Tag: nuclear war

Angling Toward Armageddon: The Return of Senator Strangelove

Almost 80 years later, it’s sadly all too easy to forget that two nuclear weapons were once used with devastating effect on this planet. Here’s just a small description by one survivor of the atomic destruction of the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, that can be found in the book Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors: “Most of the A-Bomb survivors were burned all over their bodies. They were not only naked, but also their skin came off. They were wandering around looking for their parents, husbands, wives, and children in the city of Hiroshima which had been reduced to ashes.”

Only recently, one of the dwindling group of survivors of that American bombing, Shigeko Sasamori, died. She had been a child of 13 when her city was blown to smithereens and, though unlike so many of her compatriots, she lived to tell the tale, one-third of her body was severely burned. Unbelievably enough, she would be one of the 25 “Hiroshima maidens,” all disfigured by the first atomic bombing on this planet, chosen to receive medical help a decade later in New York City. Her death, as the New York Times reported in an obituary, came only “two months after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a grass-roots Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors, for its efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.”

Unfortunately, as TomDispatch regular William Hartung reminds us today, global nuclear arsenals, including the American one, continue to grow and now hold weapons that make the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki seem more like BBs. To take just the three leading nuclear powers, the U.S., Russia, and China, each could, unaided, turn this planet (and undoubtedly several more like it) into giant graveyards.

While it’s true that, since Nagasaki was destroyed on August 9, 1945, no nuclear weapon has ever again been used in war, there are now believed to be more than 12,000 nuclear warheads on this planet. Nine countries possess them and, in a significant nuclear conflict, the Earth could be thrown into a state of “nuclear winter” in which billions of us could die of starvation, and yet, as Hartung makes all too vividly clear today, the vast U.S. nuclear arsenal is still in the process of being expanded (the term, hideously enough, is “modernized”) to the tune of perhaps $1.7 trillion to $2 trillion in the coming decades. Let him explain.

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Will Warnings of A Nuclear War Go Unheeded?

On December 7th, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter hosted a panel entitled “No Nuclear War: A Call for Reason” at the National Press Club in the nation’s capital.

The three-part symposium brought together a range of anti-war speakers to address the growing threat of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia. Trepidation over that increasingly likely scenario has only mounted following the reckless brinkmanship by the lame duck Biden administration in supplying long-range ATACMs (Army Tactical Missile Systems, pronounced “attack-’ems”) to Ukraine.

Not only do the precision-guided munitions give Kyiv the ability to strike deep within Russian territory, but the U.S.-made missiles must be launched with the help of Western personnel, something that will be interpreted by Moscow as an attack by NATO. While the live-streamed discussion was overshadowed by the earth-shattering news of the fall of Damascus to Western-backed jihadists, the catastrophic developments in the Middle East only made the apocalyptic theme more pertinent.

Participants in the forum included former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, retired Army colonel and Washington insider-turned-critic Lawrence Wilkerson, Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin, The Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal, his wife and fellow journalist Anya Parampil, Black Agenda Report editor Margaret Kimberley, broadcast host Wilmer Leon of (now defunct) Sputnik radio, political commentator Garland Nixon, author and human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik, MIT physicist Theodore Postol, and 25-year-old LaRouche Party agitator Jose Vega.

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Ukrainian Neo-Nazi Claims Nuclear War will be GOOD for Ukraine

Ukrainian Neo-Nazi Evgeny Karas claimed during in an interview on Tuesday with the Ukrainian broadcaster Radio Bayraktar that Russia striking Ukraine with nuclear weapons would in fact be good for Ukraine. The man is the leader of the ‘S14’ terrorist group, whose members have a record of harassing minorities and have been accused of high-profile political murders, according to RT.

”Nuclear war is good,” Karas said in the interview, according to RT on Wednesday. “When it happens, we’ll have no more reasons to whine. Nothing worse could happen after a nuclear strike.”

While the aforementioned statement may indicate a nonsensical bloodlust, Karas went so far as to claim that nuclear fallout in Ukraine may even be good for evolution.

“A nuclear war may help us evolve in a way that we could see through an official and tell whether he is a thief or not,” he said according to RT.

While the Neo-Nazi may think nuclear war will be enjoyable, the Japanese who actually experienced it did not.

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No Nuclear War: A Call for Reason

The threat of a nuclear war between the US and Russia is real—on this point, there is rare bipartisan agreement in Congress.

The question which emerges is what can Congress do to reduce this threat. Here the potential paths toward a solution become clogged with political obstacles.

There is a House Resolution that has been introduced by Congressman Higgins, R-Louisiana which is, from the perspective of preventing a nuclear war, the proverbial “cure for cancer.”

HR 10218 (“To prohibit the transfer of Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine, and for other purposes”) (see text) is a carefully—indeed masterfully—crafted piece of legislation which condenses the potential trigger for a US-Russian nuclear conflict down to its most basic component—the use of ATACMS missiles by Ukraine to strike Russian territory. As has been explained in detail elsewhere, the Ukrainian ATACMS attacks on Russia are seen as an attack by the US, making the US a direct participant to the conflict.

If the attacks stop, then the US will no longer be seen by Russia as engaging in offensive military operations against Russian territory.

And as such, the trigger for the release of Russian nuclear weapons will not be pulled.

“Cancer” is cured—there will be no nuclear war.

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WWIII Warning! UK Military Head Says We’re In “A Third Nuclear Age”

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the most senior officer in the British Armed Forces, warned the world this week that humanity has entered a “third nuclear age” where the threat of an all-out thermonuclear war is more possible than ever before.

Speaking to the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) think tank on Wednesday, Radakin discussed the current state of England’s nuclear security.

