girl when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
She too lived only a little more than a mile away from the ground zero. Many of
Kikuko’s close family members were killed in the bombing, but Kikuko managed to
barely escape death. Kikuko is an award-winning poet and author of <i>Masako’s Story: Surviving the Atomic Bombing
of Hiroshima</i>, which she will be signing copies of following the event. I invite
you to join us at the commemoration. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sadako Sasaki and Kikuko Otake were not and will not be the
last to be victimized by nuclear war. Some victims have directly suffered from
the effects of nuclear explosions; others live every day in fear of a nuclear
threat from foreign and domestic governmental policies. I urge you to reflect
during the month of August, and hopefully, for the rest of your life, on how
you can help carry out the wish of Sadako’s paper cranes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Mona Saghrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15294810676386698651noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-3137171387382969662012-07-27T14:00:00.000-07:002012-07-27T14:00:00.186-07:00International Law, the NPT, and The Nuclear Black Market<br />
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Unfortunately, nuclear existence
has adapted seemingly well to the chaos of our society; with the break-up of
the Soviet Union, nations witnessed the birth of the nuclear black market-
selling nuclear capable materials, ranging from low enriched uranium to nuclear
triggers. Now, amiss recent US- led Summit talks revolving around nuclear
security, nuclear terrorism has surfaced as an absolute threat to all
countries. Where do these rogue
rebels and militants acquire their materials? The black market of course…where anything and everything can
be found at cheap rates. Due to
the large stockpiles of nuclear materials in Russia, a lot of the smuggling and
trading of nuclear-materials can be found in this country and in/around the
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terrorism, “the illegal use or threat of use of radioactive materials” spawned
like a contagion due to the easy access to the nuclear black market. Small and moderate homemade bombs are
going off daily at the hands of rebel insurgents across the globe: from
bombings in the Middle East to large-scale attempts in Russia by the Chechen
rebels from the volatile Russian Caucasus. Hence the hasty attempt by leading countries, both nuclear
and non, to strengthen securities against this growing enterprise through
centers focusing on training country security forces to detect and take action
against unwarranted attack arising from this illegal practice. If we do not significantly curb the
selling of nuclear materials in the black market, which then facilitates
nuclear terrorism, the likelihood of large-scale nuclear-weaponry in rogue
hands will transpire. </div>
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<a name='more'></a>However, I think it would be
imprudent to ignore the latent link between the failure of article VI of the
Non Proliferation Treaty and the growth of nuclear terrorism. The NPT came into force in 1970 with a
mission to end proliferation. It
is comprised of articles in which each member state is bound to adhere to for the
treaty to be successful. In spite
of this, article VI- the good-faith clause has been manipulated, ignored, or
misused. As long as nuclear states
party to the treaty fail to abide by Article VI, all of the honest measures to
discontinue nuclear smuggling to rogue groups will at no time reach its full
potential. <br />
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Article VI of the NPT reads:</div>
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<i>Each of the parties to the treaty undertakes to <b>pursue</b></i><i> negotiations in good-faith on effective measures
relating to the </i><b><i>cessation</i></b><i> of the nuclear arms race at an </i><b><i>early date</i></b><i> and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on </i><b><i>general
and complete</i></b><i> disarmament under
strict and effective international control (emphasis in bold is not part of
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Foreseeably, disagreements over how
to interpret this article is still debated between nuclear weapon states who
believe that mere agreements to lower the <i>quantity </i>of their nuclear stockpiles satisfied article VI and
the ‘beneficiaries’- non nuclear weapon states who believe that these states
have not met the requirements of the good-faith article. With today’s ever advancing technology,
quantity is no longer the best gauge of nuclear disarmament. We all know that modern technology has
replaced quantity of nuclear weapons with quality of nuclear weapons. Thus, the nuclear weapon states really should consider a
different avenue in advocating their supposed steps in meeting article VI.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If in good-faith, honest steps are
taken to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and subsequently, nuclear material
(not used for peaceful purposes), proliferation by rogue groups will be much
more difficult and the nuclear black market will run itself out of business.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps if those states party to
the NPT, and as suggested previously, nuclear weapon states such as the United
States spend a little more time critically assessing their part in the growing
danger of nuclear terrorism/smuggling by <i>not </i>adhering to article VI of the NPT then they would have less to discuss
at the round table about every other country that needs to work on its
nuclear security. A big part of
nuclear security is certainly following an international treaty aimed at
non-proliferation. In supplement,
if these same states place international law above their geopolitical agenda’s
significant progress can be had at removing stockpiles of
weapon-usable nuclear material from the black market. </div>
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Not to go too far astray, but recently
I delved into the contentions of the 1996 International Court of Justice
Advisory Opinion: <i>Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons</i>, which I encourage anyone interested in
international law as it relates to nuclear weapons to read, and found it
remarkable how quick countries avail themselves of the privileges of
international law to assign guilt or scrutiny to an adversary at one instance,
but the next manipulate that very same law as to render it inapplicable to
their own guilt in the mirrored instance.
