Editor’s Note: The future of humanity is inextricably linked to the two principal existential perils facing humanity – climate change and nuclear weapons. Of the two, I say that nuclear weapons represent the Most Inconvenient Truth. That is because climate change is now a given, and it is how we slow (or stop) it, and how we adapt to and mitigate its effects that will affect our survival. As for nuclear weapons, even a limited nuclear war will cause catastrophic global effects, and an exchange of nuclear weapons between the U.S. and Russia would surely mean the end of civilization […]
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2018 Nuclear Posture Review: Cold War Redux!
The 2018 United States Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is out, and there is much conversation surrounding it. The new NPR is, of course, more formal justification for the U.S. to continue the status quo of being the world’s dominant nuclear power. Yet, beyond the status quo, this NPR contains new and dangerously destabilizing developments in U.S. nuclear weapon planning and policy. The press conference announcing the release of the 2018 NPR was a classic study in Doublespeak. Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan set the (Orwellian) stage by saying, “To the American people, this administration’s highest priority is your safety and […]
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It’s 2 Minutes to Midnight: The Clock is Ticking!
Do you want to live with the threat of nuclear war? I would guess that most people would answer with a rousing “NO!” And yet, humanity has been living under the threat of nuclear annihilation for most of the decades following World War II during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Even now, nearly three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States and Russia still stand poised to destroy each other’s nations (many times over), and take the rest of the world with them. What’s more, the two Superpowers, through their […]
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U.S. Nuclear Posture: Bringing Us Closer to the Brink
The draft 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was leaked earlier this month. A new NPR is issued every four years, and essentially paves the way for our nation’s continuing reliance on nuclear weapons. Presidents have used the NPR to implement their individual nuclear weapons agendas, and in the case of President Trump, we’re talking about a guy who seems to want a lot more nukes. Although much of what the 2018 draft NPR says is not particularly groundbreaking, it makes at least one very troubling (and downright wacky) recommendation. Read on to learn more. MINI-NUKES ON TRIDENT??? The 2018 draft […]
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MLK: Way Beyond Vietnam
Editor’s Note: Although this essay is a tribute to the life of a great prophet, it is even more a call to action. I invite each of you reading this to dedicate or rededicate yourself to Dr. King’s vision articulated in his essay, The World House, in which calls on us to “1) transcend tribe, race, class, nation, and religion to embrace the vision of a World House; 2) eradicate at home and globally the Triple Evils of racism, poverty, and militarism; 3) curb excessive materialism and shift from a “thing”-oriented society to a “people”-oriented society; and 4) resist social injustice […]
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