Month: March 2021

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Local governments can oppose nuclear weapons!

March 25, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

It is common for the public — and elected officials and the media — to think about nuclear weapons as a national or international issue FAR REMOVED from YOUR local community.  But actually, if a nuclear war occurs (whether intentionally or by accident, miscalculation or computer error), YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY will be destroyed and LOCAL PEOPLE will be killed.  Therefore, NUCLEAR WEAPONS REALLY ARE A LOCAL ISSUE, so ordinary people and local governments must oppose nuclear weapons! To see what a nuclear weapon would do to YOUR local community, enter your zip code into this link:  And yes, it could […]

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Eliminate land-based missiles (ICBMs) from the nuclear arsenal.

March 25, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Since the 1950s the U.S. has spent huge amounts of our tax dollars building and maintaining land-based nuclear missiles in a number of U.S. states in the northern and central parts of our nation.  These Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) are now widely regarded as obsolete and unnecessary.  But they persist as one “leg” of the U.S.’s nuclear “triad,” along with airplanes that can drop nuclear bombs and submarines (such as the Trident) that can launch nuclear warhead-tipped missiles from oceans. Here is some information about the new movement to abolish the ICBMs:   The U.S. government plans to REPLACE some […]

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Nuclear weapons are very serious. But we need some humor too.

March 25, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. government keeps promoting more nuclear weapons in order to make Americans secure.  Instead of that, I propose that we ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS and INSTEAD, SIMPLY LEAVE OUR SHOES UNTIED. NEITHER POLICY PROTECTS OUR NATION, but my alternative policy offers two benefits: We will save many billions of dollars. And although either policy – nuclear weapons or untied shoelaces – could cause an accident,  if an accident occurs, tripping on shoelaces will cause much less damage than a nuclear war. PLEASE SHARE THIS MESSAGE – and share my reasoning – with other people. Also invite people to join the […]

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Biden did extend New START with Russia to limit nuclear weapons

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Trump pulled the U.S. out of many international agreements and organizations (the Paris Climate Agreement, World Health Organization, one or more organizations supporting human rights, etc.) and several deals about nuclear weapons, such as the Iran nuclear deal (the JCPOA) and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty that Reagan and Gorbachev signed in 1987 so they could eliminate an entire category of provocative nuclear weapons from Europe. The last remaining treaty between the U.S. and Russia regarding nuclear weapons was New START.  Russia was eager to continue it, but Trump opposed simply renewing it.  Trump pretended that he wanted to […]

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Even after Biden’s victory, the “Doomsday Clock” remains at only 100 seconds before midnight.

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Since the 1940s, BOTH of the U.S.’s big political parties have enthusiastically supported nuclear weapons.  BOTH parties have allowed the climate crisis to get worse over the decades. Every year in late January the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announces how close we are to “Doomsday.”  Recently it has been the closest to “midnight” that it has ever been, and the climate crisis has been a factor along with nuclear weapons.  Replacing Trump with Biden did not cause the “Doomsday Clock” to back away from midnight. On January 27, 2021, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that we are […]

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Let’s urge President Biden to take smart actions to reduce nuclear war dangers

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Let’s make sure President Biden Sees and understands the crisis of nuclear weapons.  This article suggests how he can keep the world safe from nuclear annihilation. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-cant-lose-sight-of-the-nuclear-crisis/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%2001.20.2021&utm_content=B&utm_term=daily   Here is what President Biden should do about nuclear weapons in his first 100 days: One of the best informed non-profit organizations working to prevent nuclear war — the Arms Control Association, www.armscontrol.org — conducted an online event about what President Biden should do about nuclear weapons during his first 100 days.  I participated in this and am happy to see that the ACA recorded it and posted it to their website.  […]

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Stop the new bi-partisan Cold War and threats against China

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

In the U.S., hate crimes against Asian Americans have skyrocketed in the past few years.  Several reasons include Trump’s hateful rhetoric (e.g., calling Coronavirus the “Chinese flu” and blaming China for taking jobs away from Americans, when really it was U.S. businesses that closed American factories and moved the jobs to other countries).  Other reasons include the new Cold War and anti-Chinese rhetoric and threats against China from BOTH political parties.  Racists have felt free to commit hate crimes against Asian Americans who are not in any way responsible.   American nationalism — and “American exceptionalism” — allow the U.S. […]

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How Biden can achieve a first in arms control: A verifiable nuclear warhead freeze

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Since the 1940s BOTH political parties have supported and vigorously funded nuclear weapons.  If we are to prevent nuclear war — and use our federal budget for purposes that we really need — the organizing and political pressure must come from ordinary people at the grassroots.  President Joe Biden has decades of experience in Congress — and eight years as Obama’s Vice President — supporting militarism and wars.  We must push Biden to work for peace instead. This article was posted on December 15, 2020, by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (www.thebulletin.org): https://thebulletin.org/2020/12/how-biden-can-achieve-a-first-in-arms-control-a-verifiable-nuclear-warhead-freeze/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ThursdayNewsletter12172020&utm_content=NuclearRisk_VerifiableNuke_12152020        

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This smart article debunks the myth that nuclear weapons “deter” war.

