Stop the clock!

by Kathie MM

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has set the doomsday clock at two minutes to midnight—the hour of the death of life. (See more here ).

You, personally, have a number of options right now:1) Feel too terrified to do anything about the growing threat from nuclear arms development; 2) pretend the threat is not real and go about your business as if the threat of nuclear Armageddon is “fake news”; or 3) pay attention, assume responsibility for your own future and the future of life on the planet, and help stop the clock.

United for Peace and Justice tells us some really bad news: “As we approach the 74th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our world is facing numerous nuclear flashpoints within global conflicts and crises that could catastrophically escalate at any moment.

“The formal U.S. withdrawal on August 2 from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is another sign of deepening crisis among the nuclear-armed states. Following the 2002 U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, this latest move imperils the entire structure of arms control and disarmament, including prospects for extension of the New START Treaty that expires in 2021. The dangers of nuclear war are real and growing.

“From the Korean Peninsula, to the South China Sea, to the Middle East and South Asia, all the nuclear-armed states are engaged in unpredictable conflicts that could catastrophically escalate out of control. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have risen to levels not seen since the Cold War, with the two nuclear giants confronting each other in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Syria and an accelerated tempo of military exercises and war games, both conventional and nuclear, on both sides. Risky close encounters between Russian and U.S./NATO forces have increased dramatically in the Baltic region and Syria.

“Under Trump, when inflation and the novel concepts in his Nuclear Posture Review are included, the U.S. is on a path to spend nearly $2,000,000,000,000 (trillion) over thirty years to upgrade its nuclear weapons complex, warheads and delivery systems. Russia, China, France, U.K., India, Israel and Pakistan have embarked on nuclear modernization programs of their own. While halting talks with North Korea have commenced, the Trump Administration scuttled the Iran nuclear deal and is escalating pressure on the Iranian regime.

“Today, nearly 14,000 nuclear weapons, most an order of magnitude more powerful than the U.S. atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki— 92% held by the United States and Russia – continue to pose an intolerable threat to humanity.”

The good news is that meetings, and protests, and demonstrations are being organized all over the country (and internationally) this month.   

Here’s a link from Physicians for Social Responsibility listing many public events in August, Nuclear Free Month.

Pegean says, Please.

Join an event near you.

Help stop the clock.

Look what’s happening right in MA

Anti-nuclear Protest, Boston, MA, USA. 1977. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Derzsi Elekes Andor.

By  Cole Harrison, Massachusetts Peace Action

Note from Kathie MM: Massachusetts Peace Action is very active on behalf of peace and social justice. Here are some of their upcoming activities.

Palestine to Detroit-Flint Photo Exhibit

PARALLELS EXIST BETWEEN THE REGIONS of Palestine and two Michigan cities regarding water rights, namely access, testing, purity, pricing, sanitation, distribution, and disposal….Find out more »

March 25 @ 12:15 pm – April 30 @ 12:15 pm

Cambridge Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park  Cambridge,  Google Map

 

 

The World Is Over-Armed and Peace Is Under-Funded

April 14 @ 10:00 am – 1:30 pm

Walpole Common, 5 West st  Walpole, MA United States + Google Map

Walpole Tax Day Rally for Peace and Economic Justice:  the   will hold a Tax Day Rally at the Gazebo on the Walpole Common. Find out more »

Tax Day Rally

April 14 @ 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Cambridge Common, Garden Street and Appian Way  Cambridge, MA 02138 + Google Map

Time to stand up for our values and priorities! President Trump’s tax bill is ensuring billions of dollars in profits to large corporations– and peanuts to working people…. Find out more »

Rethinking the Nuclear Weapons Issue

April 15 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm

First Church in Cambridge – Harter Room, 11 Garden Street  Cambridge, MA 02138 + Google Map

Come and hear a stimulating talk on a life-and-death issue. Dr. Elaine Scarry will present a basic review of the current US policy on nuclear issues.… Find out more »

Discussion of the Poor People’s Campaign

April 15 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main St  Watertown, MA 02472 + Google Map

What is the Poor People’s Campaign? Why is there A National Call for Moral Revival? Find out more »

Shout Heard Round the World

April 16 @ 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Lexington Common National Historic Site, 1875 Massachusetts Avenue  Lexington, MA United States + Google Map

SHOUT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD Or just a whisper at Hanscom Field as drums and fifes sound patriotic tunes elsewhere this coming Patriots Day?  …Find out more »

Recognizing Ourselves in Today’s Migrants and Refugees: The Need to Take Action Against Racism and Xenophobia

April 22 @ 1:00 pm

Cambridge Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park  Cambridge, + Google Map

A Talk with Oscar A. Chacón, Executive Director, Alianza Americas….Find out more »

