The US Navy’s ballistic missile submarines have always had one sole mission (in the Navy’s own words): “strategic deterrence, which is the act of deterring a nuclear attack with a safe, secure, and effective nuclear-deterrent force.” In other words, the belief that another nation will be deterred from using nuclear weapons as long as it believes it will be destroyed (by nuclear weapons) as a consequence. Should deterrence fail, we would end up with what is known as mutually assurred destruction (MAD) and, in the case of a nuclear war with Russia, essentially the end of civilization as we know […]
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Don’t Expect Rulers of Nuclear-Armed Nations to Accept Nuclear Disarmament―Unless They’re Pushed to Do So
Characteristically, all the nuclear powers have rejected the 2017 UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons By Lawrence Wittner At the beginning of February 2019, the two leading nuclear powers took an official step toward resumption of the nuclear arms race. On February 1, the U.S. government, charging Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, announced that it would pull out of the agreement and develop new intermediate-range missiles banned by it. The following day, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended his government’s observance of the treaty, claiming that this was done as a “symmetrical” response to the U.S. action and that Russia would develop nuclear weapons outlawed […]
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Welcome to 2019, the Year of (Saving) the Treaties
Dear Friends of a world free of nuclear weapons, it just figures that we couldn’t end 2018 without somebody threatening nuclear war (via Tweet of course; what’s up with that???); no, it wasn’t the Tweeter in Chief, but this Tweet certainly sounded like a Trump wannabe. Is this any way to run an airline (or air force), especially one capable of dropping nuclear bombs? It is most certainly NOT!!! Here’s the full Tweet: “#TimesSquare tradition rings in the #NewYear by dropping the big ball…if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger,” the tweet said, adding the hashtags: “#Deterrence#Assurance #CombatReadyForce #PeaceIsOurProfession.” The apologists at the Washington […]
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Ground Zero Annual Appeal
Dear Friends, This is our annual appeal for funds for Ground Zero. Thank you for your financial contributions and for keeping us in your thoughts during these difficult times. We especially appreciate your support at our demonstrations throughout the year. Please join us whenever you can. Ground Zero is a steady and unyielding voice in the Puget Sound region for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. Several weeks ago, when President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a KIRO TV reporter contacted Ground Zero through our website. A face to face interview was […]
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Time to Disarm the Patriarchy!
Dear Friends of a world free of nuclear weapons, There is way too much testosterone going around in Washington, D.Ceit these days. Of course, testosterone is nothing new in the halls of power. It manifests itself in destructive ways – from the seemingly endless spewing of harmful pollutants into our fragile environment to the continuing production of weapons of war and their use around the world. The corporate patriarchs reap the monetary rewards, while throwing a few crumbs to their dependents in the halls of Congress (who we elect to represent the people’s interests) to get their support for these destructive practices. There is high irony in the fact that […]
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