“The security outlook is more contested, more ambiguous and more dangerous than we have known in our careers,” he stated, telling members of RUSI that “a third nuclear age is upon us.”

Radakin, who currently serves as the UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff, described the Cold War as the “first nuclear age” that was allegedly managed by leaders with “the logic of deterrence.”

The “second nuclear age” came in the 1990s when “nuclear non-proliferation” contributed to a safer world, according to the UK admiral.

He then blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the current nuclear age, saying, “From Russia we have seen wild threats of tactical nuclear use, large scale nuclear exercises and simulated attacks against NATO countries, all designed to coerce us from taking the action required to maintain stability… Putin believes in a historic fiction.”

However, Radakin suggested Russia would likely not launch a direct attack on the UK because the NATO retaliation would be “overwhelming.”

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Russia Using Nuclear Weapon in Ukraine Would Collapse Global Economy, Warns Declassified Intel Document

The use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would plunge the global economy into chaos, leading to food insecurity and high inflation, according to a declassified national security document.

The National Intelligence Council’s (NIC) memorandum from November 2022, titled “Potential Global Economic Consequences of a Use by Russia of Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine,” was declassified by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in September.

The NIC, established in 1979, reports to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and bridges the Intelligence Community with policy makers in the United States.

Unsurprisingly, the document states that a nuclear attack on Ukraine would trigger long-term global financial instability, push emerging markets into default, and lead to food insecurity.

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Russia’s New Nuclear Doctrine: What Has Changed?

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that the update of the doctrine was necessary due to heightened tensions around Russian borders and nuclear nations supporting Kiev in its conflict with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorized the country’s updated nuclear doctrine, bringing into force changes that he first announced in September. What are the updates about?

The previous version singled out four situations in which the Russian head of state may decide on the use nuclear weapons: a ballistic missile attack on Russia; an attack on the country using weapons of mass destruction; an attack on Russian state or military facilities; and an aggression against Russia with the use of conventional weapons when “the very existence of the state is at risk.”

Under the current doctrine, in addition to the aforementioned clauses, Russia can also press the red button if:

There is an attack with the use of conventional weapons against Russia and (or) Belarus as members of the Union State, which poses “a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity” (“the very existence of the state is at risk” term has been omitted).

There is “reliable information about a mass launch of means for an aerospace attack” (strategic and tactical warplanes, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as hypersonic and other systems) and their crossing of Russia’s state border.

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Departing Russian ambassador to Washington warns of escalating U.S.-Russian tensions and rising risk of nuclear conflict over Ukraine

Russia’s former top envoy to the United States has concluded his term with a dire warning about the escalating risk of deteriorating tensions between Moscow and Washington that could potentially lead to a nuclear confrontation.

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov has been relieved after seven years of serving as Moscow’s top diplomat in the country. In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, Antonov shared his concerns before stepping down after seven years of service.

During his tenure, Antonov became a prominent voice for the Kremlin’s stance on U.S.-Russia relations, which have steadily worsened amid the conflict in Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s increased military support for Kyiv.

In his final interview in the U.S., Antonov expressed concern that the ongoing conflict was drawing American leaders deeper into a dangerous situation. (Related: Preparing for WWIII? Thousands of French soldiers to join military exercise in Romania next year for simulated war with Russia.)

“‘Project Ukraine’ is dragging American politicians further into an abyss, from which it is increasingly difficult to escape,” Antonov told Newsweek. He criticized U.S. officials for responding to Russian military gains in the contested Donbas region and Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast with repeated commitments to continue supporting Ukraine “as long as we can.”

Antonov lamented that Washington had not signaled any interest in negotiations or attempts to reconsider its stance. “There are zero signals to [Ukraine] about the need to think over their position and sit down at the negotiating table,” he said. “Nor are there any hints about stopping the senseless flow of weapons at the expense of the local taxpayer.”

He further warned that U.S. discussions about potentially allowing Ukraine to use American-supplied ballistics to conduct long-range missile strikes in Russian territory were particularly dangerous due to recent warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin that such actions would amount to NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict.

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Ex-Russian Ambassador to D.C. Yeah Warns of Nuclear Risk, Says U.S. Won’t be Protected by Oceans

Russia announced last week that it has pulled its ambassador to the U.S. and the outgoing diplomat warned the West, again, of the growing risk of a nuclear confrontation between the countries.

Anatoly Antanov served in the post since 2017 and told reporters the relationship between countries was “arguably at the lowest point in their history.”

He said that there would be an “uncontrolled nosedive” if Kyiv get the green light from the U.S. to use long-range missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia, the Daily Mail reported.

He said a global nuclear “catastrophe would affect everyone” and the U.S. “will not be able to sit it out across the ocean.”

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Russia Elevates Nuclear Threat: Implications for Ukraine and the Global Power Balance

In what the Kremlin has labeled a warning to Western nations, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced plans to lower the nuclear threshold, allowing for nuclear retaliation in response to large-scale air assaults and treating attacks by non-nuclear states, when supported by nuclear powers, as joint offensives.

Moscow aims to raise the stakes and discourage further support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, both the Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation and the Kremlin’s 2024 National Threat Assessment call for displacing the U.S. and the West as global leaders, with the fall of Ukraine viewed as a crucial step in reshaping the international order under Moscow and Beijing.

As the cost of supporting Ukraine rises, the cost of allowing its collapse may be even greater.

Russia’s Defense Ministry is set to gain the power to assess whether conditions for deploying nuclear weapons are met, as part of upcoming changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

The revisions are being made in response to increased involvement of nuclear powers in the war in Ukraine and NATO’s expanded presence near Russia.

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