Rally for Palestine!–Education Under Occupation

April 22 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Boston Common – Park St, Tremont & Park Streets  Boston, MA 02108 United States + Google Map

As students living in the United States on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, we raise our voices and our fists in solidarity with our student counterparts in Palestine….Find out more »

Walk for Water 5K in Support of Palestinian Refugees

April 28 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

450 Kendall St, Cambridge, MA

In times of crisis, a healthy environment provides a sense of stability. 1for3 is a Boston-based non-profit organization working to promote health, education, and the environment for Palestinian refugees….Find out more »

Combatants for Peace

April 28 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Belmont/Watertown United Methodist Church, 421 Common St  Belmont, MA 02478 + Google Map

In 2006, Israeli and Palestinian former combatants laid down their weapons and established Combatants for Peace….. Combatants for Peace were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, 2017. Two Combatants… Find out more »

Workshop on Nuclear Ban Treaty Compliance

May 6 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

14 Sterling St, Newton, MA

Good news!  There’s a new Nobel Peace Prize-winning Nuclear Ban Treaty, already agreed by 122 countries, that makes these WMDs illegal.  Come learn how YOU can compel divestment, legislation, and enforcement here in the US. For more information: Call Joan Ecklein: 617 244-8054  Find out more »

Peace Partners 2018: 22nd Annual Mother’s Day Walk

May 13 @ 8:00 am

Town Field Park, 1520 Dorchester Avenue  Dorchester, MA 02122 United States + Google Map

22ND ANNUAL MOTHER’S DAY WALK FOR PEACE DIGNITY AND COMPASSION FOR ALL MAPA/WILPF registrants: Follow this registration link and find “Peace Partners 2018” in the Teams field. Contact Claire Gosselin at claireg53@gmail.com for questions.   Donation Page: https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/lbdpeace/campaign.jsp?campaign=33&fundraiser=26525&  The Mother’s Day Walk for Peace is a celebration of our potential to create more peaceful communities. Find out more »

Visit our website to learn more about joining the organization.

Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-354-2169  • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter

Dear Chairman Kim Jung-un

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Luca Casartelli

by Lewis Randa, Director, The Peace Abbey

What follows is a letter for President Donald Trump to consider sending to Chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jung-un.

Please feel free to add, edit, or delete and submit your own letter to the White House.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness of war. 

My “mind game” candle in the darkness is dedicated to Yoko Ono.

From The White House

Dear Chairman Kim Jung-un,

I am reaching out in an effort to de-escalate the hostility and aggression between our two governments.  Our peoples, the millions of families, the loving parents and their children dream of a better life, both in North Korea and in North America, and are counting on us to be prudent as we seek solutions to what appears to be intractable distrust and animosity which could lead to war.  Our histories reflect different paths of development and periods of conflict, yet our goals are not dissimilar.  Both our nations want what is best for our country, our people, and the Earth.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out what you already know, and that is this: A nuclear confrontation would not only be catastrophic for both our nations, the blast damage would result in massive destruction and the death toll would be unimaginable. Most importantly, it would have an endless, negative impact on our planet’s ability to sustain the conditions for life.

Were either of us to preemptively launch a nuclear weapon or retaliate with one, the impact on the planet would be irreversible and condemn those who survive with the cancerous effects of millions of tons of radioactive pollutants in the atmosphere.  The unprecedented infusion of contamination that would result from nuclear explosion would spread to form a stratospheric cloud layer that would block sunlight for years to come.

Extensive changes to the environment would affect our ability to sustain global food production and the ​massive damage to the ozone layer would allow dangerous levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface.

We must not allow this to happen.

To avoid a nuclear exchange, ​I wish to make official the new policy of the United States:  The U.S. will not preemptively use a nuclear weapon against your nation or any sovereign state for any reason whatsoever.  To do so would undermine millions of years of evolution of life on Earth.

And to demonstrate the sincerity of this commitment, I will order the end of all US – South Korean military exercises off the coast of North Korea.  I will also end all flights over your country, realizing that such flights, while being aerial reconnaissance that our military deems necessary, only provokes additional fear and ​distrust toward ​the United States.

​In addition, I will order the U.S. Treasury to transfer ten billion dollars in food commodities to the North Korean​ government as a gesture of goodwill.

In return, I would need assurances that your government will cease all future development of nuclear weaponry and testing and the launching of missiles over sovereign nations in the Pacific or elsewhere in the world.  This would need to be verified by the United Nations Nuclear Weapons Inspectors.   Henceforth, the United States will recognize the nuclear capability of North Korea.

This commitment offers a new start in circumventing​ a cataclysm that would leave the Earth uninhabitable.

Upon receipt of this letter, and your positive response, I will notify the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State​ of the above efforts to de-escalate the tension with Pyongyang.