For the nuclear states, the ambiguity in article VI of the NPT is a
convenient inconvenience for they can use this ambiguity to fuel their ongoing
actions absent anticipatory consequences of a breach. This convenience-scheme by nuclear states undermines
international law, and in consequence will only undermine efforts to use
international law in other instances, such as against the nuclear black market
and nuclear terrorism.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-27829980060664351202012-07-26T10:15:00.000-07:002012-07-26T16:55:09.632-07:00Is Islam Compatible with Nuclear Weapons?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoqa0ncmmBlghtQoWv-FDI_dUm1n0flkRZ61nG5qQAWBZ8SqdbHo1zyz1WT8xyxXRkY4r0cEcMPrEmbd7xWwNutsIZ_ws5jqx3w6457DMSRqL2piuTM0L9AjzJdduxTiwwGsQYicQPXk/s1600/islam+nuclear+weapons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWoqa0ncmmBlghtQoWv-FDI_dUm1n0flkRZ61nG5qQAWBZ8SqdbHo1zyz1WT8xyxXRkY4r0cEcMPrEmbd7xWwNutsIZ_ws5jqx3w6457DMSRqL2piuTM0L9AjzJdduxTiwwGsQYicQPXk/s320/islam+nuclear+weapons.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">As the history of
Islam tells, in the year 610, the angel Gabriel descended upon an orphan
merchant from Mecca named Muhammad. Gabriel revealed the words of God to
Muhammad, and for the next 23 years, the revelations from God continued,
completing the holy text of</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><i><span style="color: #222222;">the Qur’an</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">, or “the
recitation.” The Qur’an and the actions of Muhammed, who became the messenger
and Prophet of God, as recorded by</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><i><span style="color: #222222;">the hadiths, </span></i><span style="color: #222222;">have become the foundation
of divine guidance and moral direction for Muslims and Islamic
jurisprudence. </span><span style="color: #500050;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">Centuries have
passed since the death of Prophet Muhammad; mankind has modernized, technology
advanced, science developed and the world transformed into a fast-paced,
inter-connected and globalized network. The moral issues that confront mankind
today are thus of a different caliber than the issues from a thousand years
ago. </span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course, some matters are eternal and need no reinterpretation amidst
the tide of changes. For instance, the practice of fasting from dawn to dusk
during the holy month of Ramadan, which began in practice over a thousand years
ago, continues to be practiced by millions of Muslims to this day. The purpose
remains untainted throughout the years as well; fasting serves as a spiritual
experience that teaches self-control, strength, patience and empathy towards
those who don’t have food and water readily available. Yet, what every man and
woman of the Islamic faith must challenge themselves with is how to confront
issues that have only recently surfaced – issues that aren’t given any specific
guidance from Islamic jurisprudence. In these occasions, Muslims must refer to
Islam’s moral standards as dictated by the Qur’an and hadiths and carefully
apply them to the issues of today. This process of deductive analogy is called </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">qiyas</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and is a legitimate way for a Muslim
to create an injunction for a new circumstance. The destructive capabilities of
nuclear weapons, which were beyond anyone’s scope of imagination in the 7</span><sup style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> century,
raise such questions of morality in today’s time. The question thus remains: is
Islam and nuclear weapons compatible? What would the Prophet Muhammad, the
messenger of God, say about the weapons of the 21</span><sup style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">st</sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> century?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a report conducted in 2011
titled “<a href="http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/uploads/Islam_and_the_Bomb-Final-pt1.pdf">Islam and the Bomb: Religious Justification for and Against
Nuclear Weapons</a>,” author Rolf Mowatt-Larssen
from Harvard University collected evidential texts and verses from the Quran
and hadiths revealing the enunciation of killing noncombatants. For example, in
chapter 2 verse 190 of the Quran, limits during the conduct of conflict is
acknowledged: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>“Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but
do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not</i><i> </i><i>transgressors.” </i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The hadiths also describe that the Prophet gave
specific instructions on sparing the lives of the innocents:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Do not kill a decrepit
old man, or a young infant, or a woman …”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Moreover, the 8<sup>th</sup>
century Islamic jurist, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, wrote in his book of
conduct that was drawn upon hadiths that the Prophet forbade mutilation and the
killing of women and children:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>“He (of the enemy) who has reached puberty should be
killed, but he who has not should be spared … Spare the minors—the youth … The
Apostle of God prohibited the killing of women … nor should you mutilate or
kill children, women, or old men.”</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
principle of not targeting the innocent as well as an enunciation for
environmental protection was also referenced by the first Caliph (successor to