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

Most Americans believe the government’s propaganda that nuclear weapons are a “deterrent” that has protected us from war.  Actually, during the Cold War, neither the U.S. nor the USSR wanted to start a war against the other.  But the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert meant that a nuclear war could have started – and destroyed the world – if an accident or miscalculation or computer error had occurred.  The “deterrence” myth persists now 30 years after the Cold War.  People who want to abolish nuclear weapons need to debunk the myth that they have deterred war.  […]

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Accidents, miscalculations, computer errors could cause a nuclear war and destroy us all.

March 24, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The routine propaganda claims that nuclear weapons keep us safe. The truth is that nuclear weapons might — at any time — kill us all through accidents, miscalculations, computer errors or other unexpected problems. HERE ARE INFORMATION ITEMS ABOUT THIS:   Newly released documents shed light on 1983 nuclear war scare with Soviets: The Soviet Union put fighter-bombers loaded with nuclear bombs on 24-hour alert in East Germany during a NATO nuclear weapons command exercise in November 1983, and the alert included “preparations for the immediate use of nuclear weapons,” according to newly released U.S. intelligence records that confirm a […]

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We must DE-MILITARIZE our democracy!

March 21, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

It’s Time to Demilitarize Our Democracy.  The national security state has come to dominate our ostensibly “civilian” government. See this February 1, 2021, article by Mandy Smithberger and William D. Hartung  https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/military-pentagon-democracy/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%2002.01.2021&utm_term=daily   It was also posted here on  January 29, 2021:  Demilitarizing Our Democracy:  How the National Security State Has Come to Dominate a “Civilian” Government https://www.juancole.com/2021/01/demilitarizing-democracy-government.html                

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Virginia is the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty

March 21, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

In the U.S., the South has been executing more people than any other part of the nation.  But the big news now is that in early February 2021 Virginia became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty.  Here are two articles about this:   Both chambers of the Virginia state legislature voted to abolish the state’s death penalty in early February 2021. Virginia has committed the most executions of any state other than Texas – a total of 113 since 1976, and hundreds more in the centuries prior.  The links here were written shortly before Gov. Ralph Northam […]

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Joe Biden has a LONG HISTORY of supporting militarism and wars. We must urge him to support peace!

March 20, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

President Biden has done some good things for the climate, some good things for immigrants, and some other good things.  But in many ways he is continuing his decades-long history as a middle-of-the-road Cold War “centrist” subservient to big business.  We must push Biden to support PEACE and ECONOMIC JUSTICE. Here are a few PEACE issues that the American people — and Biden — need to understand:   #1.  Iran: Biden campaigned with promises that his foreign policy would rely on diplomacy first.  But instead, he appointed to very powerful positions a huge number of severe war-hawks, and he seems […]

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PREVENT the U.S. from spending $100 BILLION on more than 600 new nuclear missiles!

March 20, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The article linked here — https://www.psr.org/blog/should-america-buy-new-missiles-in-the-middle-of-a-deadly-pandemic/?emci=26549cd5-1d72-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=1dee357b-2276-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&ceid=135885 — provides information about horribly expensive new nuclear missiles the U.S. government wants to buy.  It’s called the “Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.”  The Air Force wants more than 600 of these missiles.  Each is much deadlier than the bombs we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Don’t we have better uses for the $100 BILLION these “weapons of mass destruction” will cost?   This link — https://secure.everyaction.com/Wnr9fIRN1k2EVPhGh8mzGw2?contactdata=19koCTtxnjlwdoOJcRyIUSXeAcRhubY7sBgQB7SE7Bz4mVjMGM%2fCYn%2bkHdGmbcyzi59zHUHmQfQCdYpRxxcl7pHLZtoSzYRHA2pzMYqPHULvV3ePhhEejFmlo0WkkeWIdq%2fju0oHJTGTS250I8MUZ6JgXTbi%2bxgOPYH3VhJbzZ2qenEJEUgM4WdjZu5VK1X%2bp5nmoLcVdOFqy2zfU4czCXPs9aJExosRzG5xOBm2yuyS%2fKWSTG4PkILoPySWn2L3&emci=26549cd5-1d72-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=1dee357b-2276-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&ceid=135885 — Tells Congress NOT to do that.