May our next step be ​movement towards worldwide abolishment of nuclear weapons and the lifting of all sanctions on North Korea that are of a civilian nature.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Trump

Begging for War

(Photo: (stephan)/Flickr/cc)

By Robert C. Koehler

“There are no good options,” Brian Williams said the other night on MSNBC, launching a discussion about North Korea with the implication that war—maybe nuclear war—is the only solution to the problem it represents.

We’ve been cradling our own suicide for seven decades. The baby’s eyes open…

And Williams was right, though not in a way that he understood. When war—forceful domination, victory through threat, carnage and, if necessary, annihilation—is the ultimate limit of one’s consciousness, there are no good options. Even the peace negotiated in the context of war is bound to be temporary and grudging and therefore a bad option—sort of like the “peace” achieved at the end of the Korean War, after which both sides still, as Reuters reports, “have thousands of rockets and artillery pieces aimed at each other across the world’s most heavily armed border.”

Only beyond the context of war are there any options at all. Only beyond the context of war does humanity have any hope of avoiding suicide. And contrary to the consensus viewpoint of mainstream politicians and reporters, this is not completely unexplored territory.

Because Donald Trump is president, reaching for this trans-war consciousness is as crucial as it has ever been.

Maybe the best place to begin is by noting that there are some 22,000 nuclear weapons on the planet. This fact is almost never part of the news about North Korea, which has, as of this week, when it detonated an alleged hydrogen bomb, conducted six nuclear tests. The fact that Kim Jong-un’s tiny, unpredictable country is a member of the nuclear club is disconcerting, but the fact that there’s a “nuclear club” at all—and that its members are spending as much as a trillion dollars a decade to modernize their nuclear weapons—is even more disconcerting. And the fact that the modernization process is happening so quietly, without controversy or public debate (or even awareness) exacerbates the horror exponentially.

North Korea may be “begging for war,” as U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley exclaimed, but it’s not alone in doing so. None of the planet’s nuclear-armed nations have abided by the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which explicitly calls for complete nuclear disarmament. How easy this has been to ignore.

As Simon Tisdall wrote recently in the Guardian: “…the past and present leaders of the U.S., Russia, China, France and the U.K., whose governments signed but have not fulfilled the terms of the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty, have to some degree brought the North Korea crisis on themselves. Kim Jong-un’s recklessness and bad faith is a product of their own.”

Preparing for war produces, at best, obedience, which usually comes with hidden resentments. Because North Korea has displayed defiance rather than obedience, the mainstream media have portrayed the country and its leader as, essentially, evil cartoon characters: a crazy country that doesn’t know its place and is therefore begging for war.

To reach beyond war, to reach toward the future and create the possibility that it will arrive—to create sensible options—first of all requires dealing with one’s enemy with respect and understanding. In the case of North Korea, this means revisiting the Korean War, in which some 3 million North Koreans died and, as Anna Fifield pointed out recently in the Washington Post, “the U.S. Air Force leveled the North, to the extent that American generals complained there was nothing left to bomb.

“Ever since,” she writes, “North Korea has existed in a state of insecurity, with the totalitarian regime telling the population that the United States is out to destroy them—again.

“It is in this context that, following the collapse of its nuclear-armed benefactor, the Soviet Union, the Kim regime has sought weapons of its own.”

She points out that this is not irrational behavior—certainly not for a small, isolated country in the crosshairs of the United States. On a planet with no good options, North Korea’s capacity to produce a little mutually assured destruction may be its best bet to curtail invasion. Indeed, no nuclear-armed nation has ever been invaded.

With that understanding in place, John Delury, a professor at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies in Seoul, has some further advice to offer: “Now is the time,” he wrote in the Washington Post in April, “to jump-start a diplomatic initiative that reopens channels, lowers tensions and caps North Korea’s capabilities where they are. Then, working closely with the new government in Seoul and others, the United States should support a long-term strategy that integrates North Korea into regional stability and prosperity….

“By simply inflicting economic pain, threatening military strikes and keeping tensions high, the United States is playing into the worst tendencies of the North Korean system. Kim’s nuclear intentions will harden and North Korea’s capabilities will only grow. It’s time to reverse course.”

The time is now: to stop pretending that war will keep us safe, to stop cradling humanity’s capacity to commit suicide.

And the United States is not Donald Trump. Our collective consciousness is bigger than that of a bully. That means we have the capacity to understand that the threat posed by North Korea is a reminder that nuclear disarmament for the whole planet is long overdue. There are no good nuclear weapons.

Published on Thursday, September 07, 2017, by Common Dreams.

Robert C. Koehler

Robert C. Koehler

Robert Koehler is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. His new book, Courage Grows Strong at the Wound is now available. Contact him at koehlercw@gmail.com or visit his website at commonwonders.com.