the Prophet Muhammad), Abu Bakr, in a speech delivered in 632. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Do not commit treachery or deviate from the right
path. You must not mutilate dead bodies. Neither kill a child, nor a woman, nor
an aged man. Bring no harm to the trees, nor burn them with fire ... Slay not
any of the enemy’s flock, save for food. You are likely to pass by people who
have devoted their lives to monastic services, leave them alone.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As
a counter-argument, some point to Islam’s recognized principle of
proportionality. Indeed, the Qur’an does sanction equal retalitation (an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,) although patience is considered a better
course of action. This principle can be extended to nuclear weapons and the
legitimization of states carrying nuclear weapons for the purpose of deterring
and attacking adversaries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>“And if one has responded to injustice to no greater
extent than the injury he received, and is again tyrannized, Allah will help
him: for Allah is Pardoning and Forgiving.”</i> (Chapter 22, verse 60.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, to argue that because
Islam condones equal punishment nuclear weapons and nuclear retaliation is
acceptable ignores the other principles that the religion also subscribes to. As
indicated previously by various passages and verses, Islam does not condone the
killing or injuring of the innocent, nor the purposeful degradation of the
environment. All of these things are inevitably to occur when dealing with the prowess
of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons don’t serve the purpose to target and kill
a single individual; their nature lies in the capability for mass destruction,
not only immediately, but in the aftermath of the nuclear fallout. In the only occasion
where nuclear weapons were detonated in warfare, during World War II by the
United States, two bombs completely destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. Approximately 200,000 Japanese people were killed, most of whom
were innocent civilians. Recently, scientists have concluded that if 100
nuclear weapons the size of those used in Hiroshima were detonated, less than
0.5% of the world’s nuclear arsenal, the resulting impact on the environment
and in consequence, agricultural production, would threaten over one billion
with <a href="http://wagingpeacetoday.blogspot.com/2012/06/after-winter-nuclear-famine.html#more">"nuclear
famine."</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There
is no escaping the death of innocent people and the destruction of the environment
with nuclear weapons. Based on my deduction of the goals of Islam and the goals
of nuclear proliferation, I find that the two are incompatible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I
urge all those who practice a faith, may it be Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism,
Hinduism, Sikhism, or any other religion, as well as those who may not be a follower
of an organized religion, but rather adhere to their own moral standards, to deeply
assess the morality of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are not compatible with
my morals, and I hope that you find that they’re not compatible with yours
either. </span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Mona Saghrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15294810676386698651noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-70845957978386060412012-07-24T02:00:00.001-07:002012-07-31T16:20:39.977-07:00Government Propaganda: Five Men under a Nuclear Explosion<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6KMHaarZvo9nN39bil-199d_KSihFXAt617vkAkg3TZ39cEwHYNBp9czLcskZxRC0lPZwe9Jwgf52yvjC5CdLcJRN0gdiL1R1R7whcYSiCLoM-97vTLu2d9dqj_ZQxyBc4GjaLjPV8s/s1600/s-NUCLEAR-TEST-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6KMHaarZvo9nN39bil-199d_KSihFXAt617vkAkg3TZ39cEwHYNBp9czLcskZxRC0lPZwe9Jwgf52yvjC5CdLcJRN0gdiL1R1R7whcYSiCLoM-97vTLu2d9dqj_ZQxyBc4GjaLjPV8s/s320/s-NUCLEAR-TEST-large.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today, no one wants to take a risk by being closer to where nuclear weapon test would take place. Nevertheless, 55 years ago, there were five men who volunteered to be filmed while a nuclear weapon was detonated above their heads. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/george-yoshitake-nuclear-test-five-5-men-nevada_n_1687233.html">video</a> was taken in Nevada on July 15, 1957, during a series of nuclear weapon tests (Operation Plumbbob). When the bomb lunched by a fighter jet was blown up 18,500 feet above the ground, five volunteering Air Force officers and one photographer were standing underneath the blast without any protective gears. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><a name='more'></a>At the time, one of the five volunteers, who kept narrating in the video, shouted with excitement: “<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It happened! The mounds are vibrating. It is tremendous! Directly above our heads! Aaah!"<sup>1</sup> </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">55 years later, George Yoshitake, 83, who filmed the video, recalled the event, telling that the film was the government propaganda to demonstrate the safety of nuclear weapons in response to the people’s fear of a nuclear war against the Former Soviet Union. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">“It was a publicity stunt to show the American public how safe it was during an atomic bomb,” Yoshitake said, “and if there was a war or something, with atomic bombs going off, that it was going to be safe for the general public.”<sup>1<o:p></o:p></sup></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, the film did not prove the safety of nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons that the US had at the time were much stronger than the bomb detonated in the film. The bomb in the film was the yields of 2 kiloton of TNT, which is equivalent to about one-eighth the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.<sup>1 </sup>On the contrary, during the nuclear weapon test conducted on July 4, 1957 (</span><a href="http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Plumbob.html"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hood Test</span></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">), the bomb yielded 74 kiloton of TNT. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moreover, Yoshitake said that all of the five volunteers and him were diagnosed with cancer at one time or another, despite the uncertainty of its relation to the blast.<sup> <o:p></o:p></sup></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Most people today do not believe that nuclear weapons are safe, mainly due to the efforts of international organizations and NGOs against nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, this video reminds me of the similar situations where false information is spread, for instance the one regarding the safety of nuclear power.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">After the Fukushima nuclear incident following the earthquake and the tsunami hit in Japan, people in the world started questioning about the safety of nuclear power. On July 10, 2012, I attended the meeting hosted by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, where Chieko Shiima, a farmer in Fukushima who has evacuated from her town due to the radioactive contamination, shared her story and struggles after the incident. For example, she said that the government has not provided the whole information of how the radiation released from the Fukushima energy plant affects the environment and health, which makes people worry about their lives. Accordingly, with other citizens, she started the NGO aimed at proving reliable information that people need to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It might be hard to understand how dangerous nuclear power is because one cannot see radiation as well as its immediate effect on one’s health. Moreover, as the government attempted to promote the safety of nuclear weapons through the video, those who hold the truth would not provide such information to citizens. Therefore, the NGOs and other international organizations have the pivotal role of monitoring the government actions and providing people with reliable resources. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><sup><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1</span></sup><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Stenovec, <span style="background-color: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Timothy, </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">“George Yoshitake, Nuclear Test Photographer, Recalls Filming Nuclear Blast 55 Years Ago,” </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/george-yoshitake-nuclear-test-five-5-men-nevada_n_1687233.html"><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Huffington Post</span></i></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">, July 21, 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-73164348210587060392012-07-20T10:05:00.000-07:002012-07-20T10:05:24.246-07:00After Independence: Scotland's Accession Into NATO<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfmylOPS4drUKQdeh5Emit-BRt2f3jwuFB1ImzTEXZprXM28LUxS8-ZibrqKxvmeeki_7YdrQaKiJEfMKYMhGBDjJ3mJ8x1cSCFcCS3doRLUYCl6t_da1f7IKmaB2qZmn15jibau0NfYQ/s1600/479262.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfmylOPS4drUKQdeh5Emit-BRt2f3jwuFB1ImzTEXZprXM28LUxS8-ZibrqKxvmeeki_7YdrQaKiJEfMKYMhGBDjJ3mJ8x1cSCFcCS3doRLUYCl6t_da1f7IKmaB2qZmn15jibau0NfYQ/s320/479262.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The now-28-country alliance that
makes up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization might grandfather in a 29<sup>th</sup>
prospect that is Scotland: one contingent rests upon Scotland receiving its
long waited independence from the United Kingdom. Scheduled for a referendum in the fall of 2014 to vote on
its legal separation from the UK, Scotland’s role in the international world
has become a pivotal point of discussion among the Scots and the Scottish
National Party (SNP- leading government party)-particularly, its status with
various memberships and treaty organizations that the UK is currently a party to
and as an inherited function, Scotland too. Of the organizations, the debate on automatic entry into the
European Union and NATO are the most controversial.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">The head of the SNP and First
Minister, Alex Salmond has no qualms criticizing NATO’s intimate relationship
to nuclear weapons as a first strike option.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">So much, that in the past, Salmond was completely against Scotland
accession into NATO.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">However, as
independence comes closer, SNP’s well-established opposition to NATO membership
has softened, and SNP has even backed up NATO intervention (in Libya, for
example).</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: 0.5in;">Whether this is because
of a realization that Scotland needs to play catch-up to all other developed
states in gaining respect in the international community to appear a strong
sovereign state or the urgent need for a secured defense, one thing seems to be
clear: Scotland will not be budging on their anti-nuclear stance and commitment
to removing United Kingdom’s nuclear program, Trident, from its territory upon
gaining independence.</span></div>
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Future Scottish-NATO relations will
revolve around this nuclear issue.
Will SNP’s oath for an anti-nuclear Scotland be a deal breaker for NATO
membership? Most say no, and SNP’s
defence spokesman, Angus Robertson believes that the two can work together,
stating “it is time for Scotland to face up to the facts.” The “facts” being that NATO is a
valuable source of protection and key source in international relations.</div>
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Lets hope that Scotland does not
soften any further for international acceptance to the point that it will give
up its anti-nuclear dedication in light of the dark reality of pro-nuclear
preponderance in NATO, and vise-versa, that NATO does not deny membership solely
because of Scotland’s stance.
Scotland’s devotion to rid Trident from its territory is an outstanding
example of commitment to a nuclear-free world.</div>
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A more in-depth discussion of Scottish-NATO relations can be found in the link below:</div>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-18867776">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-18867776</a></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5202068583937048818.post-78082515085310290542012-07-19T02:00:00.000-07:002012-10-14T14:08:31.001-07:00Satyagraha: Truth as a Force for Change<div style="text-align: center;">
“Oppressed people can not remain oppressed forever.”</div>
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-Martin Luther King Jr.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A short hundred years ago much of the world was colonized. Great swaths of land and countless populations lived in servitude to foreign powers who utilized their positions of greater material wealth to obtain more riches for themselves and their homelands. The rapid toppling of empires over the last century speaks great volumes about the human will to self govern; the natural yearning for the ability to express one’s autonomy. Today there are relatively few remnants of the colonial system, and where there remain the people have been granted additional sovereignty and choice in the matter. </div>
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Where Great Britain, France, and Portugal were once the most dominant forces in world affairs, they are now in a position which is much more even with other states. If these invincible empires could fall, just like the empires of the Romans and Greeks, then imagine what will happen to the empires of today? This is not a message that is meant to spread fear, calling for the fall of America or the rising of a new world order, but rather this is a message that change, even in the face of insufferable repression and against insurmountable odds, is possible</div>
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Gandhi frequently spoke of three options one had when facing injustice; active non-violence, violent resistance, and inaction. Surprisingly he believed that violence was a greater response than inaction in the face of injustice. In the case of violence, the individuals making the action are at the very least making a statement against the offending status quo they oppose. The greatest response though is active nonviolence. Not only does nonviolence give activists numerous advantages such as political jiu-jitsu, the ability to use the force of the opposition as a tool to shape support for a movement, it also allows them to fight on the only battlefield in which they have an advantage: the moral battlefield. As one can see looking at the current state of Syria, or Libya before NATO began supporting the rebels, or the numerous other armed uprisings opposing the unjust possession of control that were quickly shut down by better armed and better funded oppressors, the fields of war are were coalitions of power wish for conflicts to occur. If a justice movement tries to bring their petitions to bear in the field of battle the injustice of their situation doesn’t matter, for questions of justice carry no weight in expressions of power.</div>
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During the Indian Independence movement Gandhi coined the term Satyagraha, or ‘truth force’ to refer to the tactics of resistance the movement was using and directly contradict the label of passive resistance. Today many people easily disregard the peace movement, and no matter how much logic or how many facts are presented to them some individuals can not hear the message of peace and justice, even if they are listening to the words of the movement. The answer is to speak in a universal language, to let them see truth and allow the force of that truth to transform ignorance and apathy into support and progress toward change. When Gandhi led the salt march he was not just saying that he disagreed with mandates on the sales and manufacturing of salt, he was making a statement about, “The inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life.”* The salt which came from the sea and the cloth that was produced domestically both were symbols of the immorality depicted in the actions of the British Empire. There was no response to the movement’s civil disobedience that could be taken by Britain without losing political capital or exacerbate and further displaying the grounds for the Indian people’s petition.</div>
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Over the last year there have been numerous movements which aim to reform the monoliths of oppression in our world such as the Move to Amend campaign in the United States and the Occupy movement around the world, and while there have certainly been successes on the part of these coalitions I must wonder what tactics will bring true lasting progress? It is inevitable that we can transform our world and end the oppression that is in all of our societies to varying degrees, our commitment to nonviolence more powerful than any insurgent militia and most lasting than any status quo backed by the continued apathy and inaction of the stagnant mass. What truths must we display on to be able to apply the force of Satyagraha toward reforming current structures of injustice?</div>
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Change is going to come; what are you doing to welcome it?</div>
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*Nehru, Jawaharlal. <em>Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru</em>. New York: John Day, 1942.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1